This article discusses Christian politics in New Zealand.
The monarch of New Zealand, who is New Zealand's head of state, is also the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. But the country itself, unlike the United Kingdom, has no official or established religion, and freedom of religion has been protected since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.At the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, Governor Hobson affirmed, in response to a question from Catholic Bishop Pompallier, "the several faiths (beliefs) of England, of the Wesleyans, of Rome, and also Māori custom shall alike be protected". Although this was not added to the written text, it is sometimes referred to as the "Fourth Article". As of the 2018 census, 37% of New Zealanders were affiliated with a Christian religion of some denomination, compared with 48% who had no religion, 9% who followed another religion, and 7% who objected to answering. There are a range of views on the extent to which Christianity affects New Zealand politics.
During the nineteenth century, many church-oriented bodies sponsored and fostered several of the original European settlement-ventures in the period 1840–1850, notably the settlements of Otago (1848, Free Church of Scotland) and Canterbury (1850, Church of England)—and many evangelicals, fundamentalists and conservative Catholics see Christianity as underlying New Zealand's entire political system.
On the other hand, a notable politician of the late 19th century, Sir Robert Stout, had a considerable reputation as a freethinker.
Christianity has never had an explicit role in the major political parties, and the religious elements in these parties have taken varying forms, and cannot easily be classified as a single movement.
Māori Christianity, particularly the Rātana movement has often been of importance, with an historic alliance between it and the Labour Party signed in 1936, and many other parties now vying for their support, but this is generally regarded as a political rather than religious matter.
In the 1990s a series of Christian political parties such as Christian Heritage, the Christian Democrats, the Christian Coalition and Destiny New Zealand arose out of a Christian conservative strand in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in reaction to a perceived decline of social standards; but none reached 5% of the vote in any election. To date, the same has been true of the New Conservative Party, New Zeal Party and Freedoms New Zealand, their contemporary successors in the 2020s.
Before the 1970s: debates over prohibition and capital punishment
Before the establishment of major specifically Christian parties in the 1970s, evangelical or fundamentalist Christianity had had little specific effect on mainstream New Zealand politics in society. While the Baptist Union endeavoured to get alcohol-prohibition policies passed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Catholic Church urged its members to vote against such laws, concerned that the measures would outlaw wine for the Eucharist. A referendum on prohibition took place in 1919, but the return of demobilised New Zealand soldiers from World War I defeated the measure. Evangelical and Catholic New Zealanders did not respond as corporate institutions to the debates on capital punishment in New Zealand in the thirties, forties and fifties, but individual laypeople and clergy did make their opposition heard. The Anglican Church of New Zealand became more forthright in its opposition to the death penalty, and as the largest Christian denomination in New Zealand, it made its presence felt.
Christianity within mainstream political parties Neither the Labour Party nor the National Party, the two traditional dominant mainstream political parties in New Zealand since the 1930s, represent explicitly religious traditions. Nevertheless, both parties have occasionally contained people who saw their political mission in religious terms. A number of early politicians, both in Labour and in National, saw their respective political ideologies as an extension of "Christian values".
In the early Labour Party a significant sub-set of the party promoted what one might call "Christian socialism", New Zealand's first Labour Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage is said to have personified Labour's "Applied Christianity". Labour won an overwhelming victory by presenting itself as the party of practical Christian compassion, in contrast to the "anti-family" depression-era coalition government. It was in this context that Savage—who would later return to his Roman Catholic roots—described Labour's Social Security Act (1938), intended to afford security for all New Zealanders 'from cradle to grave', as 'applied Christianity'.John Stenhouse. 'Religion and society – Religion and politics', Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 23-Mar-2011.
