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The International Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Society Volume X, Number X, 2010
The International Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Society
in Society
RELIGION
& SPIRITUALTY
www.ReligionInSociety.comwww.ReligionInSociety.com
JOURNAL
THE INTERNATIONAL
of
Volume 1, Number 2
Spirituality and Religion in the Lives of New
Zealanders
Franco Vaccarino, Heather Kavan and Philip Gendall
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY
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Spirituality and Religion in the Lives of New Zealanders
Franco Vaccarino, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
Heather Kavan, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
Philip Gendall, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
Abstract: New Zealand is a multi-faith country that is becoming increasingly secular, with the mainline
Protestant churches losing tens of thousands of adherents each census. The purpose of this study is to
get a clearer understanding of New Zealand’s secularisation process. The International Social Survey
Programme (ISSP) questionnaire was used to capture the religious landscape. A random selection of
2040 New Zealand adults yielded 1027 valid responses, and the data were weighted for age and gender.
The results showed a decline in adherence to religious institutions, coinciding with a reduced faith in
the traditional monotheistic view of God. However, reports of religious experience increased. Addi-
tionally, 30.5% agreed with the statement, “I don’t follow a religion, but am a spiritual person interested
in the sacred/supernatural.” The results draw attention to the ineffectiveness of census results and
church attendance surveys as a measure of how religious a population is.
Keywords: Secularisation, Christianity, Multi-faith, International Social Survey Programme, Beliefs,
Religious Experience
Introduction
ALL THROUGH HISTORY people have been looking for ways to connect with
something beyond themselves. The search has generated many paths, from individual
ways of nding personal meaning to inherited institutional dogmas and practices.
Since the 1970s social scientists have observed that most Western nations have
experienced a process of secularisation, in which people are increasingly less likely to belong
to religious institutions, even though they may still have religious beliefs (e.g. Davie, 1990;
Martin, 1979; Taylor, 2007). Coupled with this, historians such as Callum Brown have noted
a ‘spiritual revolution’, characterised by growing numbers of people refashioning religion
as spiritual experience, without the need for a central authority (2006).
This study aims to capture the religious landscape of New Zealand in the light of these
trends. Specically, we present the results of the International Social Survey Programme
(ISSP) survey of New Zealanders’ religion. The ISSP was founded in 1984 by research or-
ganisations from Germany, the United States,England and Australia to gather cross-national
data on topics important to social scientists. Today the programme involves academic insti-
tutions in 43 countries in an annual survey of economic and social policy issues. A different
topic is addressed each year in a seven-year cycle, and one of these topics is religion.
In line with the ISSP survey, we are using the word ‘religion’ in its broadest sense to refer
to beliefs, practices and experiences that involve a framework of meaning that is beyond the
everyday empirical world. This framework usually involves a form of divine or supernatural
power. In contrast, we are using the term secularisation in a narrow sense to refer to a decline
The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society
Volume 1, Number 2, 2011, http://religioninsociety.com/journal/, ISSN 2152-7857
© Common Ground, Franco Vaccarino,Heather Kavan, Philip Gendall, All Rights Reserved, Permissions:
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in adherence to religious institutions, rather than in the broader sense of a decline in religi-
osity. This distinction is necessary to incorporate Brown’s observation that a spiritual revolu-
tion has occurred during secularisation.
Religion in New Zealand
New Zealand has no ofcial religion. Nevertheless the country is infused with the Judaeo-
Christian inuence of the European settlers who arrived in the nineteenth century, and the
most recent census in 2006 showed that 49.5% of New Zealanders describe themselves as
Christian (Statistics New Zealand, 2006).1The total population at the time of the census was
just over 4 million.
