Religion: Trouble for Oral

In the U.S., the Rev. Oral Roberts (TIME, July 11) is somebody. He regularly conducts faith-healing meetings over 300 radio and 115 TV stations, and draws crowds wherever he pitches his revival tent. Since Australia usually welcomes visiting U.S. performers with open arms, his campaign down under should have gone well. But even before he landed in Sydney, a group of Australian preachers denounced him as a "fraud and impostor."

Taken aback, Roberts replied: "I am but a child of God." But the press pounced on him. SALVATION CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN, headlined one paper. The national weekly Truth called him "at best a big blabbermouth." Sydney's Daily Telegraph demanded that he be "sent packing." Reporters discovered that Roberts had checked in at Sydney's swanky Glen Ascham Hotel under an assumed name. Said Roberts: "Christ has no objection to prosperity."

Natty Faith Healer Roberts stormed up and down his platform calling on the halt and lame to come forward. But adverse publicity kept the crowds small (5,000 in a tent that holds 14,000) and the contributions even smaller. Last week Healer Roberts moved on to Melbourne. His stated quota: 1,000,000 conversions before next July.