In her 2020 book Strange Rites, Tara Isabella Burton examined how an "eclectic spiritual hunger" is expressed in American society.

"People are finding the tenets or the building blocks of religious life [by] remixing religion," she said, referring to "the idea that you can get your ritual from Place A and your sense of meaning from Place B, your sense of community from Place C, and you can mix and match a little bit of yoga here, a little of sage cleansing there and still show up to church for Christmas Eve." Read more

• Unlike Germany, there is no state support for the churches here.
• Unlike the US, piety is not worn on one's sleeve.
• Attend a funeral or a wedding in New Zealand these days and what springs to mind is the incredible variety of what is on offer.
• Celebrants, or even MCs, are more common than priests or ministers.
• Grief at funerals is not encouraged.
• Ritual is remarkable for its absence.
• Recently I attended a pub where Jesus Christ was very much present, but of course in rollicking, unselfconscious expletive form!
• These days life in New Zealand feels very secular indeed.
• Pakeha Kiwis are uneasy about the term religion.

One often hears: "I'm not religious", meaning I'm not, or no longer, a member or adherent of any church.

In comparison with the 1950s, institutional religion has moved to the margins, become a niche interest.

This does not necessarily mean a lack of interest in spirituality. Spirituality, however, is such a vague term.

How far can we stretch it?

Would it include, for example, the Santa parade, which is the nearest we come to a traditional religious procession? Thin gruel, indeed!

The old "main line" religions — Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist — all tend to be tarred these days with a neocolonial brush, as having their cultural roots elsewhere.

This may partly explain the willingness to accept Maori rituals on community occasions, even when their content is largely Christian.

Maori now seems to function, as Latin once did, as the acceptable language for the numinous.

One suspects that the widespread loss of the churches' mana derives not only from recent revelations about sexual abuse, but from lingering, sometimes traumatic memories of religious bigotry and puritanism and narrowness. (Never apologised for, either.)

Interestingly, too, that the once vibrant liberal streams in Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Methodism and Roman Catholicism have virtually dried up as well.

Yet one cannot speak simply of decline.

The evidence points every which way.

• The social analysis and input of the Salvation Army continues to carry conviction.
• Kiwi hymn-writers such as Colin Gibson and Sheila Murray rank internationally in the premier division.
• The religious poetry of James K. Baxter or the art of Colin McCahon remain powerfully resonant.
• Religious music is an integral part of the offerings of choirs and orchestras and folk concerts.
• At the University of Otago, the theology programme is part of the nuts and bolts of the place, unthinkable a few decades ago.
• Congregations which offer pastoral warmth, liturgical colour, and an openness to the tough issues of the day continue to flourish.

In his Nobel Lecture, Seamus Heaney famously described humanity as "hunters and gatherers of values".

Kiwis very much resonate to that quest, as seen in the remarkable response to Jacinda Ardern's evocation of "kindness".

Traditional Christian virtues seem to re-emerge in new dress.

For many Kiwis, however, the loss of traditional church authority and control has proved immensely liberating, not least in the area of gender issues, and in the rejection of the secondary values of respectability and social conformity.

Yet is it not the case that for many the new household gods of career and consumerism and individualism which have elbowed out Christianity have led to a dramatic narrowing of horizons?

The banality of daily life tends then to be mirrored in the soulless weddings and funerals which one encounters so often.

Swept clean of religion, the culture is inundated with secular kitsch. Continue reading

• Peter Matheson is a Dunedin historian.

Non-religious groups have celebrated several of the new President's actions. These include rescinding a ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military; rejoining the Paris climate accords; and reversing the "Mexico City policy," (this bars federal funds to foreign aid groups that provide abortion counselling to their clients.)

But it is Biden's words that have rankled many in the secularist community, particularly his habit of infusing many important decisions and ceremonies with faith.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder and co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), said her inbox was "flooded with complaints" from her group's 30,000 members the day before the Presidential inauguration. Biden had included Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, in a ceremony commemorating the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus.

She noted that at the ceremony, held at the Lincoln Memorial, a nurse from Michigan offered the Christian hymn "Amazing Grace."

"For our membership, for nonreligious and non-Christian individuals, it was utterly spoiled," Gaylor said of the service.

Sarah Levin, program director for Secular Democrats of America, said that if prayer or invocation must be part of public celebrations secular voices should be included. "I worry that this administration's idea of interfaith outreach may tend to exclude nonbelievers," she said.

