112-601: Leighton James Baker is a New Zealand political candidate and businessman. He was leader of the New Conservative Party from 2017 to 2020, and has contested every general election since 2008, initially for the Kiwi Party , without success. Baker joined the Conservative Party in 2011, shortly after its founding. He led the party through the 2017 and 2020 general elections, in which the party received 0.2% and 1.5% of
224-593: A 2012 Pew Research Center survey, if current trends continue, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion by 2050. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. While Muslims have an average of 3.1 children per woman—the highest rate of all religious groups—Christians are second, with 2.7 children per woman. High birth rates and conversion were cited as the reason for Christian population growth . A 2015 study found that approximately 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity . Christianity
336-540: A 3 News Reid Research poll released in late August 2014, suggesting that it might break the 5% threshold. On 13 September a TVNZ Colmar Brunton Poll showed McVicar polling 22% in the Napier electorate, behind both the Labour and National candidates. The party was to be excluded from a televised debate of minor party leaders, while lower-polling parties such as ACT New Zealand and United Future would have been included. Craig won
448-507: A High Court injunction on 8 August 2014 to prevent this exclusion, and ultimately appeared in the debate. Shortly before the general election, the party's press secretary Rachel MacGregor resigned, citing Colin Craig's alleged manipulative behaviour. The Conservative Party received 3.97% of the party vote and won no electorate seats, meaning that it did not meet the threshold to enter Parliament. On 19 June 2015, Colin Craig resigned as leader of
560-543: A booklet, titled Dirty Politics and Hidden Agendas , in which he outlined a "campaign of defamatory lies" against him. On 10 August 2015, Stringer responded by lodging a complaint against Craig with the New Zealand Police , alleging that Craig had exceeded his allocated election fund legal limit by NZ$ 2,000 when contesting the East Coast Bays electorate in 2014. In addition, Stringer criticised Craig's management of
672-450: A builder, and now runs a residential and commercial building companies. Baker is the owner of Concise Construction, a Rangiora -based firm that has been involved in reconstruction following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake . Baker and his wife, Sue, and have four grown children. Baker's daughter Chantelle Baker is a social media influencer who has promoted anti-vaccine, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. She and Baker participated in
784-456: A coalition in which the National Party would not run a candidate in an electorate on Auckland's North Shore , such as Rodney , East Coast Bays , or the newly formed Upper Harbour . This would have assisted the Conservative Party in meeting the threshold for entering parliament. Ultimately, National ran candidates in all these electorates. After some indecision, Craig elected to stand in
896-731: A defamation suit and demanded that Norman issue an apology. Norman and the Green Party announced that they would contest the lawsuit. On 10 October 2014, the parties settled the lawsuit out of court and agreed to bear their own legal expenses. In November 2013 speculation arose in New Zealand news media about a possible accommodation between the Conservatives and the National Party for the 2014 general election . Comments by Prime Minister and National Party leader John Key led to speculation of
1008-408: A derisive element in the term Christian to refer to followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians , had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames. However Peter's apparent endorsement of the term led to its being preferred over "Nazarenes" and the term Christianoi from 1 Peter becomes the standard term in
1120-584: A legal challenge at the Auckland High Court to protest the party's exclusion from public broadcaster TVNZ 's Minor Party debate scheduled for 8 October. TVNZ's inclusion criteria required a party to be in parliament or to have scored at least 3 percent in a 1News Colmar-Brunton Poll held during the last six months. The hearing was held on 7 October; The High Court dismissed the New Conservatives' bid, ruling in favor of TVNZ. On 10 October 2020, it
1232-423: A media conference on 22 June 2015, Craig admitted that he had "acted inappropriately" toward his press secretary Rachel MacGregor but denied any charge of sexual harassment. In response, MacGregor said that by making the admission, Craig had breached a confidentiality agreement the pair had reached under Human Rights Commission mediation and she disputed his account of the events. Craig's wife Helen Craig said that she
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#17330851952261344-455: A new leader would be made at a later date. According to One News, Craig later challenged the legality of Stringer's and the board's actions, claiming that Stringer had been suspended from the party. He did not rule out contesting the leadership. Craig's remarks were dismissed by Stringer, who became the party's interim leader. On 5 July 2015, Stringer resigned as chairman and as a board member, following statements that he had been suspended from
