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...