According to Pew Research, around 26% of Americans claim no religious affiliation.

Levin and other groups also criticized Biden's involvement in the National Prayer Breakfast. The annual event brings politicians together with religious leaders.

Levin said she preferred that the prayer breakfast not exist at all. Still, she suggested that if Biden continues to attend, he should push organizers to invite nonreligious voices. She hoped that the nonreligious would get a mention this year.

Sen. Chris Coons, the Delaware Democrat who co-chairs the breakfast, did in fact nod to the nonreligious while introducing the President.

"(Biden) is president for all Americans — Americans of faith, and Americans who practice no particular faith," he said.

Rachel Laser who heads Americans United for Separation of Church and State said if Biden must attend the prayer breakfast, he could take the opportunity to speak out against Christian nationalist insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol last month.

"There has never been a more important moment for a president to call out white Christian nationalists who so recently tried to overturn our government, and desecrated the most sacred part of our democracy, than now," she said.

Sources

Religion News Service

He is ignoring the repeated clarification that this is not the case.

However, that being said, there is another more fundamental issue; Seymour appears to belong to what Professor Robert George calls a "pseudo-religion", variously known as secular progressivism or expressive individualism.

"It functions like a religion," George says, "it is a source of meaning, it has got a set of dogmas; indeed it has a lot of the other indicia of religions. Saints and demons and holy days . . .

He says the idea that secular progressive ideology counts as neutrality is "deeply foolish."

One of the dogmas of this pseudo-religion is that "competing 'comprehensive views', be they secular or religious, certainly religious ones like Christianity, Islam, Judaism . . . must be restricted to the private precincts of the home or house of worship".

As with militants and fundamentalists in any religion, it brooks no dissent.

"They can't allow for freedom of conscience or freedom of speech or any other basic civil liberties. They want conformity; they want 'group-think'."

"Now why should anybody of any competing faith accept those terms?" George asked.

"We compete fairly in the public square with you... you have no authority to shut us down."

"You make your arguments, we will make our arguments and then we are going to use the processes of deliberative democracy to resolve the questions until they get opened back up in the ordinary institutions of democratic governance for reconsideration, if, indeed, they do.

George is director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

He was speaking in a Facebook interview with New Zealand's Brendan Malone of Left Foot Media on September 7.

Source

• youtube.com
• nzcatholic.org.nz
• Source: independencedaily.co.uk

The data from last year's census, released this week, shows that 48.59 per cent of New Zealanders indicated 'no religion' in 2018, up from 41.92 per cent in the 2013 census.

The number of New Zealanders without any religion has overtaken the number of Christians for the first time.

The findings have prompted lobby group Humanist NZ to call an end to "discrimination" that they claim non-religious New Zealanders face.

"Christianity has a privileged position in public policy today that is out of step with modern New Zealand," said Jolene Phipps, president of Humanist NZ.

"From parliamentary prayers to classrooms 'closing' during the school day so that Christian groups can run religious instruction, the concessions awarded to religious organisations clash with human rights and our concept of a free and fair society."

The latest census records that there are 663 humanists in New Zealand.

Out of the different Christian churches, Anglicans topped the list at 314,913, while 295,734 people identified as Roman Catholic, 221,199 as Presbyterian and 52,743 as Methodist.

The Census figures show an increasing number of people who follow other religions than Christianity.

The number of Muslims or those practising Islam has risen from 46,149 in 2013 to 61,455 in 2018.

Hinduism has increased to 40,908 in 2018, while Sikhs more than double to 40,908.

Satanism had 1149 adherents, more than Scientologists (321) and Druids (189), but below Wiccans (1482) and Jedi (20,409).

Source

• sightmagazine.com.au
• newshub.co.nz
• tvnz.co.nz
• Image: 218 New Zealand census

The majority want change. It is just that they were split about what the change should be.

Mallard appeared before the governance and administration select committee at Parliament on Wednesday morning to speak to the petition, from John Trezise, to remove religion from the parliamentary prayer, oaths, and national anthem.

He told committee members that it would be impossible to get consensus on the matter.

"There were submissions to me from both sides, people saying 'how dare you in a secular country have God in the opening of Parliament?' and people who wanted to revert to something that was strictly a Christian prayer.

"We won't satisfy everyone but I am satisfied that the balance is about right."