While children today are far less likely than they were in the last century to be born into
religious families and to attend Sunday school, several traditions from New Zealand’s
Christian past continue to be observed in the broader culture. Examples include the national
anthem calling on God to defend the country, the traditional prayer before the opening of
Parliament sessions, and the closure of most stores on Good Friday, Christmas Day and
Easter Sunday. Further, New Zealand still has an archaic law prohibiting blasphemy against
the Deity, Christ, or Christian religion, although prosecutions are extremely rare (Burrows
& Cheer, 2010).2However, despite these elements, Christian churches generally have little
inuence and power over New Zealand society (Ahdar, 2006). The three recent Christian
political parties in New Zealand – the Christian Heritage party, the Christian Democrat party
(now United Future New Zealand) and Destiny New Zealand (later called the Family party)
− have been minority concerns, and several activities Christians usually oppose, such as
prostitution and homosexual acts between men, are legal in New Zealand.
New Zealand supports religious freedom, and this value is enshrined in its 1990 Bill of
Rights Act (New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, 1990, sections 13, 15 & 20). Multiple spiritu-
alities are highly visible in New Zealand. Falun Gong practitioners exercise in public gardens,
Revival Centre members proselytise in local parks, Krishna devotees chant and dance down
streets, and billboards advertise psychic fairs. Television programmes such as Sensing Murder
and Dare to Believe have given rise to celebrity psychics like Kelvin Cruickshank, Sue
Nicholson and Jeanette Wilson, and most general bookshops have a New Age/spirituality
stand. Although, as Ellwood (1993) notes, alternative spirituality is not new in New Zealand
and has been visible as far back as the early settlers, new religious movements are much
more prolic now.
Given the increasingly prominent role of New Zealand’s indigenous people, a distinctive
feature of New Zealand is the growing role of Māori prayers (karakia) and rituals in civic
and national events. These displays reect New Zealand’s commitment to honouring its
founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, which promises the Crown will respect Māorit-
anga (articles 2, 3 and 4).3They are also aimed at counteracting previous repression of in-
1The gure that is often given is 51.2% but this reduces to 49.5% when multiple responses from those who identied
with more than one Christian religion are taken into account.
2The question of whether the blasphemy law applies to non-Christian religions has not yet been tested in the courts.
3The last of these, number 4, was verbal and not part of the written text. In response to a question from Catholic
Bishop Pompallier, Governor Hobson said: “The several faiths (beliefs) of England, of the Wesleyans, of Rome,
and also Māori custom shall alike be protected” (Te Puni Kokiri, 2001, pp. 40-41).
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY
digenous spirituality.4There are Māori blessings at state occasions, karakia are permitted in
courtrooms, and in 2001 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade funded kaumatua (Māori
elders) to go to New Zealand embassy ofces in Bangkok to do spiritual cleansing ceremonies.
Māori values − especially ones associated with the sacredness and beauty of the land − are
respected, and are reected in New Zealand’s strong anti-nuclear policy (Kavan, 2004).
These values are also enshrined in law, and the Resource Management Act 1991 and the
Historic Places Act 1993 acknowledge places or areas that possess spiritual signicance.
Another distinctive feature of New Zealand is that it has one of the highest rates of ‘no
religion’ in the world (Nachowitz, 2007). The percentage of religionless New Zealanders is
currently 34.7% − double the United States’ 16.1% (Pew Forum, 2008). However, this may,
in part, reect the way the census form is set out. Before 1986, New Zealanders were required
to write their religion in response to the question, “What is your religion?” (which implied
they were expected to have one). In 1986 the question remained the same, but the form gave
eight options to choose from including ‘no religion’ (Christian Research Association of
Aotearoa New Zealand, 2000). Consequently, the number of religionless New Zealanders
jumped from 166,014 in 1981 to 533,766 in 1986, and now amounts to one third of the
population. Webster and Perry’s (1989) survey of New Zealand values showed that half of
those who professed no religion believed in at least one of the following: God, life after
death, a soul, the devil, hell, heaven, sin or reincarnation. Analysing the survey data, sociolo-
gist Michael Hill also observed that Anglicans at times identify with very similar beliefs to
those with no religion (in Webster & Perry, 1989).