1456-528: A new party named the Leighton Baker Party. The Electoral Commission registered the party on 16 August. Three 1News polls, taken between the party's registration and the end of September, found support for the Leighton Baker Party to be between zero and 0.1%. In the election, the Leighton Baker Party received 0.07% of the party vote, and Baker himself came fourth in the Waimakariri electorate with 3.9% of
1568-552: A party list of 12 candidates. Electoral candidates included leader Leighton Baker in Epsom and deputy leader Elliot Ikilei in Manurewa . The Conservatives gained only 0.2% of the party vote (6,253) during the 2017 general election and failed to win a seat in parliament. Following the 2017 general election, Conservative party members voted to change the party's name in November 2017. It
1680-452: A political context, is Ṣalībī ( صليبي ' Crusader ' ) from ṣalīb ( صليب ' cross ' ), which refers to Crusaders and may have negative connotations. However, Ṣalībī is a modern term; historically, Muslim writers described European Christian Crusaders as al-Faranj or Alfranj ( الفرنج ) and Firinjīyah ( الفرنجيّة ) in Arabic. This word comes from the name of
1792-599: A response to the alleged "organized campaign" against Craig. On 23 September, several Conservative Party staff members including Bev Adair-Beets, Angela Storr, and Kevin Stitt disputed MacGregor's sexual harassment allegations against Craig and vouched for the accuracy of Craig's allegations in his "Dirty Politics" pamphlet. While on the stand, the plaintiff Jordan Williams denied using MacGregor for political gain. On 28 September, lawyers representing both parties entered closing arguments. While Jordan Williams' lawyer Peter Knight cited
1904-490: A retaliatory defamation suit against the party's former chairman, John Stringer. Stringer indicated that he would contest the charges in court. On 16 November 2015, Craig announced that he would not be contesting the Conservative Party leadership in light of a police investigation against him over his party's spending during the 2014 general election . Craig also cited the ongoing lawsuits involving him, Cameron Slater, and Stringer as other reasons for his decision not to contest
2016-492: A review of the Nobel Prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. In 2017, Open Doors , a human rights NGO , estimated approximately 260 million Christians are subjected annually to "high, very high, or extreme persecution", with North Korea considered the most hazardous nation for Christians. In 2019,
2128-573: A seat, receiving 4,535 votes to the last successful candidate's 4,577. In January 2017, the party announced that Leighton Baker was its new leader. In March 2017, the Conservative Party protested its exclusion from a political debate being hosted by the University of Auckland Debating Society. The Party had been invited in November 2016, but the Debating Society later decided to limit participation to parties which were or had been represented in
2240-525: A third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world. Christians have composed about 33 percent of the world's population for around 100 years. The largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church , with 1.3 billion adherents, representing half of all Christians. Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western World , where 70% are Christians. According to
2352-720: A unique significance." Michael Martin evaluated three historical Christian creeds (the Apostles' Creed , the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed ) to establish a set of basic Christian assumptions which include belief in theism , the historicity of Jesus , the Incarnation , salvation through faith in Jesus, and Jesus as an ethical role model. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah
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#17330851952262464-514: A university degree in institutions of higher education (67%), followed by the Christians of Israel (63%), and the Christians of Georgia (57%). According to the study, Christians in North America , Europe , Middle East , North Africa and Asia Pacific regions are highly educated since many of the world's universities were built by the historic Christian denominations , in addition to
2576-596: Is descriptive of anything associated with Christianity or Christian churches , or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like." According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in the Americas , about 26% live in Europe , 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa , about 13% live in Asia and
2688-513: Is generally understood to be derived from Nazarenes , believers of Jesus of Nazareth through Syriac (Aramaic); Masīḥī ( مسيحي ) means followers of the Messiah. Where there is a distinction, Naṣrānī refers to people from a Christian culture and Masīḥī is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Naṣrānī tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners. Another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in
