NEW ZEALAND - Mountain Granted Personhood
A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person after a new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.
The legal recognition acknowledges the mountain’s theft from the Māori of the Taranaki region after New Zealand was colonized. It fulfills an agreement of redress from the country’s government to Indigenous people for harms perpetrated against the land since.
“The mountain has long been an honored ancestor, a source of physical, cultural and spiritual sustenance and a final resting place,” Paul Goldsmith, the lawmaker responsible for the settlements between the government and Māori tribes, told Parliament in a speech.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to recognize natural features as people when a law passed in 2014 granted personhood to Te Urewera, a vast native forest on the North Island. Government ownership ceased and the tribe Tūhoe became its guardian.
-www.npr.org, 31 January 2025
Arno's Commentary
This former British colony earns an excellent report card when it comes to human rights, workers’ rights, and healthcare, to name a few.
We note that not Australia but China comprises 25% of New Zealand’s imports, with 28% of their exports going to China. Australia stands in second place with 14% of New Zealand’s imports and 11% of exports.
As with all former British colonies, it adopted the French European metric system in measuring distance, volume, and liquid (except the USA).
Of interest is that indigenous people—in this case, the Māori—to a certain extent believe in a Creator.
When Paul was in Athens, he proclaimed: “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you” (Acts 17:23). He does not condemn the idol but refers “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD,” thereby confirming the existence of the Creator: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (verse 24).
Later, to the Romans he explains: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