Despite the distinctiveness of the New Zealand religious landscape, the decline in institu-
tional Christianity is the predominant theme in studies of New Zealander’s religion, whether
they be historical accounts, census statistics, church attendance rates, or values surveys. The
mainline Protestant churches in New Zealand, primarily Anglican, Presbyterian and Meth-
odist churches, lose tens of thousands of adherents every census. One reason for the decline
in mainline numbers is that many of the people leaving these denominations may only have
been nominal members in the rst place, i.e. people who self-identied with a denomination
but did not attend church. Another reason may be that many adherents to these denominations
are in the older age groups and when they die they are not being replaced by younger mem-
bers. The 1997 National Church Life Survey showed that about 30% of those attending
mainline Protestant services are aged over 70 (Brookes & Currow, 1998).
The decline in religious adherence can also be linked to the impact of globalisation, in
line with standard theories of secularisation that connect increasing social variation with re-
ligious decline (Fenn, 1978). As a geographically isolated country, New Zealand has been
strongly affected by the Internet, which has both displaced traditional forms of community
and provided increased access to information about alternative religious paths. Additionally,
despite the proliferation of alternative faiths, New Zealand has a predominantly strong, hyper-
masculine Rugby culture (Phillips, 1987). The stereotypical Kiwi bloke is beer-drinking,
rugged and disengaged from emotion – a man who is likely to associate religion with a need
for a crutch and is more procient at herding animals than spelling Presbyterian. Religion,
in contrast, is a predominately female interest (Stark, 2002; Walter & Davie, 1998). Another
factor that may have contributed to the drop in religious adherence is the increasing materi-
4For example, the 1908 Tohunga Suppression Act restricted the work of tohunga (Māori spiritual healers) until it
was repealed in 1962.
87
FRANCO VACCARINO, HEATHER KAVAN, PHILIP GENDALL
alism of the Western world. Most New Zealanders see prosperity, not religion, as the key
to a good life, and in 1989, 79% of the population (including Christians) listed prosperity
as their highest goal (Webster & Perry, 1989). As Webster and Perry comment, this is not
altogether consonant with the churches’ ideal of being a “friend to the poor” (1989, p. 144).
Nevertheless some religious groups are on the rise. The rst trend, as historian Peter
Lineham notes, is the growth of ‘megachurches’, which in the New Zealand context are
churches with over 500 members (Lineham, 2003). Although some of these churches are
Catholic, most are Pentecostal (Pentecostals have been one of the fastest growing religious
movements in New Zealand since the 1980s). A much publicised example of a megachurch
is Pentecostal televangelist Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church, which has attracted many urban
Māori.
The second increase is in what Lineham (2003) calls the ‘micro churches’ – intimate,
unstructured groups of participants who have opted out of churches. It is likely that these
members are among the 4.5% of New Zealanders who describe their religion simply as
‘Christian’ on the New Zealand census. There is also a wide-ranging network of New Age
spiritual groups in New Zealand. Both these Christian and New Age groups are part of what
Taylor calls a “culture informed by an ethic of authenticity” in which spirituality is a quest
for wholeness and depth (2007, p. 507).
The third trend is the rapid growth of Eastern religions, which can be attributed to an inux
of immigrants to New Zealand (although many immigrants are Christian). However, this
number should not be overestimated as adherents to Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Chinese and
Japanese religions make up less than 4% of the New Zealand population (Statistics New
Zealand, 2006). As well as this, there has been a resurgence of interest in Māori Christianity,
especially in the Ringatu and Ratana churches. These increases are likely to be due to the
growth of the Māori population as well as growing interest in Māori spirituality (Hoverd,
2008) rooted in post-colonial guilt feelings and New Age fascination with indigenous spir-
itualities (Ahdar, 2006).
As Hill commented over twenty years ago, researchers of religion in New Zealand have
been “few in number”(in Webster & Perry, 1989, p.ii). There is a need for a clearer under-
standing of the religious and non-religious streams in New Zealand. Most current information
is based on adherence to institutions, yet there is considerable variation within these institu-
tions. The aim of the ISSP religion survey is to get a broader and more precise understanding
of people’s religious beliefs, practices, values, and experiences, including individuals who
are unafliated with religious institutions.
