This has been a strange year. Well, it’s not over yet. For the past few weeks, Judith Collins has been the most visible professing Christian in New Zealand public life. Who saw that one coming? This is better than Game of Thrones. Okay maybe not.
It seems opportunistic, you say. I agree.
The photographs of an apparently reverent Judith kneeling alone in prayer among the pews of St. Thomas felt like a cheap publicity stunt. Did any of us really buy her protestations that the media had ambushed her? Is “the Crusher” really in the habit of nipping into churches for some quiet communion with the Lord before vanquishing her enemies?
Did she not read the admonition in Matthew concerning praying in public? A passage that Winston Peters was a little too quick to post on his Twitter account on Sunday afternoon.
It all seems slightly too convenient that in the final stages of election campaigning we have heard more about Judith’s lifelong Christian belief than we ever had before. She used her faith to club Nicky Hager over the head for his expose on her in Dirty Politics. “He still needs to meet his maker… If you’re a Christian, you do believe that” she said at a Grey Power event in Nelson last month.
Then there are the leaders’ debates. “I’m a Christian and a feminist”, she stated on both occasions, seemingly oblivious to the fact that modern feminism is trenchantly opposed to traditional Christian family values. I guess she must be one of those “reclaim the word” types.
There’s also the question of her politics. On multiple issues, she is so blatantly at odds with the fundamental teachings of the Gospels that one wonders how she keeps a straight face.
We could start with her support for euthanasia and abortion. Something that she insists is “entirely consistent with her Christian faith”. Perhaps she missed the commandment revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). Or maybe she thinks it doesn’t apply to babies and the terminally ill. Who knows? Not to mention her support for same-sex marriage. Is it still legal to discuss that? You can relax, I’ll move on.
Collins’ posturing for Christ may be a carefully calculated pitch to woo conservatives or to poach some votes from those poor misguided believers who still vote for Labour. All of that may well be true.
Nevertheless, Collins’ public openness about her faith should be welcomed. Don’t get me wrong, politicians need to be criticised. Especially leaders of that well-greased public relations machine that is the modern New Zealand National Party. In this case, however, the criticism is all a bit too easy.
The reality is that Christianity today is hardly a bastion of popular culture. Church attendance as well as the number of New Zealanders consciously identifying as Christian have both been in a precipitous decline since the cultural upheavals of the 1960s. The Judeo-Christian values embedded in our political, cultural, educational, and social institutions are increasingly either taken for granted, ignored or attacked.
On reflection, the Leader of the Opposition proclaiming a faith in Christ is notable for two reasons. Firstly, it suggests that Collins’ thinks it is a useful tactic to win the election. Or at least that it will not cost her politically. Clearly Christianity is not the spent cultural and political force that we are often told it is. Secondly, if the Left wants to destroy any reference to Christianity in public life, they are going to have to get rid of Judith Collins. And I for one, welcome our newest defender of the faith. Even one with, shall we say, peculiar theological opinions.
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