Religion in New Zealand

History

The first Christian service conducted in New Zealand waters may have occurred when Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, the Dominican chaplain of the French navigator Jean-François-Marie de Surville celebrated Mass in Doubtless Bay, near Whatuwhiwhi, on Christmas Day in 1769.

New Zealand's religious history after the arrival of Europeans saw substantial missionary activity, with Māori generally converting to Christianity voluntarily (compare forced conversions elsewhere in the world). The Church Missionary Society (CMS) sent missionaries to settle in New Zealand. Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society (chaplain in New South Wales), officiated at its first service on Christmas Day in 1814, at Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands. The CMS founded its first mission at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands in 1814 and over the next decade established farms and schools in the area. In June 1823 Wesleydale, the first Wesleyan mission in New Zealand, was established at Whangaroa. Jean Baptiste Pompallier was the first Roman Catholic bishop in New Zealand and, with a number of Marist Brothers, he organised the Roman Catholic Church throughout the country. He arrived in New Zealand in 1838 as Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania, but made Kororareka encompassed the area surrounding what is now known as Pompallier House, Russell as the centre of his mission. In 1892 the New Zealand Church Mission Society (NZCMS) formed in a Nelson church hall and the first New Zealand missionaries were sent overseas soon after.

The religious climate of early New Zealand was influenced by "voluntarism". Though in Britain the Anglican Church was an established state church, by the middle of the 19th century even the Anglicans themselves sometimes doubted this arrangement, while the other major denominations of the new colony (Presbyterians, Methodist and Catholics, for example) obviously preferred that the local set up allowed for all their groups.

Waves of new immigrants brought their particular (usually Christian) faiths with them. Initial denominational distribution very much reflected the fact that local immigrant communities started small and often came from comparatively small regions in the origin countries in Great Britain. As a result, by the time of the 1921 census, no uniform distribution existed amongst non-Māori Christians, with Presbyterians as the dominant group in Otago and Southland, Anglicans in the Far North, the East Cape and various other areas including Banks Peninsula, while Methodists flourished mainly in Taranaki and the Manawatu. Catholicism meanwhile was the dominant religion on the West Coast with its many mining concerns, and in Central Otago. The Catholic Church, while not particularly dominant in terms of pure numbers, became especially known throughout the country in the early and middle 20th century for its strong stance on education, establishing large numbers of schools.

Immigration since 1991 has resulted in religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism growing rapidly. However, a large portion of the growth of these religions has occurred in Auckland.

Religious affiliation

New Zealand censuses have collected data on religious affiliation since 1851. Statistics New Zealand state that:

Religious affiliation is a variable of strong interest to religious organisations, social scientists, and can be used as an explanatory variable in studies on topics such as marriage formation and dissolution, fertility and income.

One complication in interpreting religious affiliation data in New Zealand is the large proportion who object to answering the question, roughly 173,000 respondents in 2013. Most reporting of percentages is based on the total number of responses, rather than the total population.

In the early 20th century New Zealand census data indicates that the vast majority of New Zealanders affiliated with Christianity. The total percentages in the 1921 non-Māori census were: 45% Anglicans, 19.9% Presbyterians, 13.6% Catholics, 9.5% Methodists and 11.2% Others. Statistics for Māori became available only from 1936, with 35.8% Anglicans, 19.9% Ratana, 13.9% Catholics, 7.2% Ringatu, 7.1% Methodists, 6.5% Latter Day Saints, 1.3% Methodists and 8.3% Others recorded at this census.

The population increased 7.8% between the 2006 and 2001 census. The most notable trend in religion over that time is the 26.2% increase in the number of people indicating no religion.

Religious affiliation statistics

The table below is based on religious affiliation data recorded at the last three censuses for usually resident people. Note that figures and percentages may not add to 100 percent as it is possible for people to state more than one religion.

Significant trends

Mirroring the recent immigration trends to New Zealand, immigrant religions increased fastest between Census 2006 and Census 2013; Sikh by 102% to 19,191, Hindu by 39% to 89,319, Islam by 28% to 46,149, and Buddhist by 11% to 58,404. Hinduism emerged as the second largest religious group in New Zealand after Christianity in the 2006 census.