Mallard said he thought Parliament should be an inclusive place, "and we have people of different religious beliefs who were not comfortable as MPs with the prayer as it was."

He said replacing the word "Jesus" with "god" would allow people to "respect the particular god in which they believed but without an Anglican prayer which excluded groups of Christians and all non-Christians."

After the meeting, Mallard said feedback:

• largely fell into three groups: supporting the former Christian prayer, the current one with a reference to God but not Jesus Christ, and those wanting no reference to God.
• About 40 per cent of MP in favour of the Christian prayer, 30 per cent supporting the new prayer, and 30 per cent who wanted no religious references.
• Email feedback strongly favoured keeping the former Christian prayer
• Religious leaders were much more supportive of the new prayer because it was more inclusive.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• newshub.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

Today's Europe, where pluralism and secularism have changed the dynamic between Europe's citizens and their relationship with one of the continent's oldest institutions.

What do you think it means to be Catholic in Europe today? What are the core values that a Catholic should represent?

We must remember that for centuries Europe has been a collection of Christian countries.

After antiquity, a Christian culture was established in Europe.

From the 17th century and during the Enlightenment, particularly during the French Revolution, little by little the Church found that Europe was no longer an entirely Christian society.

It is a pluralistic society, a secular society, where there are also other beliefs.

I believe that being a Catholic in modern Europe means being part of this scenario.

It is the desire to live together while respecting others.

The Church is not here to "reconquer lost ground". This is not its mission.

To be Catholic is to be faithful to one's convictions in an environment that has changed to a pluralistic society.

This implies respect for human being and his or her beliefs.

We must always be respectful of each other, to accept the person as he or she is, without wanting to impose ourselves on an individual person or on society.

However, we have a mission inside this society.

We have convictions and values that we want to defend.

It must also be noted that there is interfaith solidarity and this is the mission of the Catholic Church.

We stand in solidarity with all those who strive for a more just and more fraternal society.

If we fight for the respect of freedom of religion, it is because we agree with secularised society, but within this society, we have values to defend.

The Catholic Church does not oppose a secularised society.

Citizens have the right to believe or not to believe and I stand for that.

What are the challenges that the Catholic Church is facing nowadays in terms of its role in Europe?

Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Church in Europe, and it's also an opportunity, because it helps us to rediscover our roots and our mission, is to wholeheartedly accept secularised society.

It must be understood that Christianity was, for a long time, the cultural religion in Europe.

Today this is no longer the case.

And it would be dangerous to go back because it is always dangerous to have one religious tradition that obtains a monopoly.

This is true for Christianity, for Islam…for any religion.

The Catholic Church must accept these new cultural circumstances.

It requires a certain conversion from the Church.

For me, personally, and I believe that also this is the case for many bishops in our Church, I see this as an opportunity as this forces us to rediscover ourselves and meet each other.

Some people say that the Catholic Church is looking for power, as in the past.

This is not true.

What we claim is the right to be who we are.

This applies to everyone, to all religions, and to non-believers too.

For us, for the Catholic Church, it was The Second Vatican Council that signalled a fundamental change regarding openness. Before Vatican II, the Church had trouble accepting modernity, but Vatican II said "it's over, a dead end.

It's fruitless and it's not the truth".

This is no reason to condemn the past, it's just that the historical circumstances have changed. It's not good to live life through nostalgia and for a past that is no longer possible. Continue reading

• Image: New Europe

Hogg kept her 7-year-old son home from school last week to avoid lessons about the Christian origins of Christmas.

She said she was unhappy her son's class was being asked to act out the nativity and take part in discussions about Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

So on Wednesday, her son stayed home from Stanmore Bay School in the north Auckland suburb of Whangaparaoa.

Her son didn't want to join in the activities because he didn't believe in God, but he was "upset" by the only other alternative - going to another classroom.

Hogg said the saga started when her son had a schoolyard debate about who Christmas presents came from - his parents or Santa.

He came home upset after a teacher told him off, Hogg said.

In a letter to the principal, she said it was "awfully hypocritical" for her son to be told to keep his beliefs to himself, only for the school to offer a forum for Christian students to discuss their beliefs about Christmas.

"While it is absolutely fine for children to hold their own discussions on Santa and religion on the playground, it should not be teacher-led within the classroom," she wrote.

