MEDIA RELEASE

26 May 2007

St Matthew’s Clergy challenge Tamaki’s views

Recent comments made by Brian Tamaki on Newstalk ZB as part of his campaign to declare New Zealand a Christian Nation are “deplorable” says Vicar Glynn Cardy of St Matthew-in-the-City. “It is fear-mongering,” Vicar Cardy says.

“Mr. Tamaki’s call for restrictions on non-Christian religious practices implies that Christian values are no match for those of other faiths.”

St Matthew-in-the-City, with its long history of supporting religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue, sees such sentiments as further evidence of New Zealand’s need for a National Statement for Religious Diversity.  It is an imperative to protect all New Zealanders from such religious arrogance.

Glynn Cardy decries all religious arrogance as dangerous. “It’s not benign, nor confined.  It’s cancerous, eating away at virtues of tolerance, hospitality, and the willingness to try and understand one’s neighbour.”

His colleague, Revd Clay Nelson, who has previously challenged Mr Tamaki’s notions in a controversial article in the New Zealand Herald, notes, “This debate is not about protecting New Zealand’s Christian heritage - that’s a given. It is about protecting religious freedom from the tyranny of the majority.  Any religion that requires the power of the state to protect its influence is no religion, it is a political party.”

ENDS

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