UNITED FUTURE – CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS IN DISGUISE

Peter Dunnes hair has been placed on New Zealands Official Endangered Species List. Attempts at captive breeding of his hair, have also proved unsuccessful.


Peter Dunne formed the United Party, which had struggled on, marginal and irrelevant for several years. As part of his search for a wider constituency, Dunne agreed to join up with the semi-marginal Future New Zealand Party, led by a fundamentalist preacher, Anthony Walton and formerly called The Christian Democrat Party (which contested the 1996 Election as part of The Christian Coalition)

So was born United Future, a political party which has always painted itself as a centralist, moderate party with family policies.

‘Welcome to United Future, the party that guarantees New Zealand stable government and commonsense policies that benefit the New Zealand family’ greets anyone viewing their web site.

Expunged of Gordon Copeland, who left U.F in the last term over support of the anti-smacking legislation, and down to just two MP’s, polling at 0.5% in the party vote U.F is fighting for its political survival.

With the Christian vote at this election being dissipated and fractured, U.F needs to re-brand and throw off it’s tag as a haven for fundamentalists, best highlighted by Paul Adams, who was responsible for some of the worst of United’s early publicity, when he said in his 1993 in a submission to Parliament that Aids sufferers should be publicly identified in some way, or even that they be quarantined.

No one knows the importance of this secular re-branding exercise more than Dunne.

He knows being labelled a Christian Party is United Futures one-way road to the wastelands.

What chance do voters have, seeing the moderation & pragmatism Dunne espouses, turned into reality?

Does The United Future Party Dunne leads, top heavy with Christian ‘warriors’, actually want to change?

Looking at the profiles and backgrounds of parties highest ranking members and I’d say “I doubt it”.

Just two years ago, the quintessential Kiwi bloke party ‘Outdoor Recreation’, who had joined forces with U.F, fled (into the bush presumably) citing difficulties with the evangelism of Christian members.

Hardly a confidence vote that things have changed, at least behind the scenes at United Future.

Then there was the revelation from one of it’s ex MP’s Marc Alexander that a frequent topic at caucus meetings was ‘the after life’ and all it’s meetings were preceded with a prayer for Gods guidance. Commenting on the formation of U.F’s list rankings (N.Z Herald 28/09/2005) Alexander said list-placings were formulated on ‘Christianity over competence’

It’s best therefore voters examine the profiles of Mr Dunnes team to see, if I’m on the money with categorising them as ‘a Trojan horse’ and 'Christan Democrats in disguise'.

Voters need to ask if a political leopard like United Future, can really change it’s spots?

JUDY TURNER (Current MP and # 2 on Party List) Described by Marc Alexander (along with Gordon Copeland )”as a useless appendage who made endless soliloquies about the perils of the great moral outrages of the day”. In her civilian life she’s a New Life Pastor, her and her hubby run a church. On record, wanting New Zealand to introduce compulsory ‘character education’ into schools. These characters have names like Mark, Luke, Paul and John. On the subject of bibles & Turner, she once labelled United Futures policy on families as “biblically sound”.

DENISE KRUM (United Future President & # 3 Party List) Denise is the daughter of National Party MP and Christian Democrat founder Graeme Lee (or is it more appropriate I use his more formal title Reverend Graeme Lee?) Graeme wrote ‘the’ book on Christian politics in New Zealand ‘Faith Politics & Servant Leadership’ & once infamously claimed on Paul Holmes show that children were more at risk to be abused around homosexuals rather than heterosexuals.

INKY TULLOCH (Current Board Member, Former President) When asked about the Christian connection & U.F, Gore born & bred, Inky attempted to deflect the question, but ended-up telling the public what they already knew, which was “United Future isn't a Christian party – it's a political party that has a lot of Christians in it”. Hmm, isn’t that like Rudolf Hess saying we are not a Nazi party but we just happen to have heaps of national socialists as members?

MURRAY SMITH (Current Board Member, former Party Secretary, Helped form the UF party, former MP, # 6 on Party List) Murray also happens to have help set-up The Christian Democrats. Baptist & Lawyer, a combination that is lethal to consume over certain doses & best kept locked away from children.

NEVILLE WILSON (# 7 Party List) Originally from Fiji, Nev is a Baptist Church Pastor and back home he sat on The Fiji Council of Churches.