Mainstream Christian denominations, while still representing the largest categories of census religious affiliation, are not keeping pace with population increase. Anglicans fell by 95,154 to 459,771 and Presbyterians decreased by 69,936 to 330,903. Roman Catholic numbers decreased by 16,053 to 492,384. The only other religious groups above 100,000 members are Christian (not further defined) and Methodist. Compare this with numbers in 1901, where 42% of people identified with the Anglican denomination, 23% with Presbyterian, and 14% with Catholicism. At that time 1 in 30 people did not identify with any religion compared with 1 in 3 today.

Of the major ethnic groups in New Zealand, people belonging to European and Māori ethnicities were the most likely to be irreligious, with 46.9 percent and 46.3 percent stating so in the 2013 Census. Those belonging to Pacific and Middle Eastern/Latin American/African were least likely to be irreligious at 17.5 percent and 17.0 percent respectively.

The International Social Survey Programme was conducted in New Zealand by Massey University in 2008. It received mail responses from around one thousand New Zealanders above the age of 18, surveying issues of religious belief and practice. The results of this survey indicated that 27% of the population strongly believed in God, 45% believed in God or a higher power at least some of the time or to some extent, 15% were agnostic, and 13% were atheist (with a 3% margin of error).

Regional trends

Immigration and settlement trends have created religious differences between the regions of New Zealand. The 19th-century settlement of Scottish immigrants in Otago and Southland is still reflected today in the dominance of Presbyterianism in the lower South Island. The English mainly settled in the North Island and Upper South Island, reflecting the dominance of Anglicanism in these areas.

In the 2013 census, two of New Zealand's sixteen regions had a Christian majority: Southland (51.9 percent) and Hawke's Bay (50.5 percent) and two regions had a non-religious majority: Tasman (51.4 percent) and Nelson (51.0 percent).

Jedi census phenomenon

Encouraged by an informal email campaign, over 53,000 people listed themselves as Jedi in New Zealand's 2001 census (over 1.5% of responses). If the Jedi response had been accepted as valid it would have been the largest non-Christian religion in New Zealand, and second-largest religion overall. However, Statistics New Zealand treated Jedi responses as "Answer understood, but will not be counted". The city of Dunedin (a university town) had the highest population of reported Jedi per capita. In the 2006 census only 20,000 people gave Jedi as their religion.

Christianity

After the arrival of large numbers of European immigrants (most of whom were British), Māori enthusiastically adopted Christianity in the early 19th century, and to this day, Christian prayer (karakia) is the expected way to begin and end Māori public gatherings of many kinds. Christianity became the major religion of the country, with the Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian churches all establishing themselves strongly. The arrival of other groups of immigrants did little to change this, as Pacific Islanders and other primarily Christian ethnic groups dominated immigration until the 1970s.

In the following decades, Christianity declined somewhat in percentage terms, mostly due to people declaring themselves as having no religion as well as by the growth of non-Christian religions. The five largest Christian denominations in 2001 remained the largest in 2006. The Catholic and Methodist denominations increased, but the Anglican denomination, the Presbyterian, Congregation and Reformed denomination, and undefined Christian denominations decreased. While smaller groups, there were larger percentage increases in affiliations with other Christian denominations between 2001 and 2006: Orthodox Christian religions increased by 37.8 percent, affiliation with Evangelical, Born Again and Fundamentalist religions increased by 25.6 percent, and affiliation with Pentecostal religions increased by 17.8 percent.

Despite strong affiliation to Christianity by New Zealanders throughout the country's history, church attendance in New Zealand has never been high compared to other Western nations. Estimates of church attendance today range from 10–20%, while research by the Bible Society of New Zealand in 2008 indicated that 15% of New Zealanders attend church at least once a week, and 20% attend at least once a month.

Islam

Islam in New Zealand began with the arrival of Muslim Chinese gold prospectors in the 1870s. The first Islamic organisation in New Zealand, the New Zealand Muslim Association, was established in Auckland in 1950. 1960 saw the arrival of the first imam, Maulana Said Musa Patel, from Gujarat, India. Large-scale Muslim immigration began in the 1970s with the arrival of Fiji Indians, followed in the 1990s by refugees from various war-torn countries. In April 1979 the three regional Muslim organisations of Canterbury, Wellington and Auckland, joined together to create the only national Islamic body – the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand. Early in the 1990s many migrants were admitted under New Zealand's refugee quota, from war zones in Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq. Since the 11 September attacks there was a spike in conversions to Islam among Maori prisoners in jail.

At the 2013 census, 1.2 percent of the population, or 46,150 people, identified themselves as Muslim. Over two-thirds (67.5 percent) live in the Auckland region. Just over one-quarter (25.7 percent) are New Zealand born.

