KEY POINTS:
Non-Christians have always been puzzled by the idea that an all-powerful deity could let people do wrong. The answer has traditionally been embedded in the notion of free will: humans have the ability to do things wrong so that the decision to do things right will be a conscious, deliberate one.
Those behind the announcement of a new Christian political party this week have certainly availed themselves generously of the opportunity provided by free will. The Destiny Church leader, Bishop Brian Tamaki, and the leader of the political wing Destiny New Zealand, Richard Lewis, announced that the latter organisation was being disestablished in favour of a "united" Christian party. Lewis, they said, would be one co-leader but the identity of the other remained a mystery.
It didn't take long before Independent MP Gordon Copeland, a refugee from United Future, put his hand up and made it plain that he was none too impressed with the way it had been handled. Words like "ambush", "shambolic" and "Mickey Mouse" were uttered. Within 48 hours, Copeland who, as a man already in Parliament, might have been regarded as something of an asset, walked away. United this wasn't. The party launch was more like a meltdown on the launch pad.
Destiny claimed to have knocked on a million doors in the 2005 campaign yet mustered only 14,000 votes, which may suggest that the political pull of conservative Christianity is minimal here. Those behind the "launch" are entitled to their faith that this is not so. But they need to ensure that the whole choir is singing from the same hymnal.