Method
The research team used the religion questionnaire developed by the ISSP. This questionnaire
was chosen because: (1) one of the questions clearly differentiated between religious adher-
ence and spirituality, (2) the items had been carefully pre-tested for reliability, (3) the ques-
tionnaire has been used regularly throughout the world since 1984 and adapted each time,
and (4) ISSP ndings regularly appear in leading academic journals, allowing scholars in
other countries to compare data and observe worldwide trends.
The survey questions were similar to those used in the 1991 and 1998 questionnaires. A
question was added that was in the 1991 survey, but not in the 1998 one, asking respondents:
“Do you feel you have ever been aware of or inuenced by a presence or power, whether
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY
you call it God or not, which is different from your everyday self?” Other questions were
also added asking respondents how satised they are with their own religion or spirituality,
and whether they feel they have found their purpose in life. The former has been used in
other surveys, for example the Heylen poll and the Personal Wellbeing Index.
The team randomly selected 2040 people aged 18 and over from the electoral roll, and
sent out the questionnaire by mail. The survey produced 1027 valid responses, an effective
response rate of 52%. A sample of this size has a maximum error margin at the 95% cond-
ence level of approximately plus or minus 3%.
The responses were analysed using PASW statistics 18. Though the sample was represent-
ative of a wide spectrum of New Zealand society, the voluntary nature of the responses res-
ulted in a slight over-representation of older people and females. To correct these biases,
the survey data were weighted so that the age-sex distribution of the sample matched that
of the New Zealand population.
Results
Sample
The sample comprised 52% women and 48% men. The majority (61.3%) were married,
23.1% had never married, and the others were widowed, divorced or separated. Most parti-
cipants (77.9%) were born in New Zealand. The highest age concentration was the 40−49
age group (20.6%), and the remaining age groups were evenly distributed, with 38.7% under
the age of 40, and 40.7% aged over 49.
Table 1: Religious Adherence (n=1027)
Proportion of
Sample %
Current Religion
27.2Mainstream Protestant (Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian)
13.3Catholic
7.1Christian (not further dened)
3.6
Other Protestant (Brethren, Jehovah’s Witness, Lutheran, Latter Day
Saints, Protestant nfd, Salvation Army, Seventh Day Adventist)
2.1Eastern (Buddhism & Hinduism)
1.7Pentecostal (including Assemblies of God)
0.8Māori Christianity (Ratana and Ringatu)
0.5Muslim
0.4Jewish
2.8Other
40.5No religion
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FRANCO VACCARINO, HEATHER KAVAN, PHILIP GENDALL
Most participants were raised in conservative Christian households: 40.5% as Protestant,
19.9% as Catholic, and 0.3% as Orthodox. The remaining respondents were either raised in
other religions (12.2%) or had no religious background (27.1%).
The religious afliations of the sample are consistent with the 2006 census gures. Most
respondents (59.5%) indicated they had a religion, and for at least 53.7%, this was a Christian
religion. The breakdown of these statistics can be seen in table 1.
Religious Beliefs
Most respondents (53%) believe in God, although half of these people have some doubts;
19.2% do not believe in a personal God but believe in a higher power of some kind, while
27.8% either do not believe in God or do not know if there is one. Table 2 shows that one
fth of the sample changed their belief about God during the course of their life.
Table 2: Personal History of Belief in God (n=1027)
Proportion of SampleSelf Description of Belief in God
(%)
21.7I don’t believe in God now, and I never have
11.9I don’t believe in God now, but I used to
7.8I believe in God now, but I didn’t used to
39.1I believe in God now, and I always have
19.6Can’t choose
Regarding the relationship between humans and God, 37.8% of respondents believe there
is a God who concerns Himself with every human being personally, and for 20.7% life is
meaningful only because God exists. Few (8%) believe that the Bible is the actual word of
God and is to be taken literally.
