Whanganui letters: Western civilisation's binding religion is Capitalism

Councillor Adie Doyle leaves the Ruapehu District Council chamber for the duration of the karakia. Photo taken from Ruapehu District Council livestream.

Councillor Adie Doyle has wrongly identified councillor Pue's poetic way of expressing a hope of success at a meeting as a religious statement of belief. Indeed, most karakia are not prayers to deities, but poetically expressed ways of raising morale and uniting people (I'm uncomfortable with any system of belief, Doyle says, News, May 15).

When you were a kid going for a swim, and you chanted "Rain, rain, go away; come again another day," were you praying to a rain god? Were similar Māori kids who chanted "E whiti, e whiti, e taku ra; e para, e para, e taku ra" praying to a sun god?

Our human minds have evolved in a conscious, logical, factual, "left-brain" way for immediate personal survival, and in a subconscious, association-of-ideas "right-brain" way to raise morale and unite us into larger groups for long-term survival.

Studies of the evolution of religions over the past 10,000 years show how evolving "right-brain" stories have united families into ever-larger groups; tribes, kingdoms, empires and civilisations.

Our Western civilisation's binding religion is Capitalism, which has trained its adherents to think only in a left-brain way, so the truths needed for contemporary survival that are taught in the stories of old religions are dismissed because the stories are illogical.

Adherents of this half-brain Capitalist religion believe that continued "development" will produce never-ending "prosperity" for them, believe our farms and tourist operations can continue to produce 40 million tons of CO2 equivalent each year while the few remaining trees on our lands absorb only 10 million.

I have seen this Capitalist belief promoted in reports of Ruapehu District Council meetings. I certainly hope councillors Doyle and Pue, and district councillors everywhere, gather, discuss and bind together (haumi e, hui e, taiki e) to stop this deadly child-sacrificing religion from destroying the futures of our children. [Abridged]

JOHN ARCHER
Ohakune

Easier to apologise than ask permission

I find it ironic that D Partner (Letters, May 11) rightfully attributes the Māori renaissance that vexes him so to watered-down history - for all the wrong reasons.

If we had all been taught the hard facts of the colonial experience from the start, we would be further down the track to reconciliation by now.

But that would have been even more politically incorrect while the worst abuses were still happening.

It is always easier to apologise after the act than to ask permission beforehand.

As to abridgment of letters; letters to the editor are an earlier form of talkback radio, entertaining as well as informative, or, don't let boring locals spoil a good rant.

Having the last word does not always mean you have won the argument; it often means the other person has realised they are wasting their time and should redirect their efforts to where it counts.

LE FITTON
Whanganui

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