Judaism

The history of the Jews here begins in the 1830s including noted early settler Joel Samuel Polack and continued to grow from immigration. Prominent New Zealand Jews in history include 19th-century Premier Julius Vogel and at least five Auckland mayors, including Dove-Myer Robinson. Former Prime Minister John Key of the National Party is of part Ashkenazi Jewish descent, although he does not practice Judaism.

The 2013 New Zealand census found there was a Jewish population of 6,867, an increase from the 2001 census figure of 6,636.

The majority of New Zealand Jews reside in Auckland and Wellington, though there is also a significant Jewish community in Dunedin which is believed to have the world's southernmost permanent synagogue. In 2006, 0.2% of the population identified as Jewish/Judaism.

Bahá'í Faith

The first Bahá'í in the Antipodes was Englander Dorothea Spinney who had just arrived from New York in Auckland in 1912. About 1913 there were two converts – Robert Felkin who had met `Abdu'l-Bahá in London in 1911 and moved to New Zealand in 1912 and is considered a Bahá'í by 1914 and Margaret Stevenson who first heard of the religion in 1911 and by her own testimony was a Bahá'í in 1913. The first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1926 and their first independent National Spiritual Assembly in 1957. By 1963 there were four Assemblies. At the 2006 census 0.07% of the population, or 2,772 people, identified themselves as Bahá'í. There are some 45 local assemblies and smaller registered groups.

Other religions

At the 2006 census around 5% of the New Zealand population affiliated to a non-Christian religion. Statistics New Zealand report that about 80% of the largest non-Christian religious groups are composed of immigrants, almost half of whom have arrived in New Zealand since 2000. The exceptions to this are traditional Maori religion, Judaism (24% immigrant) and Bahá'í (20% immigrant).

Māori religion

Traditional Māori religion, that is, the pre-European belief system of the Māori, was little modified in its essentials from that of their tropical Eastern Polynesian homeland, conceiving of everything, including natural elements and all living things, as connected by common descent through whakapapa or genealogy. Accordingly, all things were thought of as possessing a life force or "mauri". Very few Māori still identify themselves as adhering to traditional Māori beliefs (2,412 people at the 2006 Census).

Two specific Māori branches of Christianity, Rātana and Ringatū are widely followed by many in the Māori community.

Hinduism

Hinduism is the second largest religion in New Zealand after Christianity, with over 89,000 adherents according to the 2013 Census. The number of Hindus in New Zealand grew modestly until the 1990s when the Immigration Act 1987, the Immigration Amendment Act 1991 and India's Economic Liberalisation in 1991 changed immigration laws and India's standard of living. The eased immigration laws resulted in the number of Hindus growing from 18,000 in 1991 to 40,000 in 2001. Hinduism currently makes up 2.1% of the New Zealand population, and is the fast growing religion in the country(for religions with more than 20,000 adherents). The growth of Hinduism has been in almost in line with Indian immigration, which has resulted in various Ethnic Enclaves (known as Little India) appearing.

Buddhism

Buddhism is the third largest religion in New Zealand, at 1.3% of the population. In 2007 the NZ$20 million Fo Guang Shan Temple was opened in Auckland for the promotion of Humanistic Buddhism. It is the largest Buddhist temple in New Zealand.

Sikhism

Sikhs have been in New Zealand for more than a century, with the first arriving in Hamilton in the 1880s. The Sikhs grew almost four-fold between 2001 and 2013 and comprised 0.43% of the population as of 2013. Today they have a strong presence in Auckland, and especially in South Auckland and Manukau with the current National Party's Member of Parliament for Manukau Kanwal Singh Bakshi being a Sikh. There were thirteen gurdwaras (the Sikh place of worship) in New Zealand in 2010. The largest Sikh Gurdwara, the NZ$10million Kalgidhar Sahib, is situated in Auckland at Takanini.

Spiritualism and New Age religions

This collection of religious beliefs is represented by around 0.5% of the New Zealand population.

Religion in culture and the arts

Although New Zealand is a largely secular country, religion finds a place in many cultural traditions. Major Christian events like Christmas and Easter are official public holidays and are celebrated by religious and non-religious alike, as in many countries around the world. The country's national anthem, God Defend New Zealand, mentions God in both its name and its lyrics. There has been occasional controversy over the degree of separation of church and state, for example the practice of prayer and religious instruction at school assemblies.

