Treaty....

I was chatting with a guy from America the other day about Christianity and nationalism, and i commented that here in NZ they are in any way synoymous with each other. I relayed the story of how when I was at seminary one of the students insisted on singing the national anthem as part of a chapel, and was almost hung, drawn and quartered as a result.
Not contect with that i have been doing some thinking why that is the case and i can only conclude that a huge part of the low national pride is down to the colonial origins of our country and the uncomfortable feelings that many have about them. This has been highlighted of late with the call for the government to honour the treaty not just by radical maori but by everyday 'regular' folk too.
I wonder what this country would be like if we took that seriously???
I suspect that crime would be down, our prisons would probably not be overcrowded, a sense of national pride may well improve the brain drain and boost the economy. I think too that a clearer sense of identity would appear throughtout the cultures here, We live in a beautiful place but we seem to be surrounded by a lot of ignorance and back bitting over these issues. I am of the opinion that to just drop the treaty as has been suggested and make us all one would be self destructive.
on other news in 2004 i attended the BIG E a conference in Auckland that was looking at the issues of culture - it was great (see web site) http://www.youthministry.org.nz/?sid=5
well the video and book have been released from there and i would like to recomend it, though I do hope the video does not include our SingStar sessions from the evenings ....

available from

Jacky Sewell

3/89 Michael's Ave

Ellerslie

Auckland

cost - Book $20, DVD $45 or both for $60

P&P $5 in NZ, $10 Aust and Sth Pacific, $20 rest of the world