Christchurch Earthquake Relief

This is a guest blog entry by Max Wallace:

Christchurch Earthquake

If any of our American friends would like to make a contribution to the Christchurch earthquake relief, please contact the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists: [email protected].

The scale of the devastation in New Zealand's second largest city has to be seen to be believed. The streets look like war zones after bombing. Thousands are leaving. It may take ten years to rectify all the damage, that is, if no further major quakes occur. Daily there are small aftershocks, some of them not so small, hampering recovery. Deaths will probably top the 300 mark.

We were planning a conference to be held in Christchurch for later this year, to follow the results of the five-year census which was due to be held in March. The census has now been postponed. The point of the conference was to capitalize on the fact that the census would have almost certainly shown Christians in NZ slipping below 50 per cent of the population. At the last census they were down to 51 per cent. Those who say they have 'no religion' were at 32 per cent. For secular Americans, this would be something you might envy.

The conference was going to ask 'where to go from here?' and was pointedly to be held in Christchurch to maximize the irony of that name vis-a-vis the results of the census. The statistics have got to the point where the secular can rightly demand changes in how New Zealand, still a constitutional monarchy, presents and is governed.

If you can make a contribution, ANZSA will mail you a copy of our 2010 book Realizing Secularism: Australia and New Zealand.

Secular regards
Max Wallace
Director
Australia New Zealand Secular Association
Sydney