The architectural landscape of New Zealand attests to the historical importance of Christianity in New Zealand with church buildings prominent in cities, towns and the countryside . Notable Cathedrals include the Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, Christchurch Cathedral, Christchurch and Saint Paul's Cathedral, Wellington and the Catholic St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland, Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Hamilton, Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Palmerston North, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington, Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin. The iconic Futuna Chapel was built as a Wellington retreat center for the Catholic Marist order in 1961. The design by Maori architect John Scott, fuses Modernist and indigenous design principles.

Christian and Maori choral traditions have been blended in New Zealand to produce a distinct contribution to Christian music, including the popular hymns Whakaria Mai and Tama Ngakau Marie. New Zealand hosts one of the largest Christian music festivals in the Southern Hemisphere, the Parachute Music Festival.

Christian individuals in politics

Religion has played and continues to play a 'significant and sometimes controversial role' in the politics of New Zealand. Although most New Zealanders today consider politicians' religious beliefs to be a private matter, a large number of New Zealand Prime Ministers have been professing Christians, including Jenny Shipley, Jim Bolger, Geoffrey Palmer, David Lange, Robert Muldoon, Walter Nash, Keith Holyoake, and Michael Joseph Savage. However both the former Prime Minister John Key and his predecessor Helen Clark are agnostic. The current Prime Minister Bill English is Roman Catholic and has acknowledged that religious groups should contribute to political discourse. Sir Paul Reeves, Anglican Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand from 1980–85, was appointed Governor General from 1985–1990.

Murray Smith was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1972 to 1975. His interest in governance continued when he later enrolled in the Bahá’í Faith and contributed in national and international roles within the Bahá'í Community.

Christian political parties

Christian political parties have usually not gained significant support, a notable exception being the Christian Coalition (New Zealand) polling 4.4% in the 1996 general election. Christian parties have often been characterised by controversy and public disgrace. Many of these are now defunct, such as the Christian Democrat Party, the Christian Heritage Party which discontinued in 2006 after former leader Graham Capill was convicted as a child sex offender, Destiny New Zealand, The Family Party and the New Zealand Pacific Party whose leader, former New Zealand Labour Party MP Taito Phillip Field was convicted on bribery and corruption charges. United Future has been more successful, which although not a Christian party has had significant Christian backing. The two main political parties, Labour and National, are not religious, although religious groups have at times played a significant role (e.g. the Ratana Movement). Politicians are often involved in public dialogue with religious groups. The Exclusive Brethren gained public notoriety during the 2005 election for distributing anti-Labour pamphlets, which former National Party leader Don Brash later admitted to knowledge of.

Separation of church and state

New Zealand has no established church. However the following anomalies exist:

At the discussions leading to the Treaty of Waitangi Governor Hobson made a statement (which had no particular legal or constitutional significance) concerning freedom of religion (sometimes called the 'fourth' article). In 2007, the government issued a National Statement on Religious Diversity containing in its first clause "New Zealand has no official or established religion." The statement caused controversy in some quarters, opponents arguing that New Zealand's head of state Queen Elizabeth II is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. However, the Queen does not act in that capacity as the Queen of New Zealand; although she retains the styling of Defender of the Faith within her official title in that role. A poll of 501 New Zealanders in June 2007 found that 58% of respondents did not think Christianity should be New Zealand's official religion.

New Zealand's parliament opens its proceedings with a specifically Christian prayer. In 2007 parliament voted to retain the Christian prayer.

However, there has been increasing recognition of Māori spirituality in political discourse and even in certain government legislation. In July 2001 MP Rodney Hide alerted parliament to a state funded hikitapu (tapu-lifting) ceremony at the opening of the foreign embassy in Bangkok. It was revealed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had a standard policy of employing Māori ritual experts for the opening of official offices around the world. The Resource Management Act 1991 recognises the role of Māori spiritual beliefs in planning and environmental management. In 2002 local Māori expressed concerns that the development of the Auckland-Waikato expressway would disturb the taniwha, or guardian spirit, of the Waikato River, leading to delays and alterations to the project.

In New Zealand blasphemous libel is a crime, but cases can only be prosecuted with the approval of the Attorney-General and the defence of opinion is allowed: "It is not an offence against this section to express in good faith and in decent language, or to attempt to establish by arguments used in good faith and conveyed in decent language, any opinion whatever on any religious subject." The only prosecution, in 1922, was unsuccessful.