As table 3 shows, participants have a reasonably high level of religious beliefs, even for
practices that are often associated with superstition.
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY
Table 3: Religious Beliefs (n=1027)
Proportion of‘Denitely’ or ‘Probably’ Believe in
Sample (%)
57.4Life after death
50.5Heaven
44.3Religious miracles
11.9Nirvana
35.9Hell
27.4Reincarnation
28.7Good luck charms sometimes bring good luck
26.6Supernatural power of ancestors
39.2Some faith healers do have God-given powers
39.2
A person’s star sign at birth, or horoscope, can
affect the course of their futures
38.6Some fortune tellers can foresee the future
Religiosity
Asked whether they had experienced a turning point in their life when they made a new and
personal commitment to religion, 24.6% said ‘yes’. It is likely that many of these experiences
were ‘born again’ ones, as 19.2% said they had at one stage in their life had a born-again
experience.
When asked how religious they are, 35.8% described themselves as religious (9.1% as
extremely or very religious and 26.7% as somewhat religious). The rest either describe
themselves as non-religious (37%) or neutral (27.2%).
These self-perceptions are reected in the level of involvement the respondents have in
religious activities. Almost half the sample pray at least several times a year, including 18.4%
who pray daily. However, 38.9% never attend a religious service, only 20.1% regularly attend
a service at least once a month, and 55.1% never take part in church activities other than at-
tending services. A small number showed a higher level of commitment, and 12.3% had
made a personal sacrice during the year, such as fasting, following a special diet, or giving
up an activity during a holy season as an expression of faith. Additionally, 16.1% have in
their home a shrine, altar, or religious object on display, such as an icon, retablos, mezuzah,
menorah or crucix.
Personal Spirituality
Despite declining religious adherence, 45.2% said they have their own way of connecting
with God without churches or religious services, and 70.3% reported being either very satis-
ed or satised with their own religion or spirituality, with only 3% dissatised (the remaining
26.6% were neutral). When asked whether they agreed with the statement, “I have found
my purpose in life,” 49.2% agreed, 10.5% disagreed and 40.3% were neutral.
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FRANCO VACCARINO, HEATHER KAVAN, PHILIP GENDALL
As table 4 shows, most respondents said that although they do not follow a religion, they
are spiritual and interested in the sacred or supernatural. Conversely, almost one sixth of the
sample follow a religion, but are not interested in the sacred or supernatural. Statistics on
the degree of spirituality provide a clearer picture: 8.4% describe themselves as very spiritual,
29.7% as moderately spiritual, 32.8% as slightly spiritual, and 29.1% as not spiritual at all.
Table 4: Religious Self-description (n=1027)
Percent of RespondentsSelf-description
%
19.6
Follow a religion and am a spiritual person interested in the
sacred/supernatural
14.8
Follow a religion, but am not a spiritual person interested in
the sacred/supernatural
30.5
Don’t follow a religion, but am a spiritual person interested
in the sacred/supernatural
26.4
Don’t follow a religion and am not a spiritual person interested
in the sacred/supernatural
8.7Can’t choose
Regarding religious experience, when asked: “Have you ever been aware of or inuenced
by a presence, whether you call it God or not, which is different from your everyday self?”
39.5% said yes, 38.6% said no, and the remaining 21.9% were unsure.
Attitude to Religion
Most participants seemed to have a positive attitude towards religion. When asked whether
religion helps to nd inner peace and happiness, most (79.1%) agreed, and a similar proportion
(81.3%) agreed that religion helps people make friends. A great majority (90.2%) also said
religion helps people gain comfort in times of trouble or sorrow. Additionally, there was
widespread support (60%) for children to have some form of religious education in primary
schools, with 28.8% preferring the teaching of all faiths, not just Christianity.