2800-565: Is growing in Africa , Asia, Eastern Europe , Latin America , the Muslim world , and Oceania . According to a study from 2015, Christians hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by Muslims (5.8%), Hindus (3.3%) and Jews (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about 34.8% of
2912-622: Is not accepted by Judaism. The term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוֹצְרִי ( Notzri ' Nazarene ' ), a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מְשִׁיחִיִּים ( Yehudim Meshihi'im ' Messianic Jews ' ). In Arabic-speaking cultures , two words are commonly used for Christians: Naṣrānī ( نصراني ), plural Naṣārā ( نصارى )
3024-543: The 2008 general election , the only election it contested. Like many other Kiwi Party members, he joined the Conservative Party after it was founded in 2011. He stood for it in the 2011 and subsequent elections. Baker was on the board of the Conservative Party until he resigned from it in March 2015, with then-leader and founder Colin Craig saying that Baker did not want the commitment of board meetings. Craig resigned from
3136-462: The 2011 general election . In October 2011 they announced electoral alliances with The Kiwi Party and New Citizen Party , in which their candidates stood instead as Conservatives. The party ran a list of 52 candidates, including Kiwi Party leader Larry Baldock and former New Citizen Botany candidate Paul Young. Craig stood in the Rodney electorate. The party spent NZ$ 1.88 million on its campaign,
3248-644: The 2013 local elections , fielding 27 candidates in Auckland . The party gained 50,218 votes overall, and two candidates (Christine Rankin and Callum Blair) were elected to the Upper Harbour Local Board . In February 2014, the then- Green Party co-leader Russel Norman spoke at the Big Gay Out event in Auckland and alleged that Colin Craig held misogynistic and homophobic attitudes. In response, Craig filed
3360-420: The 2022 Wellington protest . New Conservative Party (New Zealand) New Conservatives is a conservative political party in New Zealand . Some opponents and observers have described the party's policies as far-right , though the party now states it has moved to a "more centrist " position under new leadership. It advocates for lower taxation, anti-abortion measures and austerity cuts . It
3472-633: The Early Church Fathers from Ignatius and Polycarp onwards. The earliest occurrences of the term in non-Christian literature include Josephus , referring to "the tribe of Christians, so named from him;" Pliny the Younger in correspondence with Trajan ; and Tacitus , writing near the end of the 1st century. In the Annals he relates that "by vulgar appellation [they were] commonly called Christians" and identifies Christians as Nero 's scapegoats for
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3584-620: The Franks and can be seen in the Arab history text Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh by Ali ibn al-Athir . The most common Persian word is Masīhī ( مسیحی ), from Arabic . Other words are Nasrānī ( نصرانی ), from Syriac for ' Nazarene ' , and Tarsā ( ترسا ), from the Middle Persian word Tarsāg , also meaning ' Christian ' , derived from tars , meaning ' fear, respect ' . An old Kurdish word for Christian frequently in usage
3696-653: The Golan Heights . The New Conservatives also called on the New Zealand Government to join its Five Eyes allies in condemning the Hong Kong national security law . During the lead-up to the 2020 New Zealand general election , the New Conservatives ruled out an alliance with both the Labour-led coalition and Billy Te Kahika 's New Zealand Public Party . The party received a broadcasting allocation of $ 62,186 for
3808-699: The Great Fire of Rome . Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes . Jesus is named as a Nazarene in Matthew 2:23 , while Paul is said to be Nazarene in Acts 24:5 . The latter verse makes it clear that Nazarene also referred to the name of a sect or heresy, as well as the town called Nazareth. The term Nazarene was also used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus ( Against Marcion 4:8), who records
3920-674: The Greek Septuagint , christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ( Mašíaḥ , ' messiah '), meaning "[one who is] anointed". In other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as chrétien in French and cristiano in Spanish. The abbreviations Xian and Xtian (and similarly formed other parts of speech) have been used since at least
4032-477: The Napier electorate . The Electoral Commission awarded the Conservatives $ 60,000 in advertising funding for the 2014 general election, three times the $ 20,800 allocation it made to the Conservatives in 2011. On 1 August 2014 Colin Craig revealed that China-based firm Shanghai Pengxin was purchasing Lochinver Station, a large dairy farm, and said that the Conservatives were opposed to the deal. The party reached 4.6% in
4144-522: The Pacific , and 1% live in the Middle East and North Africa . Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a minority . About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic , while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. By 2050,
