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Notes -
Apologies if this is too culture war-y
If I told you that public servants in a Western country were forced (by social pressure) to pray at the beginning of meetings, what kind of prayers do you think they were and what side of the political spectrum would the social pressure come from?
In the US context, one would assume I was referring to right-wing Christianity, but here in New Zealand it is becoming more and more expected to pray in Maori before meetings. Many of these prayers refer to Jesus or the Christian god, or the pre-contact Maori deities.
The stranger part to US ears (perhaps) is that this is mainly pushed by the more left/woke type of people. While I know that other Anglo countries do like to integrate indigenous spirituality into land acknowledgements etc, I believe only the NZ public service has gone out to this extent.
Since land acknowledgements have already spread around the Anglo world, I wonder if this forced spirituality will also spread. Certainly Australians I have spoken to (at least liberal Australians) talk about the integration of indigenous spirituality as a desirable outcome.
I think it makes sense, and it's not an indication of a trend towards sincere spirituality. I see it as a two-birds-one-stone move: (1) elevate indigenous people and secure their loyalty, (2) shame and humiliate your conservative opponents by covering yourself in sacredness (while not changing what you want to accomplish).
If indigenous religion were in any way a powerful force in NZ culture, it would be castigated, not adopted by the left.
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