There was a general tolerance to other religions. The majority (79.2%) believe there are
basic truths in many religions, 13.7% said there is very little truth in any religion, while 7.1%
believe there is truth only in one religion. In line with this, 73.8% agreed or strongly agreed
with the statement that we must respect all religions. Few had negative attitudes towards
people from other religions: 92.7% were positive or neutral towards Christians, 76.2% towards
Muslims, 87.8% towards Hindus, 91.8% towards Buddhists, 91.9% towards Jews, and 90.2%
towards atheists or non-believers.
Religion in Society
Relatively few respondents (10.8%) consider that religion as a whole is increasing its inuence
on New Zealand life, 46% believe it is losing its inuence, 27.9% think it is neither increasing
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY
nor losing its inuence, and the rest do not know. Among those who believe religion is losing
its inuence, 17.3% think this is a good thing, while 49.7% think it is a bad thing, and the
remainder do not know.
If a law were passed that conicted with their religious principles and teachings, 29.6%
of those surveyed said they would follow their religious principles, while 23% said they
would follow the law. The remaining participants either said they had no religious principles
(34.1%) or they could not choose (13.3%).
Age and Gender Effects
Older respondents tended to be more religious than younger ones. Those over 55 were more
likely than those under 35 to have a religious afliation, to believe in God, and to believe
the Bible is literal word of God. There was little difference in belief in a higher power among
different age groups.
Gender differences were also evident, and, as expected, female respondents were more
religious than men. Higher proportions of women than men had religious beliefs, were afl-
iated to a religion, reported having a religious experience, and identied themselves as
spiritual.
Discussion
The results conrm that New Zealand society is becoming more secularised. Most participants
had relatively low levels of active involvement in religion, and there is evidence they have
become less religious over the last 17 years. The proportion of New Zealanders who said
they have no religion increased from 29% among those surveyed in 1991 to 40% in 2008.
Similarly, fewer New Zealanders now say they believe in God than they did 17 years ago
(although there is no change in the proportion of respondents who believe in a higher power).
The decline in religious beliefs seems to be strongest in areas that are contradictory to science,
e.g. the belief that the Bible is the literal truth and the belief that star signs and horoscopes
inuence one’s destiny. This nding suggests that education may be an underestimated
factor in research on the secularisation of New Zealand and, given increasing access to tertiary
education, it may be worth exploring the relationship between educational level and secular-
isation.
At the same time, there is preliminary evidence that New Zealand is experiencing the
spiritual revolution that Brown (2006) describes, in which religion is refashioned as spiritual
experience, without the need for a central authority. While traditional beliefs and institutional
religion have declined, spiritual experience has risen: 39.5% afrmed they had experienced
a spiritual presence or power different from their everyday self, compared with 32.8% in
1991. Although this statistic is lower than the 62% reported in England when respondents
were interviewed face-to-face and the interviewer could explain the question (Hay & Morisy,
1985), it is consistent with questionnaire responses – 36.4% from England and 35% from
the United States (Greeley, 1974; Hay & Morisy, 1978). That 21.9% chose the ‘Not sure’
option suggests the proportion could be higher.
Overall, the data present a picture of New Zealanders that can be divided into three parts
of roughly equal proportions. The rst group comprises one in three New Zealanders who
can be called religious, though many would prefer the term ‘spiritual’. Of this group, almost
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FRANCO VACCARINO, HEATHER KAVAN, PHILIP GENDALL
two thirds are very or extremely religious. These are the people for whom life is meaningful
only because God exists. They are likely to pray daily, have religious experiences, make a
personal sacrice for their faith, and have a shrine, altar or religious object in their house.
This group ranges from people who are liberal and unafliated with any institution to those
who are conservative Christians who hold fundamentalist views. If a law were passed that
conicted with their religious principles, they would stay with their principles. They are
more likely to be female than male.
