A theologian in New Zealand recently claimed that churches should stop utilizing their resources to cater to the current generation as a new study has revealed how Christianity is suffering a sharp decline. An interactive map, based on the New Zealand Deprivation Index and 2013 Census data, shows that religious people live mostly in impoverished suburbs while nonreligious individuals live mostly in affluent areas.

According to the study, the total number of Christians in New Zealand has reduced from 2,082,942 in 2006 to 1,906,398 in 2014. While Christians constituted 55.6 percent of the country’s population close to a decade ago, they constitute only 48.9 percent of New Zealand’s population today.

Nick Thompson, lecturer in theology at the University of Auckland, said, “Western Christianity has been trying to update itself in one way or another since the 19th century. ... The problem is that this strategy doesn't seem to have worked in the global west. … The trendy vicar who tried to get down with the kids in the 1960s has now become a figure of fun, most of the radical thinkers in the mainstream churches are now receiving pensions.”

According to Thompson, even the Pentecostal churches that deliberately made use of contemporary forms of communication and worship reflected very high turnovers.

“This means that they growth needs to be treated with a certain amount of skepticism,” he said.

Now, Catholics constitute the largest denomination in New Zealand, with a total number of 492,105 adherents, who managed to overtake the country’s Anglican population for the first time in 2013. The study also showed that one in eight individuals associating themselves with Catholicism is Asian and one in ten belongs to some ethnic group from the Pacific.

The detailed study concluded that there is a strong correlation between religion and wealth. While areas including Favona South, Auckland, Wymondley and Mascot (ranked most deprived by official figures) emerged as the most religious localities with over 90 percent of their residents associating themselves with at least one religion, wealthier areas such as Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Devonport seemed to house individuals, more than half of whom do not affiliate with any particular religion. Karekare and Waitakere, ranked among the least deprived areas, happen to be the least religious areas in Auckland, where as much as 65 percent residents refer to themselves nonbelievers.

Peter Lineham, religious historian at Massey University, said a growing number of New Zealanders no longer found religion appealing.

“Individualism is a powerful feature of modern middle-class society and the idea of a religion and its values to conform to doesn't appeal,” said Lineham.

He went on to explain how poor people stand to benefit from associating themselves with a church or some kind of organized religion.

“Religion offers a lot of benefits for poor people, in a sharing community, comfort and support in difficult times, and with significant financial benefits to share,” said Lineham. “In essence, one appeal of religion is to deal with the isolation of migration and secondly it is a way to reinforce the values of an ethnicity.”

According to Lineham, immigration has contributed to the increase of religiosity in the region.

“Auckland is the most religious because it is the New Zealand born who have very high levels of non-religion and indeed disaffiliation from religion,” he said. “Pasifika are a major factor but so are most migrant groups.”

While migrants from countries like India and the Philippines caused Catholics to emerge as the most popular Christian denomination for the first time with as many as 492,000 adherents, most other churches, apart from Pentecostal and evangelical ones, witnessed a sharp drop in numbers.

Edwina Pio, professor of diversity at AUT University, said however that richer people might still be spiritual while denouncing religion. He explained that that is because the wealthy do not feel the need to network and avail of the infrastructural support that is commonly offered by religious setups such as churches, temples, mosques and gurdwaras.

Sociologist Paul Spoonley said that New Zealand's economic and skilled migration policy has helped target applicants from countries that have comparatively lower levels of religious affiliation.

“Skilled migrants tend to be educated, middle class people in countries similar to New Zealand with low levels of religious affiliation, and we have also sourced them from countries that are not religious, such as China,” said Spoonley, also from Massey University. “In contrast, some of the more religious communities tend to come in the humanitarian categories as refugees or as part of chain migration from the Pacific, and have fewer educational credentials or work skills.”

Reportedly, the poorer and more religious migrants seek to settle in places that are closer to a house of worship.

“For many new immigrants, being near a temple or a church is actually important and dictates where an immigrant community will settle,” Spoonley said. “Churches are a central and very influential institution in terms of settling new migrants ... they have played a key role in helping welcome immigrant communities and providing them with a ready-made like minded community.”

Mount Roskill, once referred to as the Bible Belt of Auckland, now is the city’s most religiously and ethnically diverse suburb. While Christians constitute the minority in the area with only 44 percent population strength, 10.5 percent people associate themselves with Hinduism and 6 percent identify as Muslims. Areas adjoining the suburb, including Wesley and Walmsley, showed the highest percentage of Muslims in New Zealand with 13.2 percent and 18.2 percent respectively. Approximately 60 percent residents at Mount Roskill emerged as Asian-born, the majority in the country while only a quarter of the population were of European descent.

The study also showed that migrant religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism have managed to grow significantly. Currently, there are 89,000 Hindus in the country, with most of them residing in Lynfield North, where at least a quarter identifies themselves with Hinduism. One in ten residents in Ormiston and Mission Heights are to be Buddhist though. The maximum number of Christians live in areas like Harania North, Wymondley and Otara, where eight in ten people identify with the faith.

According to Statistics New Zealand, approximately 80 percent of the biggest non-Christian religious denominations, apart from Judaism, Bahai and the traditional Maori faiths, constitute mostly new immigrants who arrived in the country since 2000. Queenstown Lakes District showed the highest percentage change of religious diversity, with a 658 percent increase in Hindus, 367 percent increase in Muslims and 151 percent increase in nonbelievers.

Photo Credits: New Zealand Travel Guide