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Destiny Church Angry At Proposed Secular NZ Brand
Scoop News: Destiny Church Angry At Proposed 'Secular NZ' Brand
By Joseph Barratt – AUT
Thousands of protesters angry at a proposed “secular New Zealand” brand advanced by Prime Minister Helen Clark marched against the interfaith talks at Waitangi on Tuesday.
The march, led by Destiny Church Bishop Brian Tamaki, saw over a thousand people from across the nation come to protest against a government's proposal in the National Statement on Religious Diversity.
The statement on religious diversity is one of the documents that the interfaith talks are based on.
The protest was against the first principle in the statement “New Zealand has no established or official religion.”
Destiny Church demands the government include recognition of New Zealand’s Christian background.
It claims its members are not after the imposition of a Christian state but rather they want the government to recognize and protect New Zealand’s “Christian heritage” for future generations.
But later at a press conference, Helen Clark dismissed suggestions that the interfaith talks were not truly representing Christians in New Zealand.
Helen Clark said the inclusion of religious leaders from the Catholic and Anglican Church represented a large number of Christians. And, Manuka Henare, the leader of the New Zealand delegation at the talks, said Christians are highly represented as are other faiths which have come to represent a diverse New Zealand.
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