Left should fight right 'biblical verse for verse'
SUNDAY , 29 OCTOBER 2006, SUNDAY STAR TIMES
By IRENE CHAPPLE
Labour needs to add a religious faction to the party to combat the rise of the evangelical right and challenge groups like the Exclusive Brethren.
The suggestion was made yesterday at Labour's party conference by Victoria University academic Paul Morris, and welcomed by party president Mike Williams as a "very promising idea".
Prime Minister Helen Clark said churchgoers were mainstreamed right through the party but she would be "absolutely delighted" if such a wing was pitched. "The issue (for the Labour Party) is tapping into social justice Christianity which has principles identical to our own."
Morris, who ran a 90-minute workshop on the Exclusive Brethren at the conference, said parties of the left were Christian focused but those principles had been deserted in recent times. "If you want to debate the Christian right you need a Christian left to do it. I'm quite convinced if you want a debate on moral responsibility... you can out-argue them.
"There is much of the theology which is shoddy. But it is presented again and again, and very effectively networked." A left-wing religious faction, he said, "should take them on biblical verse for verse".
Last election, Labour and the Greens were attacked in a secretive $1 million campaign backed by the Exclusive Brethren. The group became a major thorn for National leader Don Brash when he was forced to admit he knew it was behind anti-Labour and Greens pamphlets, after saying he did not.
The Brethren connection continued to hamper National, with several senior MPs saying the group's involvement was a factor in it losing the election. More recently, it was revealed the Brethren hired private investigators to dig dirt on Clark and senior Labour ministers.
Clark has not missed an opportunity to take potshots at the Brethren, saying at the start of the conference on Friday: "Take a wee tip from me, focus on the new thinking. The Exclusive Brethren's cover has been blown... and I only intend to mention them in mirth."
Despite that, several ministers and MPs attended Morris' 90-minute workshop, including Pete Hodgson, Judith Tizard, Winnie Laban and Georgina Beyer. Clark did not attend.
Williams said a new sector council -which now included Rainbow, Youth and Women - could be set up if it could raise around 50 members. A religious faction would most likely be Christian based, and would need a constitution with the Labour Party.
"If we had a proposal to form a religious sector council it would be a go," Williams said.
The Exclusive Brethren would not be drawn on the proposal. Neville Simmons, an Epsom businessman and member of the church, said: "I suppose if that's what they want to do... I don't have any comment..." Asked if the Brethren would campaign in favour of a National government next election, Simmons said it was an individual decision, and "I don't know yet."
Source: stuff.co.nz Sunday Star Times