4256-589: The education of women , which led to the eradication of illiteracy among females in Protestant communities. Christian culture describes the cultural practices common to Christian peoples. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions. Christian culture has influenced and assimilated much from the Greco-Roman , Byzantine , Western culture , Middle Eastern , Slavic , Caucasian , and Indian cultures . Since
4368-526: The party vote (59,237 votes), but failed to win any seats in Parliament. Craig came second in Rodney, gaining 8,031 votes – 12,222 votes behind first-time National Party candidate Mark Mitchell . Following the election, Conservative candidates Larry Baldock and Peter Redman were referred to police for filing false expenses returns and for exceeding the $ 25,000 cap on election expenses. Colin Craig stated that if
4480-698: The 16th and 17th centuries before the religion was banned by the Tokugawa shogunate . Today, Christians are referred to in Standard Japanese as キリスト教徒 ( Kirisuto-kyōto ) or the English-derived term クリスチャン ( kurisuchan ). Korean still uses 기독교도 ( RR : Gidokkyodo ) for ' Christian ' , though the Portuguese loanword 그리스도 (RR: Geuriseudo ) now replaced the old Sino-Korean 기독 (RR: Gidok ), which refers to Christ himself. In Thailand,
4592-599: The 17th century: Oxford English Dictionary shows a 1634 use of Xtianity and Xian is seen in a 1634–38 diary. The word Xmas uses a similar contraction. The first recorded use of the term (or its cognates in other languages) is in the New Testament , in Acts 11 after Barnabas brought Saul (Paul) to Antioch where they taught the disciples for about a year. The text says that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" ( Acts 11:26 ). The second mention of
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4704-420: The 2014 general election. Dissatisfaction increased when Craig pre-emptively and perhaps unconstitutionally postponed the meeting for a week in order to announce his resignation. On 21 June, The New Zealand Herald reported that Craig had settled the dispute with MacGregor for around NZ$ 16,000 to NZ$ 17,000 eight weeks earlier. One News also reported that there was a disagreement between Craig and several of
4816-586: The 2015 sauna interview without consulting him first. Dobbs disclosed that Williams had showed him a collection of love letters, poems, emails, and other correspondence between Craig and MacGregor in June 2015 in an alleged attempt to turn him against Craig. Dobbs also criticised MacGregor's resignation for contributing to the party's disappointing performance in the 2011 general election. On 22 September, former Conservative Party board member Laurence Day disputed MacGregor's claim that Colin Craig had sexually harassed her, on
4928-561: The 2017 election, Baker remained leader, with the Conservatives rebranding themselves as the New Conservative Party at their annual general meeting in November 2017. In early October 2020, Baker unsuccessfully challenged public broadcaster TVNZ 's decision to exclude the New Conservatives from the TVNZ Minor Parties' election debate. Baker contested Waimakariri in the 2020 New Zealand general election held on 17 October, coming third place with 2,057 votes. His party received 1.5% of
5040-462: The 2020 election. The party made headlines during the campaign following repeated vandalism of their advertising in multiple cities, for publishing a meme comparing a New Conservative candidate to Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln , and when a candidate repeatedly and falsely claimed to be an ambassador for the Cancer Society charity. On 6 October 2020, party leader Leighton Baker mounted
5152-686: The Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue. In recent history, Christians have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in the Middle-East , North Africa, East Asia , and South Asia . The Greek word Χριστιανός ( Christianos ), meaning ' follower of Christ ' , comes from Χριστός ( Christos ), meaning ' anointed one ', with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership. In
5264-540: The Conservative Party's 2014 election campaign. The following day, Stringer submitted a dossier of documents to both the police and the Electoral Commission . On 14 August 2015, Jordan Williams launched a counter-suit against Craig and several Conservative Party officials in response to Craig's statements at the July press conference and in the circular Dirty Politics and Hidden Agendas . On 11 September 2015, Craig filed
5376-455: The Conservative Party's leader. Board members had scheduled a meeting for that day to discuss the leadership as it was felt that Craig's recent participation in a television interview (with David Farrier on the debut episode of Newsworthy ), conducted in a sauna, had reflected badly on the party. Dissatisfaction had also been expressed over Craig's demeanour toward the party's former press secretary Rachel MacGregor, who had resigned just before
5488-505: The East Coast Bays electorate. John Key announced on 28 July 2014 that the National party candidate for East Coast Bays, Murray McCully , would not step aside to assist the Conservatives into parliament, nor would National urge its members to vote for Craig. Among its candidates, the Conservative Party selected its chief executive Christine Rankin to stand in the Epsom electorate and Sensible Sentencing Trust founder Garth McVicar for