A number of early Labour politicians had Christian backgrounds. One of the first leaders of the Labour Party, HE Holland (1919–1933), had been a street preacher with the Salvation Army in Australia prior to his migration to New Zealand.Barry Gustafson, 'Rise of the Labour Party', New Zealand's Heritage, 6:2117-18. Savage's successor, Peter Fraser (1940–49), reflected in his personal life on the lasting impact of his Scottish Presbyterian upbringing, and the next leader, Walter Nash, was "an avowed Christian strongly committed to the Anglican Church".GA Wood, "Church and State in the Furthest Reach of Western Christianity", in John Stenhouse (ed.) Christianity, Modernity and Culture (Adelaide: ATF Press, 2005), 226–27. Subsequent Labour Party leaders also had church backgrounds. Arnold Nordmeyer, the leader of the Labour Party in opposition from 1963 to 1965, was an ordained Presbyterian minister. David Lange, (Prime Minister 1984–1989) was Methodist,'David Lange: New Zealand's Prime Minister', Third Way, Feb 1986, p. 11. while Norman Kirk (Prime Minister 1972–74) was raised by devout members of The Salvation Army.Margaret Hayward, 'Norman Kirk's Early Life: Defining Experiences', in Margaret Clark (ed.) Three Labour Leaders: Nordmeyer, Kirk, Rowling (Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 2001), 95; Michael Bassett. 'Kirk, Norman Eric – Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10
Such church connections are also present in the National Party. For example, Keith Holyoake (Prime Minister 1957, 1960–72), was "brought up in a strict Open Brethren environment", and in later years was an irregular attender of the Presbyterian church. John Marshall (deputy Prime Minister 1957, 1960–72; Prime Minister 1972) was active in the Presbyterian church,GA Wood, "Church and State in the Furthest Reach of Western Christianity", in John Stenhouse (ed.) Christianity, Modernity and Culture (Adelaide: ATF Press, 2005), n. 75, p. 227. while Robert Muldoon (Prime Minister 1975–84) was raised as a Baptist and continued as a church member until he married and became an Anglican like his wife Thea.Barry Gustafson, His way: a biography of Robert Muldoon (Auckland: AUP, 2000), 32.
The National Party, the ostensibly more socially conservative of the two "major" traditional parties, apparently received increasing proportional support from religiously identifiable voters between 2002 and 2005.See figures in R. Miller, Politics and Government of New Zealand, 4th ed. 2006; and on the NZ Election Study website.
Also, the Rātana movement has some influence in New Zealand politics (see Māori Christianity, below).
In , however, religion has not usually formed a major component of either Labour or National platforms—and three of the last four prime ministers have described themselves as agnostic.Young, A. "Insults get personal between Clark and Brash", New Zealand Herald, 16 March 2004. Retrieved 25 July 2017. Christopher Luxon, the opposition leader since 2021 and Prime Minister from 2023, is described as Evangelical. Michael Wood, former transport minister in the sixth Labour Government, is a practising Anglican.
Evangelical political activism: anti-abortion activism in the 1970s Beginning in the 1970s a significant increase in activism by New Zealand evangelical and conservative Catholic-based organisations occurred. Much of this opposed reforms undertaken by governments. In the 1970s and 1980s, two significant campaigns opposed the liberalisation of abortion rules and the legalisation of homosexual acts. Perhaps surprisingly, members of the generally conservative National Party (George Gair and Venn Young, respectively) championed each of these legislative measures. Organisations such as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (now Voice for Life) and the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS) served as a focus for Christian conservatism. Eventually, the conservatives won their initial battles against homosexual law reform, but lost their ongoing battle over abortion during the late seventies and early eighties. For more about the history of the New Zealand abortion debate, see abortion in New Zealand.
Liberal Protestant activism: 1981–2001 Mainline Protestant churches became involved with ending sporting contacts with South Africa during the apartheid era ( 1948–1994), culminating when many liberal Protestants and Catholics participated in mass protests against the New Zealand Rugby Football Union's 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand. Shortly afterward, many of the same liberal Christians participated in the peace movement of the 1980s, which resulted in New Zealand becoming a declared nuclear free zone in 1987. During the New Zealand National Party governments of the 1990s, these liberal Christians became involved in organising against New Right cutbacks to social-welfare benefits (cutbacks supported by the New Zealand Business Roundtable, ACT New Zealand and similar organisations).
Evangelical political activism: 1980s: moral activism By the early 1980s, the Christian evangelical revival of the 1960s had developed into a social movement that utilised community and political action in response to "moral" issues. These developments were influenced by the emergence of a vocal Christian Right in the Reagan-era United States, represented by figures such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and groups such as the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. As with their American counterparts, these conservative evangelicals opposed homosexuality, abortion, feminism, sex education, and supported traditional family and moral values. Opposition by conservative elements within mainstream denominations towards a perceived "liberal trend" led to a decline in church membership by 7 percent between 1976 and 1981. By contrast, church membership at more conservative denominations, such as the Pentecostal churches, rose by 127 percent during that period.
In March 1985, Labour's Fran Wilde introduced a new homosexual law reform bill. This became a moral issue for New Zealand religious conservatives to rally against. Two National members of parliament, Graeme Lee and Norman Jones, organised a petition against the bill; and three Labour MPs, Geoff Braybrooke, Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, and Allan Wallbank supported their campaign. A number of activists from the United States provided advice. At about the same time, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCC) formed, using the motto "For God, Family and Country", while many liberal Anglicans and Methodists formed a "Christians for Homosexual Law Reform" network to counter their efforts. The campaign against homosexual law reform eventually failed, however, and the bill became law in 1986.