Latest ‘vitriolic’ piece comes as no surprise
Jean Balchin’s latest Christianophobic outburst (ODT 29.6.23) comes as no surprise.
I was disturbed by her vitriolic attacks on certain New Zealand politicians, whom she has accused of being "Christo-fascists". This label is an oxymoron, and a nonsense. By association, so-called fundamentalist Christians must therefore serve, obey and worship a God who is fascist also.
Balchin demonstrates a deep-seated animosity towards the Christian God and his followers. In John’s gospel, Christ, after commanding his disciples to love one another, added that if the world hates you, remember, it hated me before it hated you.
There is nothing sinister about the term, "fundamentalist". It has been used, even in some Christian circles, as a term of abuse, levelled at Evangelicals.
Its usage in America goes back to 1909 when a group of Evangelicals published a series of biblical expositions of the "fundamentals" of faith and of evangelical Christianity. At the time of their publication, Evangelicals were endeavouring to counter the negative influence of liberal churches who were preaching and teaching a watered-down version of the true Gospel.
Mayors thanked
I would like to thank Bryan Cadogan and Tim Cadogan, mayors of the Clutha District and Central Otago, for calling out the racism of the Stop Co-Governance Group. It’s deeply disappointing that the mayor of Invercargill has bought into the racist rhetoric. Clearly, he does not have the interests of all those who reside there at heart. This is utterly disgraceful.
It is also extremely worrying that the leaders of the National and Act parties do not understand the level of inequity that Māori and Pasifika people experience in the health system. It is concerning that they do not understand evidence-based research. It is obviously OK with them that Māori and Pasifika live on average seven years less than Pakeha. Again, this is appalling behaviour for those who hold public office.
What he believes in
I am writing in response to a letter from Bruce Cull (ODT 1.7.23) who is unhappy with the unproductive and pointless flyer delivered to his house by the Stop Co-Governance campaign led by Julian Batchelor. I am sorry that something as unimportant as democracy has as much meaning to you as a supermarket flyer. You are obviously in the pro co-governance camp, yet you put forward not one reason for why you support it. All you do is criticise a person who is fighting for what he and many people believe.
Avoid degeneration
I beg to disagree with Bruce Cull’s put down of Julian Batchelor. I agree that there are many worthy causes in our society that need more money but the future of our democracy and the functioning of our multicultural society are not trivial matters.
If a discussion on these matters had been possible through other channels then Julian Batchelor might never have sent out this flyer. And wasted all that money. And for that matter the NZ Centre for Political Research might not have thought it necessary to send out that advertisement with the explanation of the Treaty of Waitangi by Sir Apirana Ngata (ODT 20.6.23).
Surely in a so-called democratic society people should be able to publicise their views despite them being contrary to official government policy. Otherwise we are degenerating into Putin’s Russia.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
