Three Religious Faiths

Te Ao Hou, December 1965, Page 50

Three Religious Faiths by Bernard Gadd This present decade marks the centenary of the emergence of three venerable religious movements which in their early days played an important part in New Zealand's history. That each of these faiths survives into its second hundred years is evidence of its past significance and continuing religious vitality. The oldest, Pai Marire, was promulgated by Te Ua Haumene of Taranaki in 1862, but it was not until two years later that zealous missionaries spread versions of the faith throughout the central part of the North Island. As the oldest of three faiths, Pai Marire is specially interesting because in it we see the first major attempt to join together elements of the old pagan religion and the new Christian religion to form a fresh, specifically Maori faith independent of the Pakeha churches.