Rātana church

Rātana church, 20th-century religious awakening among the New Zealand Māori and a national political influence, especially during the period 1943–63, when its members held all four Māori parliamentary seats in the national capital.

The Rātana church was founded by Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, a Methodist Māori farmer who acquired a reputation as a visionary and faith healer. News of his extraordinary gifts drew Māori (and some whites) from all parts of New Zealand, who came to hear him preach his doctrine of moral reform under the one God of the Bible. In 1920 he established an interdenominational church at the village of Rātana Pa.

Rãtana’s movement gave new hope and a transtribal unity to the Māori, who had many grievances against the New Zealand government. By 1920 they had lost most of their lands and had been devastated by disease and by the adverse moral and economic effects of World War I. A subject of particular bitterness was the failure of the government to fulfill its several promises to the Māori in the Treaty of Waitangi (1840).

The association of Rātana’s movement with other Christian denominations ended in 1925. The self-proclaimed Rātana church had developed a syncretic Māori Christianity, marked by heterodox rituals and an elaborate hierarchy of religious officials; hymns and prayers glorified Rātana as God’s mangai (“mouthpiece”). Displeased by these developments, several of New Zealand’s Anglican bishops denounced the new religion. Furthermore, the doctrine of faith healing discouraged the taking of medicines, a fact that alienated religious and secular authorities alike.

Combining political activism with its religious beliefs, the Rātana church began to sponsor political candidates in 1922. Although it was not until 1931 that a Rātana candidate was elected, the church—allying itself with the country’s Labour Party—eventually established a position in which it could exercise some political power.

In the 1960s the church renewed relationships with other Christian churches in New Zealand and reemphasized the original biblical principles of Rātana. The church also gathered many white adherents.