5600-551: The New Conservative Instagram account by posing as Ikilei on Instagram. On 17 October 2020, the New Zealand general election was held. The New Conservative Party voter share increased from 2017, securing 42,615 party votes, or 1.5%. The election result was not enough to enter parliament. Despite the result, Baker said he was not deterred by defeat and stated that the party would stand for election again in 2023. Similar sentiments were expressed by Ikilei, who attributed
5712-554: The New Conservative Party who received 3.97% of the party vote, short of the 5% threshold. Baker, a conservative Christian , is known for his support of family values, and scepticism about the "social experiment" policies of a series of left-of-centre governing coalitions. According to Bob McCoskrie of Family First New Zealand , Baker and his party are "opposed to redefining marriage. They're opposed to decriminalisation of abortion, marijuana and euthanasia. They're opposed to
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#17330851952265824-543: The New Zealand Parliament due to the number of participants. The party issued a press statement accusing the Debating Society of trying to stifle diverse views. On 26 May 2017 the New Zealand Electoral Commission awarded the Conservative Party an allocation of $ 51,848 for use in the 2017 election. The party campaigned using the slogan "hit the reset button". The Conservative Party announced
5936-473: The Party. On 12 September, the party's former board member John Stringer alleged that Craig had acted inappropriately toward other women and said that there had been so much concern about his relationship with MacGregor that the party had arranged a chaperone to accompany them whenever they were together. Stringer claimed in his testimony that Craig had dismissed concerns about his alleged sexual impropriety raised by
6048-562: The Police withdrew their charges of trespassing and resisting police against Baker. Baker welcomed the Police's decision to drop all charges against him, describing the charge of resisting police as "bizarre." Baker was born in Lower Hutt in 1966 or 1967. He attended a private school in Auckland and moved to North Canterbury in the early 1990s. He has worked on a stud sheep farm in Dargaville, and as
6160-520: The Russian term крестьяне ( khrest'yane ) acquired the meaning ' peasants of Christian faith ' and later ' peasants ' (the main part of the population of the region), while the term Russian : христиане ( khristiane ) retained its religious meaning and the term Russian : русские ( russkie ) began to mean representatives of the heterogeneous Russian nation formed on the basis of common Christian faith and language, which strongly influenced
6272-453: The Western world, Christians has had an influence and contributed on various cultures, such as in Africa, the Near East, Middle East, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Christians have made noted contributions to a range of fields, including philosophy, science and technology , medicine , fine arts and architecture , politics , literatures , music , and business . According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes
6384-415: The anti-smacking law, gender theory and prostitution. What I can surmise from that is the Conservative Party agrees with everything Family First says." Baker and his daughter Chantelle Baker took part in the 2022 Wellington protests against vaccine mandates. A 16 February article noted that he had attended the protest every day. He sometimes acted as a liaison between the police and the protesters. During
6496-458: The board had conducted a review of the leadership and had decided "to look for a fresh approach," which meant "relieving" Baker of his role. Baker posted a statement on Twitter where he described his departure as "a tough day at the office," but wished the new leadership well. Victoria O'Brien, a gun advocate who had been third on the party's list at the 2020 election, succeeded Ikilei as deputy leader. Ikilei complimented his predecessor's devotion to
6608-419: The central role of the Western world and Western culture . Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and a large portion of the population of the Western Hemisphere can be described as practicing or nominal Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom". Outside
6720-412: The country's rich history of early Christianity during the Spanish colonial era . Some Protestants in the Philippines use the term Kristiyano (before the term born again became popular) to differentiate themselves from Catholics ( Katoliko ). The region of modern Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia has a long history of Christianity and Christian communities on its lands. In ancient times, in
6832-409: The electorate vote. Following the preliminary results, Baker stated "maybe there's not that many people that agree with us, but we still have an obligation to present a different view." The party was deregistered at its own request in May 2024. Baker has contested electorates seven times, all unsuccessfully. He has also never entered Parliament as a list MP; his best party vote result was in 2020 with
