Coilumn by Michael Mead

Wanted:

Christian bogeyman

Crimes:

<typolist>

Says grace before dinner

Believes in family with a father and a mother

Believes in God

Wants people to become Christians

</typolist>

Warning:

This person may be dangerous to your secular health. Do not approach him without reading newspaper accounts available from Central Control.

D'ya get the feeling they're afraid of us? Reading some media reports of the United Future Party and their Christian membership, you'd think that 7% of New Zealanders had just elected Josef Stalin. I'm sure some sectors of the Fourth Estate are convinced Peter Dunne has a secret police force kidnapping secular Kiwis off the street and forcing them to subscribe to Challenge Weekly (I'd never force you to read Spanz, although you know it's good for you, don't you? I'm watching...).

The media's main criticism of the sudden influx of Christians into Parliament seems to be that they are "extremists" and that their policies don't represent the majority of New Zealanders. Gee, uh, that could describe any political party in the country couldn't it? How many of us thought Roger Douglas' tax policy was 'extreme' in the late 1980s? Could anybody have described Ruth Richardson as 'moderate'? How many Indian immigrants would vote New Zealand First?

The media's scaremongering about United Future is basically a fear that all elitists have about democracy: what if people we don't like get represented? My God! We might have to listen to them! Heaven...er...Betrand Russell help us!

Look at some of the criticisms and they fall over like a fervent worshipper at a Benny Hinn rally. United Future is castigated for its family policies, specifically its focus on the nuclear family, which "...hardly seems an apt model for social policy, since less than a third of New Zealand households live in this pattern..." (Listener, August 10, 2002).

Democracy is about representation. If nearly a third of New Zealand families have two parents, shouldn't their views be heard? Shouldn't policies be pursued in their interest? In a mature, MMP environment, does anybody really think that a small party is going to be able to force their views on the entire country? Politics is the definition of compromise. And if they try, what do you think is going to happen to them?

At this point I should say that I am ambivalent about overtly Christian political parties. I don't vote for them and I'm not a member of United Future or any party. My expression of my faith and my stance on social issues would be different to United Future's. And in a way that's the point.

Political faith (all political parties are some of the most 'religious' institutions on the planet) is about difference and debate. In an MMP environment we are hearing voices we did not hear under the old system. So we don't like some of them? So what. Disagree, intelligently. Throw them out next time. That's what democracy is about. Just don't treat us like children and teach us to fear a Christian bogeyman. We deserve better than that.