I've had some time to think about the public private prayertime that happened this morning and I've decided that what I think doesn't matter, because I, and Christians like me, were not who the message was for. It wasn't for atheists, and it wasn't for people of another religions

It was for a very specific subset of Christians - those who are fearful that NZ is moving away from conservative values and feel the only party they have left is New Cons.

Speaking from the two I know who are open about it, there's a real fear that what most of us see as social

progression is actually social regression - it's not explicitly anti-equality etc, but people who genuinely believe life was better "before", mostly because there is "safety" in a particular social order, and rose tinted about the past - rosy retrospection.

These are people who hear sermons in church about Satan lurking around, ready to manipulate those who indulge sin, praying hedges of protection around their family, asking angels to guard the threshold... Pretty fear-based, eh.

These are people who are desperate for safety.

And you know where there is a lot of safety? God.

So for those of us who aren't afraid, we don't need to see our leaders praying. We aren't scared if they're athiests, because we look at their actions. We don't require performative submission to God, mostly because they behave

in a way that is consistent with how we view God's ideas for society - equality, love, and compassion. For people who don't trust that, they need to see someone on their knees before the cross, and that's enough.

I think there's an idea out there that certain leaders are puppets

of the devil because their spirit isn't His - bit extreme but one person has said that in a text to me about "Cindy", living in sin. Yes, for real. In 2020.

Anyway, this is a bit of a jumble but I hope it makes sense. I'm no expert and I could be well off, but yeah.