Editing Family First Party (section)

== Religious affiliation ==
Although officially eschewing religious labels, many of its candidates and members were from [[Christian fundamentalism|conservative Christian]] backgrounds. Family First co-founder Pastor [[Andrew Evans (pastor)|Andrew Evans]] was the General Superintendent of the [[Assemblies of God in Australia]] for twenty years.<ref name="ABC20040929_TheReligionReport">{{cite news|author=Hassan|first=Toni|author-link=Toni Hassan|date=2004-09-29|title=The Religion Report|work=Radio National|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1209308.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041029003552/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1209308.htm|archive-date=29 October 2004}}</ref> In the [[2002 South Australian state election|2002 South Australian election]] and the [[2004 Australian federal election|2004 federal election]], a number of Family First candidates were church members. In [[New South Wales]], 11 of their 23 candidates for the 2004 federal election were from an Assemblies of God church, the Hawkesbury Church in [[Windsor, New South Wales|Windsor]].<ref name="SMH20040924_BehindFamilyFirst">{{cite news
 | author=Mike Seccombe
 | url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/24/1095961858738.html
 | title=Behind Family First is a clan of true believers
 | work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
 | publisher=Fairfax
 | date=2004-09-24
}}</ref>

South Australian Family First Member of the Legislative Council [[Dennis Hood]], the party's state parliamentary leader, is a member of the [[Rostrevor Baptist Church]]. When ''[[Sunday Mail (Adelaide)|Sunday Mail]]'' columnist [[Peter Goers]] stated that Hood was an anti-evolution [[Creationist]],<ref name="SundayMail20060813_Hood">{{ cite news
 | title=This Hood's hardly one of the boyz
 | work=Sunday Mail (Adelaide)
 | date=2006-08-13
}}</ref> Hood did not deny this in his response, while he did attempt to set the record straight on issues of policy.<ref>{{ cite news
 | title=Family First far from extremists
 | work=Sunday Mail (Adelaide)
 | date=2006-08-27
}}</ref>

Family First's preferencing agreement with the [[Coalition (Australia)|Coalition]] in the 2004 federal election led [[Barnaby Joyce]], the [[National Party of Australia|National]] senate candidate for Queensland, to publicly slam the party the day before the election, calling them "the lunatic Right", and stating that "these are not the sort of people you do preference deals with".<ref>{{cite news | newspaper =  [[The Australian]]  | title =  Nationals split over Family First deal – Election 2004| first = Greg | last = Roberts |department=Local | page = 9  | date = 8 October 2004}}</ref> Joyce's comments came in response to a pamphlet published by one of the party's Victorian Senate candidates, [[Danny Nalliah]] who in his capacity as a church pastor had criticised other religions and homosexuality.

In September 2004, party leader [[Andrea Mason (politician)|Andrea Mason]] said that Family First is not a Christian party<ref>{{ cite news
 | url=http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1202986.htm
 | title=Family First Party campaigns on family values
 | work=The World Today
 | publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] Local Radio
 | date=2004-09-20
 | author=Karen Barlow & Nance Haxton
}}</ref> and Family First Federal Secretary Dr Matt Burnet issued a press release stating:

<blockquote>The party is not a church party or an Assembly of God party, nor is it funded by AOG churches. It does see itself as socially conservative, with Family Values based on Christian ethics. Like any mainstream party we do not have on record the religious affiliations of any of our members. The Board of Reference in South Australia includes business-people, members of the medical profession, as well as ministers and people from Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Uniting and other church groups. The rapid national growth of the party leading into this election and the late decision to contest in all seats possible, has meant that in some states there are candidates, with strong family values, who have been introduced to the party through the personal relationships they have from their involvement in community/church networks.</blockquote>

A 60-minute documentary was made for the ABC-TV Compass program in 2005 and called "Family First – A Federal Crusade".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s1358912.htm|title=Compass: Family First: A Federal Crusade - ABC TV|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=7 July 2016}}</ref> It was produced by Dr Bruce Redman from The University of Queensland.

By August 2010, the party maintained its non-denominational stance and affirmed its affinity towards Christianity in stating "Family First in 2010 is independent of any church or denomination...like so many other Australian institutions, at Family First our Christian
heritage is something we are both proud of and grateful for."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sa-familyfirst.org.au/about.htm |title=Family First – South Australia |publisher=Family First |access-date=2010-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820120812/http://www.sa-familyfirst.org.au/about.htm |archive-date=20 August 2010 }}</ref>