People react: More than 50% of New Zealanders are non-religious.

Once at the heart of communities, churches are now plagued by disaffection. But is a new public spirituality growing in their place? Federico Magrin reports.

The deep Christian roots of New Zealand are disappearing, new census results show.

Aotearoa is becoming a more secular country as more Kiwis abandon the church.

Census 2023 data reveals that more than half of the population does not affiliate with any religion, for the first time since records began. The previous census, in 2018, put the figure at 48.59% non-religious.

However, University of Canterbury professor of sociology Michael Grimshaw said the country was not turning to pure atheism or rationalism – it was discovering its own civil spirituality, with elements such as Māori tikanga, and environmentalism values.

Grimshaw grew up going to church and was raised on religious values, as his father was a Presbyterian minister.

“I was brought up within that framework, but I also understand how that framework has disappeared,” he said.

The weakening of institutional religion was part of the story of modernity in Western countries, Grimshaw said, as people embraced more rational and scientific beliefs.

Read on: [thepost.co.nz]