Stanmore Bay School principal Matt Sides said the school was looking into the concerns raised.

"The intention of this whanau (team of learners) has been teaching traditional stories, myths and legends across the term," he said.

Under the draft Ministry of Education guidelines, primary and intermediate schools will have to ask families for their consent to give religious instruction and would have to provide alternatives for those who refuse.

The Secular Education Network (SEN) applauded Hogg's stand, but faith leaders expressed disappointment.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• newstalkzb.co.nz
• Image youtube.com

But the United States also have comparatively high levels of committed Christians.

The study analysed 84 countries with sizeable Christian populations.

In 35 of those countries, at least two-thirds of all Christians say religion is very important in their lives.

All but three of these 35 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. (The three exceptions are the US, Malaysia and the Philippines.)

New Zealand was not included in the study but, in Australia, 27% of Christians said that religion was very important in their lives.

The United States remains an outlier among wealthy countries in terms of its relatively high levels of religious commitment.

In the US, more than two-thirds of Christians say religion is very important in their lives, compared with significantly lower levels in other rich democracies. For instance, only 12% of Christian adults in Germany and 11% in the United Kingdom say religion is very important in their lives.

Levels of religious salience are particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa: over 75% in every country surveyed in the region say religion is very important to them.

At the other end of the spectrum, levels of religious importance are lowest among Christians in Europe, where deaths outnumber births among Christians.

Prayer frequency is lowest among Christians in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Malaysia, where fewer than 10% of Christians pray daily.

Likewise, fewer than 10% of Christians report attending church weekly in nine European countries including Denmark, Estonia and Russia.

Source

• pewresearch.org
• Image: newsweek.com

Bruce Hill has for many years reported for RNZ and ABC on Pacific issues. He says current secularism in the more developed nations is not exactly looked on with favour by many in the islands.

Christianity, he says, is often seen as a foundation of national identity in most parts of the region, and anything that might weaken it tends to be regarded as a threat.

"Sometimes we in developed nations fail to grasp that not everything we do, no matter how well-intentioned, is entirely welcomed in developing countries."

Hill suggests that NGOs should consider using people of faith when they are delivering their development programmes.

People of faith, he says "Can speak the language of religion and understand the concerns of people.

"And rightly or not, they seem to feel vulnerable about what is sometimes seen as an irreligious Western cultural tide bent on sweeping everything before it."

Hill tells a story about an NGO worker he once met on a flight to a Pacific Island nation.

She was going to facilitate a symposium on gender issues, focusing on boosting the number of women in that country's parliament.

"It turned out that one of her reasons for joining this particular NGO and taking an interest in the Pacific was a sense of needing to make up for her grandmother's work many years earlier.

Her grandmother had been (and here her voice dropped to a whisper) "a missionary in the islands."

"I can still see that NGO worker striding through the airport, off to bring the light to those sitting in darkness, with supreme self-confidence in the correctness of her cause," says Hill.

Source

• lowyinstitute.org
• lowyinstitute.org
• Image: www.wvi.org

This is just one of the many findings contained in the Faith and Belief in New Zealand report released last month.

The 67-page report contains a massive number of statistics and many easy to understand infographics.

Here just are a few examples of the information contained in the report.

Of those who took part in the study:

• 26% are warm towards Christianity
• 31% are cold towards Christianity
• Their attitude towards Christianity is most likely to be shaped by their parents and family (57%)
• The main blocker that stops them from engaging with Christianity is the Church's stance and teaching on homosexuality (47%)
• Almost as many are influenced by the idea that a loving God would allow people to go to hell (45%)
• Church abuse has the greatest negative influence (76% massive/significant negative influence)
• 69% think Christians do not practice what they preach
• 25% know fewer than two Christians
• 9% of these don't know any Christians
• 22% know nothing at all about the Church in New Zealand
• 60% know a little or a moderate amount about the Church in New Zealand
• 56% don't know their local church well at all
• 51% take a neutral stance regarding the impact of the church in their local area
• They appreciate the work the Church does in helping those in need
• They most value the work of the Church and Christian organisations in providing disaster relief
• Two-thirds value the Church and Christian organisations' work in looking after people who are homeless, offering financial assistance/food relief programmes and providing aged care facilities.

The report was commissioned by the Wilberforce Foundation. It explores attitudes towards religion, spirituality and Christianity in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The research was undertaken during March and April 2018 by mccrindle, a research company based in Baulkham Hills, Australia.

