Rodney Hide: New Zealand’s Rot Starts in Empty Pews

Christianity didn’t just arrive in New Zealand—it built the place. Missionaries planted the first permanent settlement in 1814, translated the Treaty, ran the early schools and hospitals, and gave us a moral framework of personal responsibility, stable families and covenantal duty. For a century and a half it was the cultural default. Then the 1960s secular wave hit. By the 2023 Census only 32.3 per cent called themselves Christian; 51.6 per cent claimed no religion. The collapse is not coincidence. It is the root of the social decay now choking the country.

Laurie Wastell: US Launches Airstrikes on Islamic State in Nigeria to Protect “Innocent Christians”

The Trump administration has launched airstrikes on Islamic State in north-west Nigeria in coordination with Nigerian authorities, killing multiple militants. While Nigeria insists the strikes had “nothing to do with a particular religion”, President Trump railed against “Isis terrorist scum… who have been targeting… innocent Christians”. The Times has the story.

Dr Will Jones: Britons Believe They Can No Longer Speak Their Minds, Poll Finds

Britons believe they can no longer speak their minds, a poll has found, in the latest indicator of a free speech crisis in the UK, as nearly half of Britons say people are too easily offended. The Telegraph has more.

Free speech is under threat because Britons feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, a study has found.

Barrie Davis: New Zealand is Christian

In The Post, 6 July, reporter Sapeer Mayron answers the question: “Was Aotearoa ever a ‘Christian nation’? Short answer: No.” That presupposes that there is something called ‘Aotearoa’ and The Post reporter seeks to realize it by naming it. So, it is propaganda which may be discounted and dismissed.

However, considering the question further reveals how establishing Christianity in New Zealand achieved “the deliberate lifting of a people of lower culture to full equality in political, social, and moral communion with one of the most advanced races in the world.” (Sir Apirana Ngata, 1928)

Dr Will Jones: The Persecution of Nigeria’s Christians by Muslims is Medieval in its Horror

The persecution of Nigeria’s Christians by Islamising Muslims is medieval in its horror, says Tom Goodenough in the Spectator. “Villages are surrounded in the dead of night by bandits who rape and kill the inhabitants. No one is spared: women and children are among those butchered.” Here’s an excerpt.

Olivia Pierson: The Stab-in-the-Back Myth & Christian Anti-Semitism

When it comes to the Holocaust, my contention remains that the world has not really come to terms with it. In the online world of pointed insults one can deploy against another person, “Nazi” is still the most venomous. Despite the enormous body of knowledge surrounding the Holocaust, there’s a persistent and lingering ignorance, and a failure to fully confront how such dehumanising horror and cruelty were even made possible.

Dr Will Jones: Christian School Worker Sacked for Sharing Social Media Posts Criticising LGBT Teaching Wins in Court of Appeal

A Christian school worker who was dismissed after sharing social media posts criticising the teaching of LGBT relationships at her son’s school has won a key Court of Appeal battle related to her dismissal. The Mail has more.

Dieuwe de Boer: Death of Christianity is the Death of Nation

The wrong political theology is popular only because it is the only socially acceptable form of theology.

This is a partial rebuttal to Nathan Smith’s argument that “Christianity is the death of the nation”. We have great real-life conversations on this subject, but perhaps there is some benefit in debating some of this out in public.

Peter Williams: How Christian are the 400 Church Leaders?

To the extent that I’m not Muslim or Hindu or a Buddhist or a Sikh, when I’m asked what my religion is I answer Christian. That doesn’t mean I’m a practicing church-going Christian or a devout one. But I know about being a Christian because I’ve been one all my life.

What I do know is that in the Christian church there is only one sacred text. It’s called the Bible.

That’s why it’s somewhat staggering to find out that in 2024 many Christians view the Treaty of Waitangi as a sacred document. Actually that’s wrong. According to these more than 400 church leaders, presumably all of them Christian although this isn’t stated in reports, it’s Te Tiriti which is sacred and covenantal.

Fraser Macdonald: Why some of Israel’s staunchest support comes from the Pacific Islands

One of the most perplexing yet poorly understood aspects of the international diplomatic response to the ongoing Gaza conflict has been the overwhelmingly pro-Israel orientation of Pacific Island states.

During the voting on two United Nations resolutions (October 27th and December 12th) calling on Israel to reduce the death and suffering of Palestinian civilians, many Pacific countries voted either against the resolution or abstained.

Why would these small island countries, on the other side of the world and with no direct links to Israel, choose to either oppose or not support this essential humanitarian gesture?

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: ‘People of the Book’, ‘People of No Book’, and the ‘clash of civilisations’

“I think Islam hates us. There's a tremendous hatred… There is an unbelievable hatred of us.” – Donald Trump, 9 March

Islamist extremists certainly hate us. But exactly who is ‘us’? The ‘Christian West’ would be a common answer especially in the US, but it’s not a very satisfactory answer – there was little ‘Christian’ about the twin towers and even less ‘Western’ about the victims of the Lahore atrocity last week.

Kevin Donnelly from Australia: We are a Christian nation under threat

A 17-year-old charged with planning an attack involving home made bombs in Melbourne; an Islamic school in Adelaide sacking a moderate teacher, scrapping its music program and putting a stop to singing of the national anthem; and an Islamic school allegedly banning girls from running.

A Muslim-organised meeting at Melbourne University where women are segregated from men, a video in Sydney where children are seen shouting anti-American slogans, and the Lindt café siege.