Mori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs – The Conversation

Religious beliefs among Mori have shifted significantly over the past two decades.

The number of Mori identifying as having no religion in the census between 2006 and 2018 increased from 36.5% to 53.5%. Mori affiliation with Christianity has fallen from 46.2% to 29.9%.

Are Mori simply rejecting Christianity? Or are they rejecting all supernatural phenomena, including traditional Mori beliefs?

Our research examined the apparent rise of Mori atheism. We found the colonial history of religion was a driving force for Mori who identified as atheist or having no religion.

We also found Mori atheists said they experienced discrimination for their lack of religion, and their Moriness was questioned within their community or work.

The no religion category in the census captures a range of worldviews, including people who say they are spiritual but not religious; agnostics people who are uncertain about the existence of a higher power; and atheists people who do not believe in the existence of god(s).

As part of our research, we spoke with 16 Mori aged 30 to 65 who did not believe in god(s). All but four were raised in religious households.

Some emphasised lingering intellectual doubts as the reason for rejecting religion. As one participant explained:

If Im being intellectually honest and consistent, I should put all my beliefs on the table and I should examine all of them. I shouldnt keep some safe from scrutiny just because theyre mine, theyre Mori.

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Others said they left for moral reasons. These included a perceived hypocrisy among churchgoers, immorality of religious leaders, and the role of religion in spreading harmful views about women and LGBTQ people.

Most participants, however, framed their rejection of religion as an expression of resistance against the colonial systems of belief.

In fact, participants ideas of religion were primarily shaped by their experience of various Christian denominations and their knowledge of the Christian missionary history in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Accordingly, most of the people we spoke with viewed religion as a colonial tool for the oppression of Mori people and culture. Another participant noted:

Ive only become very angry against religion over the last five years after I found out what theyve done to my culture [] Weve lost a lot of our culture from the Anglican missionary societies [] Removing ones culture and then assimilating them into religion is [] like a double-edged sword of colonisation.

Some interviewees spoke about how Christianity had been used as a way to exert cultural superiority, labelling Indigenous beliefs and practices as evil.

Others argued that the God of the Bible is not indigenous to Aotearoa, but rather a creation myth from the Middle East and therefore inherently irrelevant to Mori people.

The interview responses show Mori rejection of Christianity seems to be largely aligned with anti-colonial movements, Mori protest movements, and the decolonial feminist movement.

For most participants, atheism equated to non-belief in the existence of God and the rejection of monotheistic traditions, specifically Christianity.

In other words, being a Mori atheist did not necessarily mean the rejection of all supernatural beliefs.

While some individuals were confident in their non-belief in all supernatural phenomena, others were either ambivalent towards certain wairua (spirit, soul) beliefs or emphasised the need to understand Mori beliefs as metaphors for a way to live.

The emergence of non-religious as a growing sector of the Mori community poses both challenges and opportunities to the ideas of what it is to be Mori and the development of New Zealand.

If we see ourselves progressing as a bi-cultural Treaty/Tiriti-enhanced nation, it stands to reason we need to be able to identify the two cultures clearly.

But there is the opportunity to develop more quickly without identity membership based on religious affiliation or non-affiliation.

Within the community, there is a spectrum of views about the significance of religious or spiritual beliefs to Mori identity.

On one end, there are those who ask whether it is even possible to be Mori if one is not religious or spiritual in some shape or form.

At the other, there are those who distinguish between culture and religion, and argue Mori development can be more easily enhanced if one is freed from the constraints of religious belief.

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The former speaks to a traditional and conservative view of being Mori; the latter to notions of changes in cultures, the impact of the colonial experience, modernisation, and different ways of being Mori.

Our research highlights the diversity of non-religion among Mori, which is neither reflected in representations of Mori (for instance in education), nor considered in Mori-Crown relations.

While there is little difficulty in identifying the Crown in Treaty negotiations, the emerging no religion sector of the Mori community adds new layers of complexity to who the Treaty partner is. Importantly, is being spiritual or religious a prerequisite to being a Mori?

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Mori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs - The Conversation