Speaking out for Christ's sake

National MP Chris Finlayson (left) and cricket umpire Billy Bowden.

It's Easter Sunday and most of us will have slept in, eaten too many chocolate eggs, grumbled about public holiday surcharges if we breakfasted at the local cafe and given nary a thought to why we actually celebrate Easter.

When the baby boomer generation was at school, attending Sunday school or bible class was common. Today, religious studies is the only state-school class from which a parent can legally excuse a child.

The peal of church bells on a Sunday morning, a sound which delights both the religious and the non-spiritual in European countries, is absent in this country, and many small churches have been sold and converted into trendy homes.

But trading hours for retailers on Easter Sunday remain restricted and MPs who file into Parliament's debating chambers still stand for the Speaker's Christian prayer.

So is our society as secular as it seems? It's too early for religious statistics from this year's Census but in 2001, more than 70 per cent of New Zealanders declared a religious designation on their forms.

The Godless among us are increasing, however. Thirty per cent recorded no religion, up from 18.5 per cent in 1996.

Of those who did claim a religious affiliation, 95.4 per cent were Christian. But, other than the overtly devout such as Destiny Church's Brian Tamaki, the Catholic bishops and United Future's Peter Dunne, how often do we see a Christian in public life?

Among many non-fundamentalist Christians, there is reluctance to be publicly identified. Several people approached for this article did not want their faith publicly known and one retailer declined because he's been harassed by fundamentalists who berate him for the music he sells.

For others, such as Warriors players Clinton Toopi and Jerome Ropati, the relationship with God was too personal to talk about in the media. Tim Youngsen, of rock band Steriogram, said he felt his Christianity had been a bit "over-exposed" of late. "I don't want to come across as an activist," he said.

TV3 sports presenter Howard Dobson wasn't embarrassed but was too busy to find time to talk. Still, it's surprising who you find filling the pews on a Sunday. Here are a few interesting Christians among us:

Chris Finlayson, National MP

Chris Finlayson is one MP who takes the Speaker's prayer very seriously. A lawyer before entering Parliament on the National Party list in September last year, he was baptised Roman Catholic and has been "active in the church for years".

These days, he attends church at least twice a week, says grace before meals and tries to attend early-morning prayers.

Educated at Catholic schools, he was, his biography on the National Party website tells us, head prefect in 1974. That was also the year he joined the National Party.

Although gay, Finlayson says he could no more get rid of his faith than "rip off my own arms".

"If you're raised a Catholic, you never escape it."

One of Finlayson's favourite people is Renaissance author and Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More, a portrait of whom hangs in his office.

"He was a really smart politician," says Finlayson, "He told Henry VIII to go see a taxidermist."

In 2004, when the Civil Union Bill was passed and before Finlayson came to Parliament, Christian groups lobbied MPs to vote against legalising same-sex marriage-type unions.

So how does Finlayson reconcile his faith with his sexuality?

Quite easily, he says. "If you took the Bible literally, you wouldn't eat certain types of fish. We'd stone some people to death. I think that's part of the problem with Islam, they get carried away with literalism."

Billy Bowden, cricket umpire

For Billy Bowden, God is the ultimate umpire.

New Zealand's best-known cricket umpire is the son of a preacher man - his father Marcus is a retired Baptist minister. Bowden says his parents didn't pressure him into Christianity but he can't imagine life without it.

"I haven't really known anything else. God is my best friend. He's always been my third umpire. He's there behind me, beside me, in front of me. If I fall, I know he's there to pick me up. But you've got to find your faith yourself."

Bowden did come close to falling right off God's wagon, when the promising cricketer was hit by arthritis just as he was realising his dream of making it into the Auckland cricket team. "It really hit me for a six. I lost a lot of faith. I was angry and frustrated. I thought, 'I'm a good man, I've done everything for the good of others' and I just couldn't understand why I got this disease.

"It taught me a lesson that you can't control everything you do, that sometimes God has other plans for us. It taught me that every day you're alive is a blessing. You have to take each day as it comes, because you never know when you're going to be called to heaven."

Bowden takes his faith seriously. His cellphone display screen says "Have faith". He believes God already knows what decisions he's going to make in his next cricket series. The only alcohol to pass Bowden's lips is holy wine and he doesn't smoke.

When he was younger, he was embarrassed to tell some people he was a Christian, for fear of being called a weirdo or a bible-basher. But now he doesn't care what others think of him. He likes being different.

"I pray with my eyes open in the car and talk to him and sing a bit. Some people think I'm a bit crazy. But it's just a part of my life."

Sometimes Bowden looks at some cricketers he works with and wonders how much better they'd be with God.

But Bowden would never force his beliefs on to anyone. And some of his best friends are non-Christians.

"I try not to judge people. It's between you and God, it's a personal relationship. I don't mind if others drink, as long as it's in moderation and doesn't hurt others. Jesus drank wine and it's good for you."

For Bowden, Easter is one of the most special times of the year and he'll spend it with friends and family, remembering the greatness of Jesus. "They say Good Friday but it was pretty bad for Jesus. Without Jesus, we wouldn't have Christmas or everlasting life."

