Editorial, September 21: God moves in mysterious way

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. - Matthew, 15:14.

Keeping the faith with New Zealand's Christian politicians in recent years must seem like an endless test from the Devil for followers. Former Christian Heritage leader Graham Capill went to jail for heinous sex crimes and a planned resurrection and transformation of one religious political group into a pan-Christian organisation fell apart within minutes this week.

Anyone seeking definitive proof that God does indeed have a sense of humour needed only to tune into what Destiny Church got up to this week. Up in Auckland Destiny leader "Bishop" Brian Tamaki and his offsider Richard Lewis announced Destiny NZ, the church's political arm, was being disbanded in favour of a new all-encompassing Christian party with Lewis as its co-leader.

Down in Wellington the announcement of Lewis' appointment came as a surprise to the other new co-leader, former United Future-turned-independent MP Gordon Copeland. Copeland thought he could "probably live with" Mr Lewis' appointment, but less than a day later he'd changed his mind. There had been a "breakdown of trust", he said, and his destiny now lay elsewhere.

So to recap: there was an announcement of a new political party with two leaders. One leader didn't tell the other one he was going public, the other one took umbrage and bailed out. Each is now accusing the other of breaches of trust and a more shambolic mess is difficult to imagine.

There is definitely room on the political spectrum for a Christian-based party, although what exactly that means requires painstaking definition.

MMP allows for the emergence of smaller parties based largely on single issues, but it should not be supposed that all Christians would vote for a Christian party - in the same way not all Maori would vote for the Maori Party. Given his love of theatrics and ultra-conservatism, Mr Tamaki's involvement will repel many mainstream Christians in any case.

United Future is entitled to claim its policies best represent the Christian viewpoint in Parliament. And the reality is that the Peter Dunne-led party offers the best hope for voters sympathetic to more Christian principles being backed by politicians.

But now there's a schism as wide as the gates of hell among Christian politicos. The hopes of any version of a totally Christian-based party leaping the five per cent vote threshold are about as likely as Mr Tamaki walking on water. Throw Taito Phillip Field - an ex-Labour MP facing court charges - into the mix and the chances look even more remote.

No one should expect Christian politics to be any less dastardly than any other form of politics, but a certain amount of competency goes a small way.

- © Fairfax NZ News