A Christian Nation?

I’ve previously blogged my disagreement with Archbishop Tamaki’s assertion that Christianity is NZ’s state religion. Specifically I disagree with his assertion that the parliamentary prayer should continue to refer to “the Christian god Jesus Christ”, when we have MPs of other faiths in Parliament.

But is there a middle ground between Tamaki claiming NZ’s official religion should be Christianity, and the declaration that “New Zealand has no official or established religion”.

What I am thinking is some sort of acknowledgement about the role of Christianity in our history, because there is no doubt for many years we were very much a “Christian nation” even if we are not today.

I recall this debate when the EU was writing the proposed Constitution for the EU. There was significant criticism of the fact that it didn’t even mention the role of Christianity in the history of Europe. And it was ridiculous to not make mention of that, as it was probably the biggest influence of the last 2,000 years. I mean my God we even had Holy Roman Emperors up until 1806.

I can understand the concerns many Christians have that over time we may lose Christian traditions such as Christmas and Easter. I agree they are very much a part of NZ, even if they do not have the religious significance they once did.

So while not supporting any concept of Christianity being an official or state religion, some recognition of its special status or heritage would not be a bad thing.