The war in my mind

Growing up in Taitokerau, my mind always felt like it was in a tug-of-war. My mum had a very strong faith, and she did her absolute best with what she was taught. But to my scientific mind, the stories I heard on Sunday mornings felt like fairy tales. They were nice stories, but they didn't seem to have much to do with the "real world" of physics, math, or running a business.

I saw a version of faith that people used to control others or a version that stayed trapped inside a church building. It felt separate from the land and separate from the facts of life. I thought I had to choose between being smart and being spiritual.

A challenge to seek truth

Everything changed for me when a kaumātua from my hapū gave me a challenge:

“Kimihia ma te tika ma te pono e whakaatu ai koe.” 

Seek truth and faith and let them show you the way.

This sent me on a journey where I started reading deep science alongside our own Māori traditions.

The theft of the signal

Kia ora e te whānau. Grab a seat here on the porch. Today we need to talk about a very specific kind of theft. It was not just a theft of land or resources, it was a theft of the signal. For generations here in Taitokerau, we have been living with a version of faith that feels a bit "off," like a radio station with too much static.

This happened because, back in the 1800s, the political forces of the British Crown did something very clever and very cruel. They took the message of Ihu (Yeshua’s name in the Paipera Tapu), which is all about connection and love, and they put a colonial mask over it. They used the Cross to hide the Crown’s hunger for power. This was not an accident, it was a deliberate strategy to separate us from everything that makes us strong.

The when and the why

This distortion started long before the ships arrived in Aotearoa. It began in the 15th century with something called the Doctrine of Discovery. These were laws made by powerful leaders in Europe who decided that any land not owned by "Christians" was essentially empty and ready to be taken.