by John Robertson

New Zealand’s future depends on whether it is prepared to restore a genuinely secular foundation to its laws and institutions.

Legislation should be written in precise, rational, and universally applicable language, not infused with concepts that belong to the spiritual, esoteric, or metaphysical realm.

Terms and concepts such as wairua, mauri, mana, tapu, whakapapa, tikanga, kaitiakitanga, atua, and other spiritually derived ideas have been embedded throughout aspects of legislation, public institutions, local government processes, and state education.

This represents a fundamental shift away from a neutral secular state and toward a system where a particular spiritual worldview has hijacked elements of government authority under the label of culture.

A modern democracy must not allow any spiritual belief system to shape the foundations of law without clear boundaries and equal scrutiny.

If New Zealand is serious about freedom of belief, equality before the law, and a secular public square, then legislation must be stripped of spiritual and metaphysical language and rebuilt around reason, evidence, and principles that apply equally to every citizen.