The second group, comprising roughly another third of the population, is of people who
are not interested in the sacred or supernatural, have no religious principles, and would de-
scribe themselves as neither religious nor spiritual. Males predominate in this group. They
do not agree that religion helps a person nd inner peace and happiness, and they do not
presume there is an afterlife. Most have not had a religious experience, and they either do
not believe in God or do not know if there is a God. They do not support religious education
in primary schools.
Between these two extremes is a middle group, also comprising approximately one in
three New Zealanders. They are much less religious, but not irreligious. They are satised
with their own religion or spirituality. They believe there may be a God or a higher power
and some form of life after death. Some pray and sometimes go to church (or a religious
institution), others are not afliated with any religion. They see basic truths in many spiritual
paths and their prevailing attitude to other faiths is either neutrality or goodwill. They believe
that religion can be a force for good, that it provides peace and happiness, helps people in
times of need, and may be worth teaching in primary schools. However, they do not feel a
great need for religion themselves.
The ndings that (1) many New Zealanders are not tied to a religious organisation, but
consider themselves to be spiritual, and (2) many who belong to religious organisations do
not consider themselves spiritual, show how ineffective census statistics are in capturing the
strength of people’s personal religion and predicting the future of religion. These ndings
also underline the need to learn more about those who identify themselves as having no reli-
gion. That many respondents seem to mean ‘no organised religion’, rather than ‘no religion’,
helps explain why Webster and Perry (1989) found that half of those who professed no reli-
gion held religious beliefs. Another issue that arises is the predominance of males in this
category. New Zealand is inclined towards being a masculine culture– the country’s pioneer
origins and what Holmes (1997, p. 263) calls its ‘man alone’ symbolism may make both
organised religion and personal spirituality unattractive options for men.
The high proportion of spiritual people who do not belong to a religion lends strong
plausibility to Lineham’s (2003) suggestion that intimate, unstructured groups of ex-members
are one of the fastest growing religious phenomena in the country. The high proportion also
suggests the inuence of New Age networks, given that many respondents hold beliefs as-
sociated with the New Age, such as spiritual healing and reincarnation. There is little research
on either the New Zealand New Age movement or unstructured Christian groups (Gilling’s
1999 work on informal Christian communities is an exception) yet these seem to be important
directions for the future of New Zealand religion.
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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY
Conclusion
The value of this study is that it provides preliminary empirical evidence that a spiritual re-
volution may be occurring in New Zealand – a country that has one of the highest rates in
the Western world of people with no religious afliation. The research also pinpoints educa-
tion as possibly the most important unstudied inuence on secularisation in New Zealand.
Further, the study identies three major religious streams, classifying the intensity of New
Zealanders’ commitment and beliefs, independent of their religious afliation.
Nevertheless, there are several limitations to the research. As well as the common draw-
backs of quantitative research (for example, that pre-set options do not allow much scope
for the respondents) there are drawbacks specic to this study. First, religion is as much, if
not more, an emotional phenomenon as an intellectual one, yet the feeling dimension is
largely omitted in large scale surveys such as this one. Second, as ISSP scholars use the
same questions in 42 other countries, the items were not adapted to the New Zealand setting.
Words in the survey like ‘retablos’, ‘mezuzah’ and ‘menorah’ would be outside the vocabulary
of most New Zealanders, who would instead be familiar with words from Māori spirituality
like ‘tapu’, ‘mana’, ‘karakia’ and ‘tangi’ (or its longer form, ‘tangihana’).
Nevertheless, the major advantage of the ISSP survey is that it allows researchers to capture
people’s personal religion, supplying ndings that can be compared with those of other
countries. The data in this study provide a snapshot of religion in New Zealand, documenting
the beliefs, practices, values, and experiences of a country in the process of secularisation.
Our hope is that future researchers will build on these ndings with qualitative research, for
it is highly likely that secularisation will continue.
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About the Authors
Dr. Franco Vaccarino
Massey University, New Zealand
Dr. Heather Kavan
Massey University, New Zealand
Philip Gendall
Massey University, New Zealand
96
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY
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Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Editorial Advisory Board
Desmond Cahill, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Robert McKim, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
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