JANET TUCK (# 9 Party List) Involved with Tear Fund Christian Action. The bio on the U.F website says her interests include walking, running a book group, and leading a church home group.

I could have continued further down their candidate-list, there being such a rare vein of evangelism to dig into, that was after I got use to that strong pervading odour of pentecostal sulphur emanating from their ranks.

But by now you’ll get the gist - United Future is riddled with ‘fire & brimstone’ Christians from top to bottom & without them there would probably be enough support or man power for it to function.

Forget the cuddly centralist overtones, United Future’s very DNA is fundamentalist.

Christian Only Refugees

God botherer, one time Financial Administrator for the N.Z Catholic Church, elected United Future list member, and now independent MP, Gordon Copeland, is attempting to use his last days in Parliament in a futile attempt to grant further privileges, for those who choose Christianity as their superstition of choice.

Rather than worry about the 100 Kiwi’s crossing the ditch every day, Copeland wants the secular N.Z Government to grant exemptions (read special privileges) to asylum seekers who profess to be Christians and claim to be under some threat were they returned home.

His Press Release of the 17th April 2008, is headed ‘Copeland seeks moratorium on deportation of Christians’ & reads:

Independent MP Gordon Copeland today utilised a Parliamentary Question to enter a plea with the Minister of Immigration on behalf of Iranian asylum seekers, who convert to Christianity.

“Following the introduction of legislation in Iran mandating the death penalty for apostates from Islam, there can now be no doubt at all that the deportation of such converts is a death sentence,” said Mr Copeland.

“In the light of that reality, the Dutch, British, Canadian, and Australian Governments have stopped deportation to Iran and New Zealand should, in my view, do the same.”

“This country’s foundations are based upon liberty of conscience and freedom of religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion. We abolished the death penalty about 40 years ago and its application anywhere in the world is abhorrent to New Zealanders.”

“In these circumstances it is simply unconscionable to continue deportation.”

Mr Copeland has said that any claim to Christian conversion needs to be genuine and able to be authenticated by clergy or other pastoral workers in testimony before the Refugee Status Appeals Authority. However, should testimony provided in that manner affirm that the conversion is genuine, then it should be accepted and asylum granted to the claimant.

“At the end of the day, there is simply no option in the matter and I would rather see the benefit of the doubt extended to the asylum seeker than take the risk of discovering later that we have sent a person back to their death in Iran.”

ENDS

Apparently Copeland’s crocodile teared cry for “freedom of religion” did not extend to other faiths.

If Copeland got his way converted Bahá'ís arriving into the N.Z would be returned to face their fates. Iran is of course is both the cradle of the Bahai’s religion and it’s followers form the countries largest religious minority & have endured persecution for centuries under successive regimes.

But of course Copeland is only interested in Christian refugees.

So Refugees from other converted faiths, plus those dreaded atheists, would be on the first plane out of New Zealand, were he to have his way.

The other question that comes to mind is - who would qualify as a Christian?

The Refugee Status Appeals Authority could face arguments that a non-monotheist Coptic Egyptian was not infact a follower of Jesus and therefore would not qualify for Copelands rigid rules as who was a Christian and who wasn’t.

Problems abound, not to mention the fact Refugee Status Authority would be granting an exemption based on religion and it's independence would be called into question.

This isn’t the first time Copeland has wanted a say as to who can come into the country, and who can’t. In 2006 he approached The Minister Of Immigration (David Cunliffe) in an attempt to frustrate Australian euthanasia-activist Philip Nitschkes attempts to settle in N.Z.

No prize for guessing Mr Nitschkes point of view on the terminally ill differs from Mr Copelands, and that was good enough for Gordon to partition the authorities (including visits to The N.Z Police at one stage) to get him banned.

Copeland’s ‘Christians Only Refugee’ proposal is of course patently ludicrous.

Asylum seekers, would seize upon this window of opportunity to covert, as an easy path to follow to gain residency. Of this there is little doubt.

They would be quoting Bible passges to the cow’s come home and whole chapters of L.Ron Hubbards ‘Diagenics’ verbatim if it lead to citizenship in godzone.

The sooner the tax-payers of New Zealand see the back of this ‘lame duck’ MP the better.

PS; Would someone kindly tell Gordon, the most Christian nation on the planet, is one of the last in the Western World, to still practice the "abhorrent" death penalty he deplores.