There’s an understanding we have of each other because we have a shared religious way of viewing the world that say my atheist friends don’t have. “For instance, I spent time with Muslim friends in Israel and Palestine and found a whole lot of commonality. But as someone who's travelled a bit to nations that are highly religious but hold to a different religion than what has been predominant in New Zealand's history, the idea is not strange at all. 'People who don't have any sort of faith whatsoever might see it as confusing that a nation would elevate the celebration of one religion's holy days over another. What I think we're seeing as time progresses is New Zealanders becoming more honest.'Īsked whether he thought it was still appropriate for the nation to have this mandated holiday when there was such a widespread of religious affiliations across the country, Ritchie said he understood why some might be asking this question. 'I think that need to culturally say that you're Christian when you might not necessarily be something that you hold to be true is decreasing.

Back in the day, you would have had a lot of people who were christened or baptised as Anglican, Catholic or Presbyterian and then as they grew up they would have recognised themselves as being Christian whether they went to church or not.

'I think there's a growing honesty in New Zealand.

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