So the New Year's Honours List has been published today, and Lloyd Geering has been made a member of the Order of New Zealand.
However, I have to ask, what has he actually done to make him worthy of New Zealand's top honour. Sure, he has published a number of books, has been a Professor of Religious Studies, and been charged with heresy by the Presbyterian Church, but none of that should qualify him among the 20 top New Zealanders. I could understand him gaining any other honour (although I think he is already a Principal Companion of the Order of New Zealand), but this is just over the top. It really dilutes the award when it is given out with no apparent justification.
And I'm not the only one to think this either. David Farrar can't understand what he has done to deserve this. ScrubOne thinks that it is a move designed to get at Helen's detractors.
I tend to agree. It appears to be yet another snub by the Prime Minister against the Christian community. Not that it really bothers me - it just makes our honours system look like a joke, when someone like Geering is honoured as one of the 20 top New Zealanders with no apparent reason.
Comments
I too was annoyed at Geering's honour. So I added him to my brief list of famous New Zealanders on this page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Zealanders#Religion
:-)
Agreed. Lloyd Geering is a joke really, I have never met a christian, either of the liberal or conservative persuasion that cares a tuppence for his viewpoint.