The research employed qualitative and quantitative methods to explore Kiwi perceptions and attitudes towards Christianity, the Church and Jesus.

These methods included a nationally representative survey of Kiwis, a series of focus groups with non-Christians and analysis of Census data from Statistics New Zealand.

Read the report

Source

nzfaithandbeliefstudy.files.wordpress.com

Tokoroa Christmas Parade coordinator Tony Williams said he's disappointed by the lack of Christians supporting the annual Carols in the Park event, which coincides with the parade as part of the Tokoroa Big Weekend in December.

"I confess to being an atheist, but I will defend and promote their right to do something with their Christian festival," he said.

"It is basically their celebration. If anyone ... can get the churches to get their A into G and support Christmas, I very much would welcome it."

The Anglican bishop of Taranaki and Waikato, Philip Richardson, commended Williams on his push to keep the Carols in the Park going and said it would be sad if it were cancelled.

Some believe the decrease in religious affiliation may be affecting support for celebrating Christmas in some communities.

Statistics New Zealand data from the 2001, 2006 and 2013 censuses shows a decline in people saying they are Christian and an increase in people saying they have no religion.

Richardson says there is a difference between cultural adherence - people who would call themselves Anglican due to their family history - and those who would say they attend church on a regular basis.

He says his church's own data contradicts the census figures. It shows actual church attendance has increased by 7 percent over the past 10 years.

"What we know is that on the whole, our church attendances were declining, then plateaued and have now started to increase."

He has seen a gradual increase in both regions in participation in traditional Christmas activities such as Christmas carols.

But he concedes it does vary from community to community.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: violetology.com

In a proposed change to the parliamentary prayer, which is said at the beginning of each session of Parliament, mention of Jesus and the Queen have been removed.

Although the consultation period for the new prayer isn't over, the Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard, has already started using the new wording.

Friday's Panel on RNZ reported that the while Catholics and Anglicans had no objection to the change, Baptists had expressed concern about it.

In an interview with the Jim Mora, Ian Hudson, director of the Salvation Army's Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, said while he hadn't had time to have a "straw vote" on the matter, he thought many Salvationists would wish the name of Jesus Christ to continue to be included.

He said to do so recognises the "connections to our values and all the things that underpin parliament."

Hudson said they would hate to see the spiritual element taken away from Parliament.

Senior Labour MP Damien O'Connor, a Catholic, has cautioned against change.

"They have to be careful that we don't move too far from processes that have kept this place in good stead in an ethical, moral and principled way," he told Radio NZ's Morning Report.

His colleague Aupito William Sio, a Mormon, had an open mind: "In this day and age, I think there's a strong feeling of people wanting the prayer to be more inclusive, recognising that many of my colleagues do not acknowledge the existence of Jesus Christ."

Stuff has reported that a more extreme change - including the removal of religious references and adding more Maori references - had been proposed but was rejected.

Listen to the Panel discussion

Source

• Stuff
• New Zealand Herald
• RNZ
• Image Mark Mitchell /New Zeland Herald

Retail NZ supported the "liberalisation" the bill provided. It should be up to businesses to decide for themselves whether they wanted to open on any day of the year, spokesman Greg Harford said.

When questioned by the commerce committee last Thursday as to whether that extended to Good Friday, or even Christmas, Harford said: "We would ideally like to see no restrictions on shop trading hours." Continue reading

Parliament is currently considering legislation that would allow local councils to decide whether shops stay open on Easter Sunday within their boundaries or within smaller, specific areas.

But at a meeting on Wednesday, many Wellington city councillors saw this as little more than the Government getting local councils to pass laws it did not have "the intestinal fortitude" to pass itself. Continue reading

As recently as last year she wasn't considered good enough to go to the Commonwealth Games.

A nice player, and person, questions existed about whether the theology student was robust enough for international netball.

Rasmussen says her rule book is The Bible and the "coach" she wishes to please the most is God.

The Auckland sports star, who went to the Netball World Cup in Sydney with the Silver Ferns, recites her favourite passage from Colossians when describing what inspires her passion on the court. "‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,'" she quotes.

"My relationship with God has helped with my priorities. Before, I used to play to impress the selectors.

Rasmussen credits her increased focus on religion as a major cause for the way she has been able to relax on the court and let her skills do the talking.

