by External Poster » Fri Oct 14, 2011 11:18 am
This posting is from: Michelle Jenkins
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Hi
Let me see if I can answer any of these questions....
>> Put in perspective the difference between the Labour and National
>> parties is about as wide as the width of a ruler. They are both very
>> much centre left/right rather than extreme.
> Out of curiosity, how are the NZ parties aligned with regard to religion
> and "family values" issues? (Does NZ recognize the Church Of England?)
> What are the parties' positions regarding the control that religion
> should have over individuals' lives?
Well I would align the Labour party with the Democrats and the National
with the Republicans I guess. Both are more or less christian based
parties, in fact that is probably true for most parties. They are
generally conservative and centre-ish in alignment. New Zealand has a
mix of christian based religions and although not evenly split are
represented in numbers as Anglicans, Methodist, Catholic as well as the
fringe churches / religions. There are large communities of other such
as Hindu, Muslim etc especially noticeable in Auckland surrounds where
there are large expat communities. For example Howick, an Auckland
suburb is known for its huge Chinese population.
Every now and then a political issue will be driven or affected by the
religious issues surrounding it (abortion springs to mind) but generally
its not very "blatant".
> As you probably know, in the States, in recent decades, the left (often
> represented by the Democrats) has tried to keep government out of
> religion and vice-versa, while the right (often represented by the
> Republicans) appears to wish a tighter bond between religion, in
> particular a very authoritarian type of fundamentalist Christianity, and
> public policy.
> Therefore, here in the States, those politicians who are on the
> less-government/less-tax side of the fence are far more likely than not
> to support the issues which are hostile to the GLBT community.
As an observer from a far it does seem that the US people (government
and its populations) see to be more (and more) diametrically opposed and
because of the way the government has various houses / levels (Senate,
Congress, President) getting agreement on anything especially major
issues ends up as a no win compromise (or that's how it appears)
I would suggest that until one or other of the parties gets overall
majorities then it will struggle to get the decisions and progress it
needs. As to which party...I have no idea.
Hugs
Michelle
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(This posting was entered by Michelle Jenkins, an external user of MyDLV.)