Nagar kirtan row: New Zealand MPs back Sikhs amid pastor’s ‘Christian Nation’ claim

Jalandhar: Though Pentecostal Pastor Brian Tamaki, who heads the Destiny Church and whose supporters confronted the Nagar Kirtan in a suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday declared, "New Zealand is a Christian nation! Our God is Jesus Christ", the census of New Zealand in 2023 reflected that most of the Christian denominations registered a decreasing trend as more than 50% of New Zealanders declared themselves as having ‘No Religion'. Meanwhile, Sikhs are around 1% of the NZ population.While confronting the Nagar Kirtan, the protestors, a few dozens of them, also raised slogans like "One True God" and "Jesus-Jesus".
Out of the total 4,993,923 population, 2,576,049 declared that they had ‘no religion'. The census data revealed that ‘no religion' was the increasing trend, while Christian denominations reflected the decreasing trend. The number of such New Zealanders with ‘no religion' was 1,635,348 in 2013 and 2,264,601 in 2018.Numbers of the Pentecostal denomination, with which Tamaki identifies, were down from 45,777 in 2013 to 22,296 in 2018, and further down to 19,245 in 2023, which is just 0.38% of the total New Zealand population.Other denominations like Anglican, Catholicism, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian also registered significant decreases in their numbers. Computing together, the number of all Christian denominations totalled 7,15,722 (14.33%).Sikhs were 19,191 in 2013, doubled in the next five years to 40,908 in 2018, and by 2023 they were 53,406 (1.07%). Similarly, the Hindu population also grew from 89,085 in 2013 to 1,21,644 in 2018, and 1,42,008 in 2023. However, it is possible that all of them might not be of Indian origin as scores of them migrated from Fiji also. Numbers of Buddhists and Muslims also registered steady growth.While numbers of Pentecostal and other Christian denominations are decreasing in New Zealand, in Punjab there has been phenomenal growth in numbers of followers of Pentecostal Christian pastors in the last few years.Meanwhile, New Zealand MPs criticise the protest ahead of the nagar kirtan.New Zealand MP Oriini Kaipara, while sharing a Facebook post of Auckland-based academic Dr Harpreet Singh's post, wrote on her FB wall: "....Thank you for your understanding and compassion for us despite the actions of one man and those who trust and believe in him….." Dr Harpreet Singh, in his post with a Sikh flag, wrote, "....These actions were carried out by one man and those who chose to follow him, people who have hijacked a culture and an identity to spread hate. The responsibility lies with them alone, and my community sees it the same way…….Thank you to everyone who has supported us. We stand with you as Sikhs but also as New Zealanders."MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan also posted her criticism of Brian Tamaki and his supporters' actions. "The Sikhs, for example, have been here since the late 1800s. So it's pretty ridiculous that one man & his band of followers think they can dictate who is or isn't Kiwi and what is or isn't "the Kiwi way of life," she said.MP Marama Davidson also expressed solidarity with Sikhs. "That self-proclaimed 'pastor' is seeking outrage….Haka used for racism and bigotry towards people who are just trying to survive like the rest of us - is not of us as tangata whenua..Our liberation as tangata whenua, needs us to reject the colonial project of pitting people against each other."There were several comments by New Zealanders on their posts and in other places to express solidarity with the Sikhs.Swaranjit Singh Khalsa, mayor of Norwich, Connecticut, USA, demanded that the New Zealand govt should take strict legal action against such hate-promoting groups. He held that such a group could not be considered a voice of "freedom". This kind of so-called nationalism was a danger to humanity, he added.

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