MAORIS AND RELIGION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16201, 26 November 1926, Page 12

MAORIS AND RELIGION

DIFFICULTIES IN' COMBATING RATANAISM. MOVEMENT FEET IN WAIROA. Tlio difficulties which confront those who are striving to instil into the Maori mind an appreciation of Christian principles and ideals, are outlined in several district reports presented to the Presbyterian General Assembly: From the Taupo district came the report : —< " Taupo is under the religious domination of Ratanaism at present. Bishops, ministers, lay preachers, policemen and nurses are ordained by the Ratana council, and set to work in the native settlements throughout this district. Services are held daily in each pa. The children are trained to sing hymns, arranged by the Ratana council. Couples are married' by Ratana ministers, and every gathering is overlooked and guarded by Ratana policemen. The sick are the especial care of the Ratana nurses, who have no training in the care of the body, but trust to the prayer of faith alone to save the sick." SECRET OF POWER. "The 1 secret of Ratana's power is I'utana.'s knowledge of the Maori mind. The Maoris wish to express their religious life in their own way —interpret Divine truth according to their own conception of it, and 1 build up a theology of their own. They are happy when in office, and certainly work hard at their religion.' 1 Another report from the north says: " One thing we have to contend with is the communistic social' habits of the Maori. Nowhere else does the ancient communism of the Maori maintain today as in Tuhoe. These people still think and move en masse. The. most private domestic affairs are brought to the meeting house and discussed and settled' by the tribe. Everyone is a member of the tribe rather than a separate entity, and anyone who refuses to go the way of the tribe is considered a bad Maori. Herein lies the initial difficulty of Christianity with these people, for Christianity demands just that individual decision which they arc trained never to make. PAKEHA VICE. " These people have been caught in the maelstrom of pakeha vice and wordliness and love of pleasure. We are all familiar with the manner in which our own people, many of whom have been brought up under the shadow of the Church, are caught in the tides of worldJiness and of the insensate love of pleasure, and swept right away out of the sound of the Gospel and farther and farther from the Kingdom. If these sections of the devil have such power over our own people Trith centuries o. ? Christian teaching behind l them, what must they he to these people unfortified' as they are to withstand such assaults? Wo have been 1 seeing what their religion to. It will be evident how utterly worthless it is to stay them in the least, in the midst of the fierce temptations into which we have plunged them."

Only last week the Maori prophet Ratana, arrived in Wairoa, his corteg* numbering 12 cars, all duly placarded with his name. Religious fervor was the order ot the day amongst the natives of the district, and a succession of day and' night meetings at North Clyde ensued. Recent trouble?, at Taupo with the natives in regard to fishing licenses aro also said to orig-iriato from the prophet's influence.