Need of a new generation of Māori apologists and academics

Why might we need a new generation of Māori evangelists, apologists and academics?

This YouTube video gave me awareness of a new Victoria University of Wellington study on indigenous people’s rejecting Christianity. Click here for the video.

• Those involved included Sara Rahmani, Peter Adds and Rebekah Senanayake – with Sara participating in the creation of the above summary video.

Comment:

Their study revealed that some of the growing portion of Māori who are religiously identifying as ‘nones’ (no religion) in our New Zealand census are doing so not as a religious position, but rather as a cultural statement.

• Their religious position is a part of a wider pushing back against an understandings they have developed related to colonial oppression.
• This is causing them to think a rejection of Christianity is needed to better-affirm their Māori identity.
• Their chosen religious identification isn’t therefore so-much a religious position as a political one.

Regarding polytheism

The video articulates how the polytheistic worldview of Māori saw the divine, human and natural worlds as connected together. About 70 different gods descended from Ranginui (the Sky Father) and Papatūanuku (the Earth Mother) to oversee different areas of life. Humans are also descended from these great gods of the sky and land. The spiritual and the natural are intertwined.

I not at that this way of thinking is common to most of our ancient ancestors, globally speaking. It isn’t unique. We are wise to remember this – because the cultural shifts we are with are also, therefore, not unique.

Regarding wrong-doing

however, what has to be accepted (negatively) is that our government through the late 1900s and early 20th centuries did much to erase Māori culture and tradition.

• Their actions, however, were not undertaken because of a vendetta against Māori, but more-so undertaken out of ignorance.
• As the European population exploded, by 1880 becoming 10 times that of Māori, the Māori language was removed from education. Education regarding Māori ancestry, culture, traditions and beliefs was all removed.
• It was not just land that was being progressively lost as new presumptive laws were passed – like the Public Works act of 1925; histories related to Māori cultural identity were also being erased. No matter the reason, it was wrong!

The tragedy of what is happening, I suggest, is in the prejudice being reflected, targeted specifically, unjustly and also incorrectly against the Christian faith.

• The very same trend is in play in our own times regarding the Christian origins of many of our nations most treasured and beneficial values.
• This present prejudice is, without a doubt, connected to the same among our Māori, leading to this increase in the ‘nones’. Christianity is being used as a scapegoat.

The study revealed that there are decisions being made regarding (against) Christian  religion on the basis of a bias against Christianity, arising from perception being given that Christianity was party to the colonisation of Māori. Christianity is thereby seen as  a ‘tool’ – and its embrace contrary to their cultural identity.

What stood out to me was the timeframe involved. Some who had taken this position had done so on the basis of things learned in just the past five years.  This points not only to the power of storytelling, but also our present failure as New Zealanders and Christians to tell our own cultural story – because the claim that Christianity caused colonisation is unfair at best, and in reality, destructive to the common good.

Some have chosen ‘no religion’ for fear of being judged or rejected by their families, who are becoming entrenched in the anti-Christian narrative. Few anywhere on planet Earth have the moral fortitude to stand for something they believe to be true when it is in contrast to the popular consensus of their primary community. This isn’t a rational choice as much as a cultural one – based on perceptions that others are giving them.

An idea I’ve written about elsewhere regarding the perceived present renaissance taking place with regard to Māori Atua is that this is actually being led by white men and women as a subset of the ‘virtue signalling’ subculture on the far left. This is to say, a religious synergy exists between anti-Christian liberal academics and those now embracing the worship of Māori Atua. It is also a trend that is both funded and led; none of these kinds of changes are accidental.

Toward an application

It seems clear to me that we are in great need of courageous and competent Māori apologists (‘evangelists’ / ‘academics’), who can engage through storytelling to bring balance to the narratives that are being propagated.

It is through an ignorance of history, not a knowledge of history, that Christianity is being rejected. I have written elsewhere on this. The irony of disrespect this is to many of our nations greatest Christian heroes – who were Māori chiefs – stands out.

Without a doubt, a concurrent critique can be levelled against some who were Christians. They chose the wrong side of history – following culture in the same manner that many those who are currently turning against the Christian ironically are. No excuses are acceptable. The colonial overreach of our history was significant and wrong.

however, regarding a correct relationship between religion, rationality and culture – spokespeople are needed. A belief in human rationality and freewill not only aligns specifically and belief in a single Creator God; a study of the natural world similar points toward the existence of an excessively intelligent Creator or our world. This isn’t a matter of culture. The pursuit of true religion sits above culture – not underneath it – applying equally to us all. All people – irrespective of culture – are surely therefore equal in their call to seek and pursue what is true, good and right.

The subjugation of this endeavour in the name of culture is therefore a great shame, and something that should be challenged. All human beings have equally been given intellect – while equally living within a world that exhibits an intelligence and ability to design and critique that is far about our own.

The distortions of history being used to lead to a contrary conclusion therefore need addressing. Christianity has become the scapegoat.

To put this in spiritual language for those who believe in a spiritual realm – surely the devil himself is at work in the way this history is being distorted.

We need a new generation of Māori  evangelists, apologists and academics, who can research and tell the story.

 

Looking forwards: Further engagement from some of our leading Christian Māori with Sara Rahmani, Peter adds, Rebekah Senanayake – who behind this study – might have benefit, and certainly would be interesting.

 

Concluding statements

The distortions of history that are shaping current thinking need addressing. From the Christian perspective – only then will Christ be seen for who he is.

As one positive byproduct, the intensity of interracial tension some are being caused to feel could be helped to subside. Some of this division isn’t necessary. However, imbalances need addressing first – which the telling of history be a mechanism for.

May God raise up more voices to tell his-story  within our history, with discernment, that any popular narrative that is untrue might find its needed balance.