Church urged to take lead

Press, 17 October 1987, Page 9

Church urged to take lead

By

JANE ENGLAND

The Church had to be at the forefront in supporting Maori solidarity in Aotearoa, a spokeswoman for the Christian World Service, the Rev. Barbara Stephens, told Nicaragua supporters last evening. She said there were people in New Zealand who worked within the Church movement to suppress people in Nicaragua and New Zealand. "There are churches fighting against the need to establish biculturalism in New Zealand,” she said. Some church groups in the United States had been asked to act as "agents of suppression” for the Reagan Administration, she said. The Church had learnt that it did not have to respond to such requests. It could act, instead, as an agent for liberation, said

Miss Stephens. “But there are those in Aotearoa working to maintain the status quo when we need to be working for liberation.” It was important for people to listen to those overseas who argued that solidarity movements must be viewed in their own context. “They are saying that their struggle and ours only has meaning if solidarity is taken in the context of supporting liberation here.” In New Zealand the Church had already been active in making some of the first moves against racism, said Miss Stephens. “We have to be at the forefront in supporting Maori solidarity otherwise we are guilty of maintaining what we are trying to get rid of in other countries.”