John Sax, businessman

He runs more than 20 companies, including Southpark Corporation, Auckland's largest owner of industrial land. He lives with his wife, Alma, in Auckland's glorious historic Florence Court mansion. He created Rotorua's award-winning Treetops Lodge and Estate. And he recently founded For the Sake of Our Children Trust with Christine Rankin to try to change social policy in New Zealand.

John Sax's success is built on principles he attributes to the teachings of Jesus. He doesn't call himself a Christian "because that defines a relationship with an institution rather than a relationship with Jesus".

Sax also finds religious labelling - Catholic, Presbyterian, Muslim, Jewish - divisive and he doesn't talk about faith, "that's personal". Instead, Sax says he loves Jesus as a "fabulous prophet with fabulous principles".

The story of Jesus, which Sax calls the "greatest story in the history of humanity in terms of leadership" is what defines his day-to-day dealings as a businessman.

Business leaders, says Sax, should show compassion and responsibility "to their employees and to the environment, for instance".

Sax points out that Jesus walked and talked in the marketplace, with prostitutes, adulterers, fishermen, "even the IRD were okay". He believes if Jesus turned up today, he would "walk into Fonterra and talk to farmers about milking cows".

When a business fails, says Sax, "our grief is always brought about by violating someone's trust".

On the other hand, companies which flourish can attribute that to the relationship principles Jesus brought to humanity, "a life of love, joy and peace - and a responsibility to be a voice for children".

And celebrating the life of Jesus, says Sax, is what Easter is all about.

"It's an extraordinary love story. God loved his creation so much - men and women - that he sacrificed his own life for ours. He taught in the marketplace and he lived and died in the marketplace."

Nick Clegg, Federation Clothing founder

Nick Clegg had a few butterflies in his stomach the first time he went to church. The popular clothing label owner did not grow up Christian and went to secular Long Bay College in Auckland. Not until his early 20s did Clegg start thinking about God, questioning whether there was more to life and "what the point of it all was".

As he sat in the congregation at City Impact in the early 1990s, he knew he had come to the right place for the answers.

"It was all new at first. But it really made sense. It was like the minister was talking directly to me, even though there were hundreds of people there.

"It changed my life for the better. It's given me something greater than myself to believe in, something greater to put my trust in."

Seeing the birth of his baby girl Ryder last year made it even clearer. The theory that the world was created by a big explosion and is all up to chance does not, he says, fit with the wonder of life. "It was just a miracle. I can't deny God the Creator when I see things like that."

Clegg, 33, does not fit the stereotyped preconceptions of Christians as weird, uncool or arrogant. He's still "a bit crazy", he has non-Christian friends - they tease him good-naturedly about his faith - and he's still Nick Clegg. He and wife Jenny are the team behind the hip and urbane label Federation Clothing.

Nor, he says, do those stereotypes have any basis in the reality of religion today. Take his church for example: "It's almost like a rock concert. Some people think it's kind of cold but it's not at all. There's so much life. It's not just some lady sitting at an organ."

And, he says with a smile, "everyone's normal".

For Clegg, faith is not something that marks him out as different or a strict set of rules that stop him from doing anything he wants.

"For me, it's not really about religion. Anything can be a religion - if you brush your teeth every morning, you can say it's a religious activity because you do it every day. It's more about a relationship with a faith, it's more personal than that. I go to church every Sunday but it's not all about that. It's a personal relationship with God.

"It's just about how I live my life, what I say, what I do."

Working in fashion, an industry that pushes moral boundaries, poses no conflict: It's simply a business.

Having faith makes him a better businessman, he says, giving him integrity and honesty when dealing with clients and colleagues.

He says his creativity is inspired from above - but that's not to say Federation will be putting out a range of "Jesus Loves You" T-shirts. Clegg does not believe in pushing his Christian beliefs down other people's throats. He sees a lot of young people coming to church, maybe because of society's increasing complexity. "Society at the moment is more spiritually aware. It is more out there and more people are searching for answers. It is a pretty crazy world we live in. There's a lot going on. Maybe more people are wondering what the meaning of it all is."

Tania Ashby, dancer

Tania Ashby was born and brought up in the small South Island town of Oamaru. This year she'll graduate from Otago University with a BA in Performing Arts and hopes to return in 2007 to complete a master's degree.

A member of the Open Brethren, Ashby believes God "blessed me with the gift of dance to be used for his purposes".

All her life, Ashby's passion has been performing arts, specialising in ballet and jazz, with her school years punctuated by "constant shows, competitions, exams and scholarships".

She recently helped form Studentsoul Dancegroup, a performance group she hopes will "bring God's words to life through art".

As well as this being a means for her to develop her choreography skills, Ashby sees a need for dancers and churches to work together.

Any stigma she's encountered on campus about her Christianity is brushed aside and she encourages people to see what church is really like. "A lot of people have a perception of church being sitting on pews, very strict, singing hymns. But it's so not like that. You meet great friends, have a lot of fun. It's a great time."