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#17330851952266944-419: The eleven-member jury unanimously ruled against Craig in Jordan Williams' favour. Craig was ordered to pay $ 1.3 million in compensation and punitive damages to Williams. While Williams and his supporters welcomed the decision, Craig's lawyers announced that they would appeal both the verdict and the amount of damages. Despite the unanimous jury verdict and the level of damages, Craig told Radio NZ in an interview
7056-489: The elimination of " gender ideology " from education programs. While the party condemned the Christchurch mosque shootings , it opposed the Labour-led coalition government 's Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts) Amendment Act 2019 and gun registration. The party also supported stronger relations with Israel including establishing an embassy in Jerusalem , apologising for United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 , and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over
7168-411: The evening of the verdict that he did not regret publicizing the pamphlet and that he 'stood by' the allegations. On 12 April 2017, a High Court judge dismissed the awarding of $ 1.27 million to Jordan Williams, saying that the amount was too high and a "miscarriage of justice" had occurred. On 4 October 2016, Conservative Party chairman Leighton Baker confirmed that Craig had resigned his membership of
7280-735: The first centuries after the birth of Christ, when this region was called Scythia, the geographical area of Scythians – Christians already lived there. Later the region saw the first states to adopt Christianity officially – initially Armenia (301 AD) and Georgia (337 AD), later Bulgaria ( c. 864) and Kyivan Rus ( c. 988 AD). In some areas, people came to denote themselves as Christians ( Russian : христиане, крестьяне ; Ukrainian : християни , romanized : khrystyiany ) and as Russians ( Russian : русские ), Ruthenians ( Old East Slavic : русини, руснаки , romanized: rusyny, rusnaky ), or Ukrainians ( Ukrainian : українці , romanized : ukraintsi ). In time
7392-472: The grounds that Williams had failed to present the incriminating alleged "sext" text message. He also alleged that Williams was trying to use the sexual harassment allegations to turn the party board members against Craig; a position that was echoed by another witness, Family First director Bob McCoskrie . Day and McCoskrie supported Craig's assertion that his relationship with MacGregor had been inappropriate but consensual. McCoskrie defended Craig's pamphlet as
7504-432: The highest numbers of years of schooling among Christians were found in Germany (13.6), New Zealand (13.5) and Estonia (13.1). Christians were also found to have the second highest number of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita while in absolute numbers ranked in the first place (220 million). Between the various Christian communities , Singapore outranks other nations in terms of Christians who obtain
7616-405: The historical evidence that "Christian monks built libraries and, in the days before printing presses, preserved important earlier writings produced in Latin, Greek and Arabic". According to the same study, Christians have a significant amount of gender equality in educational attainment, and the study suggests that one of the reasons is the encouragement of the Protestant Reformers in promoting
7728-494: The history and development of the region. In the region, the term Orthodox faith ( Russian : православная вера , pravoslavnaia vera ) or Russian faith ( Russian : русская вера , russkaia vera ) from the earliest times became almost as common as the original Christian faith ( Russian : христианская, крестьянская вера khristianskaia, krestianskaia ). Also in some contexts the term cossack ( Old East Slavic : козак, казак , romanized: kozak, kazak )
7840-585: The investigative journalist Nicky Hager testified as an expert witness. In his testimony, he alleged that the information that had been released about Colin Craig on blogs like Cameron Slater's Whale Oil matched the patterns he had documented in his book Dirty Politics , which had inspired Craig's pamphlet "Dirty Politics and Hidden Agendas". Brian Dobbs, the former chairman of the Conservative Party, also testified that he and several other board members had expressed their dissatisfaction with Craig's and MacGregor's relationship. He criticised Craig for proceeding with
7952-526: The larger category as Christian. Most Baptists and fundamentalists ( Christian Fundamentalism ), for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian. In fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. Linda Woodhead attempts to provide a common belief thread for Christians by noting that "Whatever else they might disagree about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has
8064-617: The largest religious community in the world. The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós ( Χριστός ), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach ( מָשִׁיחַ ) (usually rendered as messiah in English). While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian used as an adjective
