By any definition the Ratana Church is a cult in much the same way as Bishop Brian Tamaki's Destiny Church. Ratana preached that his way was 'the' way. Tamaki , same same. What's the difference?
Do we see 'our; leaders line up to do homage to the Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist etc etc faithful ... no way, and if they did there would be an outcry pointing to the need for separation of Church and State.
In all those Churches mentioned there will be represented supporters of each and every political party. That is to be expected.
So why is it deemed necessary to pay unseemly homage to a Church whose adherents are a minority in Maoridom and, by my count, has just two MPs adherents in Parliament?
Time for Key, Shearer, Norman/Turei, Peters, et al to back off.
7 comments:
No you are not the only one who wonders and I have to agree with the analogy to Destiny as they do seem to be one and the same.
As an aside the only Ratana family I have met turned out to be very dodgy.
You are bang on.
You sum up my feelings very accurately Veteran, good post.
Yep. I think there's some sort of voodoo type hold over the politicians - nothing else makes sense.
Funny thing, it was only yesterday I was thinking David Shearer should make a pilgrimage to Destiny Church if he wants to be 'forward looking.' Destiny is today and doubtless has more members - Ratana is soooo last century, just like trade unions.
Your blog shows cultural ignorance.
The alliance between the Rātana Church and the Labour Party was cemented at an historic meeting between Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana and Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage on 22 April 1936.
In 1928 T.W. Rātana announced his intention to enter politics, referring to the four Maori seats as the ‘four quarters’ of his body. He aimed to win these seats through the voting power of his followers, who were said to number 40,000 by 1934.
In 1932 Eruera Tirikatene became the first Rātana MP when he won a by-election for Southern Maori. He was instructed to support the then Labour opposition. Rātana favoured the Labour Party because it had consulted his supporters when devising its Māori policy. When Labour won a landslide election victory in 1935 the Rātana movement took a second seat, Western Maori.
At the 1936 meeting Rātana presented Savage with four symbolic gifts. Three huia feathers, representing Maori, protruded from a potato, which symbolised the land taken from Maori, leaving them unable to grow the staple crop. A pounamu (jade) hei tiki represented Maori mana (prestige), which had also been lost. A broken gold watch handed down to Rātana by his grandfather represented the broken promises of the Crown. A pin with a star and crescent moon was the symbol of the Rātana Church, Tahu o te Māramatanga. It is said that these items had such a profound impact on Savage that when he died in 1940 they were buried with him.
In 1943 the Rātana–Labour alliance succeeded in capturing all ‘four quarters’ when Tiaki Omana defeated Sir Āpirana Ngata for the Eastern Maori seat. Labour was to hold all the Māori seats until 1993. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/page/ratana-and-labour-seal-alliance
kahikatea @ 8.27
Thank you for dilating my early accurate comment.
"Ratana is soooo last century, just like trade unions. "
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