15/5 Who is Colin Craig?

Founding Leader of the Conservative Party of New Zealand, Colin Craig, is a bit of a new comer to New Zealand politics, though he has been a quick study, essentially buying his way into the New Zealand Political scene.
In 2009 he spent $450,000 organising the "march for Democracy" demanding the government act on the referendum in relation to the anti smacking bill. In short advocating the beating of children. Just like the Arab goat herding culture decided was good enough to commit to writing down. The "March for democracy" did get 5000 participants, but the Aotearoa is not for Sale Hikoi to parliament had 2000, and that was organised on a shoe string.

Being a fundamentalist He believes the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, this is a non-trivial error, it akin to believing the distance from North Cape to Invercargill is about 30cm. With math like that, this is one guy we don't want any where near economic policy.

He does not support same-sex, common law or de facto  marriages. Why what arrangements consenting adults make in their own homes has anything to do with him is beyond reason. It is even beyond Christian tradition, as same sex marriage has in the past been a Christian rite from the 9th to 13th century as noted by anthropologists.

His preference to deny access to abortions to adolescent mothers, puts them at risk of bringing high risk pregnancy to term or seeking unsafe abortion methods.

His opposition to gay couples adopting, puts better than average parents out of the running for providing loving homes to kids would in all likelihood grow up to more well balanced than kids raised by heterosexual parents. At least this is what scientific enquiry has demonstrated.

While many may think his track record in business may qualify him to operate in the political sphere, quite the opposite appears to be true, America has experience of this, as observed in this article from addictinginfo. Certainly the track record of injecting religion into politics has been suboptimal. The religious right has so successfully, promoted abstinence only education, and restricted contraception, and abortions that USA now boasts a per capita rate of child abuse that is 5 times than that of the UK. Because young women and couples are having children that they are ill prepared and under resourced to raise.

Even the things he has said in recent weeks, have been so outrageously offensive, that even though he is on the far side of the political black stump the media have still picked up and covered his nonsense.

Having described New Zealand women as "the most promiscuous in the world" he has offended women's groups up and down the nation. Perhaps because New Zealand women are happy having healthy relationships and seeing to their needs and those of their partners.

He also did his best to pour cold water on Same-sex marriage. Colin is on the wrong side of history here. Increasingly people are realising that what the neighbours do, or what legal rights the neighbours possess have effect no on their own marriage. Just as legalising inter-racial marriage had no effect on existing marriages.

What is Colin Craig's real policy platform? Fear. The fear the if his invisible friend can't rule the world by commanding men to command women, choas, anarchy and a mass psychopathic rampage would ensue. At least this is a common belief among fundamentalist evangelicals. He and other like him haven't yet discovered the countries with higher levels of religiosity have higher levels of murder, abortions, and unwanted pregnancies.

Some evangelical Christians overseas are still practising witch denunciation. Their victims in many cases are children. Cases have been reported in USA, UK, and Nigeria. The Nigerian case is remarkable because of the sheer scale of  offending. The Liberty Gospel Church headed by Helen Ukpabio was so prolific, and cause such obscene suffering among Nigeria's children, that the Nigerian government move to make witch denunciation a crime punishable by ten years in prison. Unfortunately this has not extinguished the practise. Liberty Gospel Church practices Pentecostal Christianity.