8176-435: The leadership, he stated that he and his wife still wanted to support the party financially. On 2 February 2016, the party's board validated the decision of the previous board to suspend John Stringer's membership. The suspension was part of an ongoing internal conflict within the party between Stringer and former party leader Craig. On 1 March 2016, it was reported that Stringer had dropped his defamation suit against Craig and
8288-403: The leadership. In the week after Craig's resignation, all remaining members of the board apart from Stringer resigned. On 27 June 2015, at the scheduled board meeting, Stringer appointed a new board consisting of himself as chairman and four new members. This board voted to suspend Craig's membership in the party. Stringer said that a final decision about Craig's membership and the appointment of
8400-430: The letters and poems as evidence of Craig's alleged sexual harassment against MacGregor, Craig's lawyer Stephen Mills QC asserted that Craig had the right to defend himself through his "Dirty Politics" pamphlet. Mills also contended that Williams had broken MacGregor's trust by passing information on her relationship with Craig to other Conservative Party officials and Cameron Slater 's blog Whale Oil. On 30 September,
8512-518: The matter to court. Baker contested the Epsom electorate in the 2017 New Zealand general election held on 23 September. The Conservatives' share of the party vote fell to 0.2% (6,253) in the election, below the five percent margin needed to enter Parliament. Baker came sixth in the Epsom race with 0.6% of the vote, the seat being won by the incumbent David Seymour , the leader of the ACT Party . Following
8624-635: The most common terms are คนคริสต์ ( RTGS : khon khrit ) or ชาวคริสต์ (RTGS: chao khrit ) which literally means ' Christ person/people ' or ' Jesus person/people ' . The Thai word คริสต์ (RTGS: khrit ) is derived from Christ . In the Philippines , the most common terms are Kristiyano (for ' Christian ' ) and {{lang[fil|Kristiyanismo}} (for ' Christianity ' ) in most Philippine languages ; both derive from Spanish cristiano and cristianismo (also used in Chavacano ) due to
8736-406: The party and conservative politics while signalling that he would bring a "more aggressive and “confrontational” approach to presentation style." Christians A Christian ( / ˈ k r ɪ s tʃ ən , - t i ə n / ) is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity , a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ . Christians form
8848-453: The party and was not considering any leadership position within the party. Baker also confirmed that the negative publicity had also affected the party's support base and expressed doubts that the party would contest the 2017 general election . At the 2016 Auckland local board elections , the Conservative Party lost its two seats. Rankin did not stand again. Blair did stand again, though was not affiliated with Conservative; he narrowly missed
8960-503: The party and was therefore not entitled to hold them. According to the New Zealand Herald , a statement had been made by former chairman Brian Dobbs that Stringer had been suspended, and this meant that the decision by the interim board to suspend Craig's membership was invalid. On 7 July, Craig sent a personal letter to Conservative Party members to apologise for his behaviour and to gauge whether he had sufficient support to return to
9072-421: The party in June 2015, and all but one of the board members resigned that same month, with the last remaining one resigning in July 2015. By mid-November 2015, Baker had been elected by the party to be the party board chair, though some media reports referred to him as the party spokesman. The board ran the party in place of a single leader from after Craig's resignation until 24 January 2017, when it announced Baker
9184-400: The party leadership. In addition, the newly elected Conservative Party board chair Leighton Baker indicated that the party was "in no hurry" to appoint a new leadership until it had rebuilt its membership base. Ultimately, the police investigation cleared Craig of any wrongdoing. On 19 January 2016, Colin Craig donated NZ$ 36,000 to the Conservative Party. Despite his lack of involvement with
9296-526: The party vote. Following the election, the New Conservative party board decided to replace him as leader with his deputy, Elliot Ikilei . Baker told The Spinoff that he was "obviously disappointed," and that he would spend some time considering whether to remain involved with the party. According to the New Conservative Party, Baker had left the party around November 2020 and “currently has no association nor ever likely to be”. In June 2023, Baker formed
9408-407: The party vote. The party replaced him as its leader shortly after the 2020 election, and according to the party he left it around November 2020. Baker participated in the 2022 Wellington protests , and was arrested on 2 March 2022 on charges of trespassing and obstruction. His short-lived Leighton Baker Party received 0.07% of the party vote in the 2023 election. Baker stood for the Kiwi Party in