"It's changed my mindset," she said.

"Now I realise playing netball is a gift from God. So I give glory to him and use the talent he has blessed me with."

For the last two years, Grace (27) has been juggling her hectic sports commitments with studying at Auckland's Laidlaw College, a bible school.

"People ask me if I want to be a pastor, but that's not the reason I'm studying. I'm from a family of eight, and my father Sam and mother Ruta would go to our Pacific Island church every week. I'm attending bible college to strengthen my connection to God."

Grace admits that people who are not Christian can sometimes judge those who have a strong faith.

But that doesn't faze her at all. "There's a misconception that Christians are boring."

"For me, it's the total opposite - it's exciting. I think I live a pretty normal life, while trying not to compromise any of my beliefs."

Source

• nzwomansweekly.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

He said he was conscious that New Zealand is a very secular country and often a Christian voice doesn't get much of a hearing in the media.

"People have a stereotypical picture that to have a Christian faith is to believe in something superstitious or irrational."

"I wanted to make sense of Christianity for secular people. There are major problems, like the problem of suffering, which is a very genuine stumbling block to faith."

Hay said he had some difficulty getting his book published.

He tried mainstream publishers, such as Penguin Random House, and "the general response was it's well-written and interesting and not our thing".

Eventually an Auckland-based Christian publisher, DayStar Books, published it.

Hay also experienced a lack of interest from mainstream booksellers.

"Whitcoulls' national buyer turned me down sight unseen," he said.

Since publication in November 2014, he has sold 1600 copies.

Finding the Forgotten God recently won the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Award for books on spiritual matters.

In his review of the book Bosco Peters says" Ron's approach is clearly within the evangelical stable."

"His chapter on the cross assumes that Christ dying "for us" and "for our sins" means penal substitutionary atonement."

"But his God is a positive image; his Jesus, one whom people would want to know."

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: prweek.com

"That is pretty much what I found during two weeks of lectures and sermons across New Zealand."

Gushee identified 4 overlapping challenges to religion which he believes are common to both countries.

1) Both countries are becoming more secular

Steadily shrinking percentages of the people in both New Zealand and the United State claim Christian commitment.

2) Churches are suffering from thinning understandings of the meaning of commitment

"When I first became a "born-again" Christian in the 1970s, the expectation and practice was that we would be in church three times a week - Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night — along with the weekly tithe of 10% of income to the church."

"But both in New Zealand and here, high commitment these days looks more like one to two visits a month, and giving is more irregular among many."

3) Our denominations and congregations are affected by politicised ideological and moral divisions

The left/right polarisation on today's sex-related social issues looks pretty similar in New Zealand churches to what it looks like in the United States.

Some of these differences are contributing both to internal conflicts and difficulty in mustering a public voice.

4) Our pastors struggle to meet the challenges of the era.

• They do everything they can and still numbers decline
• They start contemporary services for younger people while retaining traditional services for the Boomer set
• They try to shepherd flocks that are hard to get a grasp on because it's a different congregation every week
• They have to navigate theological, ethical, and political land-mines, any of which can blow up already vulnerable congregations

Gushee also noted some significant differences between the two countrys:

• Politics in New Zealand overall falls further to the left. New Zealand is much more like a European liberal social democracy
• New Zealand is much more "green"
• New Zealand is much more peacemaking-oriented. This extends to most Christians as well
• He was impressed by New Zealand's efforts to build a genuinely bicultural society in relation to its indigenous Maori population — and a genuinely multicultural society related to other immigrants
• Christian voices in the public square appear overall to be stronger in the United States than in New Zealand. The general sense is that public discourse hums along in New Zealand without a significant Christian presence
• Earlier denominational efforts to fund public-issues research or public-affairs officers seem largely to have been abandoned

Source

• davidgushee.religionnews.com
• Image: davidgushee.religionnews.com

"A common sign of this secularization is the emergence of social, political, and economical spheres in which religious influence is declining."

Boniface says the Papua New Guinea constitution has two pints of reference: ‘our noble traditions' and ‘the Christian principles'.

"The question is what happened to those noble traditions and the Christian principles since the time when European culture and civilization met the people of PNG?"

He says when a culture/civilization meets another culture/civilization changes will take place and there is the danger that the dominated society gets disorientated because of all the changes; that it loses its bearings.

Source

• wantokniuspepa.com
• Image: materialworldblog.com