New Zealand values

We are constantly being reminded that New Zealand society is founded on Christian values. No one bothers to explain what this actually means. What are these Christian values that are so important to us and that presumably make our society different from others? Surely they are not the Ten Commandments: don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t tell lies, etc? These are the kindergarten morals that every society on the planet must share to stand any chance of surviving as a group. I must confess I struggle to imagine what the uniquely Christian values could be.

So what values are important to us in New Zealand? Watching the evening news I often feel lucky to live in a liberal democracy when I see what goes on in most of the world, for example in China or Zimbabwe. True we are not the only liberal democracy in the world but unfortunately there are all too few. Liberal democracies are by definition democratic but they also place a high value on human rights. In other words they are not tyrannies of the majority, but recognise the rights of minorities and more importantly of individuals.

So where do these values come from? Certainly not from Christianity. You would be hard-pushed to find a major Christian church which is democratic. Cults, sects and churches tend to be founded by self-appointed, charismatic leaders and their authority is usually retained by an elite, usually male. The Catholic Church, the biggest of them all, still does not allow women to join their priesthood. Throughout history the same church was no friend to free speech and is responsible for the deaths of countless dissenters. You may hear Christians claim credit for the abolition of slavery, but why did it take so long? They had the power to do something about it for most of the last two millennia.

In fact slavery was abolished during the blossoming of human rights in the 18th century Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment spawned the writings of Voltaire, Thomas Paine, David Hume, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Locke and others. Their writings in turn led to revolutions across Europe and America. It was an age which raised reason above superstition. None of the great thinkers claimed divine inspiration for their writings. The various declarations of human rights were the product of human reason alone.

It is appropriate then that the Enlightenment should inspire the name of the Brights movement which started in America in the wake of September 11. A Bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview, free of supernatural and mystical elements. The Brights promote the civic understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic worldview. They try to gain public recognition that persons who hold such a worldview can bring principled actions to bear on matters of civic importance. One could argue that the “Brights” of the Enlightenment have made the most significant contribution to these matters and from them come the values that underpin our society today.

Another author

Congratulations to Ian on launching a blog for NZ Brights. I am happy to accept his invitation to join him as an author.

After 30 years in the computer industry and a couple of years on an orchard I am now retired and hope to spend a bit more time on the Brights movement. I have been involved in organised humanism/rationalism/freethought in New Zealand for over twenty years now and look forward to spreading the word - "Bright" - in NZ.

Cheers,
Des