Skip to main content
Browse the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZ
Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

MAORI RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

Contents


Recent Trends

Apart from cults evolved by the Maori people themselves, all the main Christian denominations show fluctuations in the number of their adherents over the past 30 years. The Anglican church had the greatest proportion in 1956, amounting to just over 32 per cent of the total Maori population, but it has shown a recent decline while the next largest sect, the Roman Catholic, stood at nearly 16 per cent in 1956. Both the Methodist and Mormon faiths comprise about 7 per cent of the Maori population and both have shown a slight but steady increase over the 30-year period. The Mormon church has a large number of youthful followers and the vigorous policy of that church seems to appeal to young Maoris. Young missionaries from the United States engage in community projects, sports activities, and church social meetings. Their work seems more closely attuned to the outlook of the younger section of their following. The most spectacular of their efforts are the erection of a great carved meeting house at Nuhaka and a fine, multi-purpose school at Tuhi-karamea, near Hamilton. Although all the religious faiths have done sound social work, the Presbyterian and Methodist – and more recently, Baptist and Brethren – Maori missions have worked quietly and successfully without much publicity. All, however, are helping in a difficult period for the Maori people when their future may be more with urban societies than in rural, partly tradition-directed communities.

Religious Professions of Maori Population
Denomination Adherents Increase/Decrease Per Cent
Census
1956
Census
1961
Church of England 44,257 51,148 15·6
Roman Catholic (including Catholic undefined) 22,051 28,656 30·0
Ratana 18,776 21,954 16·9
Methodist 10,488 12,611 20·2
Mormon 9,841 12,179 23·8
Ringatu 5,019 5,275 5·1
Presbyterian 3,064 3,947 28·8
Brethren 791 1,569 98·4
Jehovah's Witnesses 476 934 96·2
Seventh Day Adventists 462 622 34·6
Commonwealth Covenant Church 301 390 29·6
Hauhau 218 188 -13·8
Protestant (undefined) 197 211 7·1
Absolute Maori Established Church 179 85 -52·5
Christian 174 365 109·8
Congregational 146 336 130·1
Baptist 145 374 157·9
Salvation Army 136 153 12·5
Apostolic Church 134 269 100·7
Missions 103 79 -23·3
Church of Christ 93 178 91·4
No religion (so returned) 654 891 36·2
All other religious professions 578 1,115 92·9
Object to state 17,043 21,814 28·0
Not specified 1,825 1,743 -4·5
Totals 137,151 167,086 21·8

by John Bruce Palmer, B.A., Curator, Fiji Museum, Suva.

  • New Zealand Wars and the Pioneering Period (2 vols.), Cowan, James (1955)
  • Pictures of Old New Zealand, Cowan, James (1930)
  • The Upraised Hand, Greenwood, W. (1942)
  • Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 62 (1953), “The Doctrine of Hauhauism”, Winks, Robin.