9520-501: The party's board members. One member, John Stringer, accused Craig of not following the party's constitution. Craig denied the allegation and threatened to take action against Stringer. The Chairman of the Board stated that Stringer's views did not reflect the view of the Conservative Party and that his comments were only his opinion. That same day, Craig said that he would consider contesting the party's leadership if he had enough support. In
9632-462: The party's board. He also alleged that Craig had created a "cult-like" atmosphere within the Conservative Party and that Craig had disciplined, harassed, and denigrated members who had disagreed with him. Stringer denied Craig's assertions that there was a "Dirty Politics" strategy within the party to unseat him and claimed that the party had lost confidence in their leader. On 14 and 15 September, MacGregor testified that Craig's alleged harassment during
9744-412: The party's failure to enter parliament to insufficient media coverage of smaller parties and shortcomings in the New Conservative's campaign messaging including their Māori language policies. Following the 2020 election, the party's board replaced Baker as leader with his deputy, Elliot Ikilei , on 19 November. The chair of the board, Simon Gutschlag, wrote in a newsletter to the party's followers that
9856-538: The party's leadership. On 26 July 2015, a 3News -Reid Research poll reported that support for the party was 0.7 per cent, the lowest it had polled since just before the 2011 general election. On 29 July 2015, Craig started a lawsuit against several opponents including the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union 's executive director Jordan Williams , fellow party member John Stringer, and the right wing blogger Cameron Slater for alleged defamation. Craig also circulated
9968-646: The past, the Malays used to call Christians in Malay by the Portuguese loanword Serani (from Arabic Naṣrānī ), but the term now refers to the modern Kristang creoles of Malaysia . In the Indonesian language , the term Nasrani is also used alongside Kristen . The Chinese word is 基督 徒 ( jīdū tú ), literally ' Christ follower ' . The name Christ was originally phonetically written in Chinese as 基利斯督 , which
10080-524: The phrase "the Jews call us Nazarenes." While around 331 AD Eusebius records that Christ was called a Nazoraean from the name Nazareth , and that in earlier centuries "Christians" were once called "Nazarenes". The Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes , Notzrim , occurs in the Babylonian Talmud , and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices are found across
10192-485: The police found any impropriety neither Larry Baldock nor Peter Redman would be allowed to stand as Conservative candidates. The police subsequently declined to lay charges in the matter. In May 2013, the party appointed Christine Rankin , a high-profile former Work and Income New Zealand chief executive, as its own chief executive. The party contested the 2013 Christchurch East by-election ; candidate Leighton Baker polled 494 votes (or 3.6%). The party also contested
10304-482: The protests, his daughter promoted conspiracies online, including that the vaccine could make a person "magnetic", and that fires started by protesters were started by police and by instigators working for the police. He was arrested during the riotous climax of the protest on 2 March, charged with trespassing and obstruction. He was released on bail under the condition that he neither breach nor encourage anyone else to breach COVID-19 health orders. In late September 2022,
10416-481: The second-highest of any party, with most of the money coming from Craig himself. During the campaign the party portrayed itself as able to work with either of the two main parties, National and Labour . It highlighted its socially conservative policies of raising the drinking age to 21, parental notification for abortions, and repeal of the "anti-smacking" law . It announced its opposition to National's policy of selling state assets. The party gained 2.65% of
10528-502: The spread of Christianity from the Levant to Europe and North Africa and Horn of Africa during the early Roman Empire , Christendom has been divided in the pre-existing Greek East and Latin West . Consequently, different versions of the Christian cultures arose with their own rites and practices, centered around the cities such as Rome ( Western Christianity ) and Carthage , whose communities
10640-544: The term follows in Acts 26 , where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle , "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." ( Acts 26:28 ). The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4 , which exhorts believers: "Yet if [any man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." ( 1 Peter 4:16 ). Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect
10752-434: The three years of her employment had contributed to her decision to resign two days prior to the 2014 general election . In her testimony, she cited a pay dispute as the final straw in her decision to resign. On 16 September, Colin Craig took the stand to testify in his defence. While denying that he sexually harassed MacGregor, Craig likened their relationship to that of siblings. He also admitted kissing her but insisted it
10864-410: The total global wealth. A study done by the nonpartisan wealth research firm New World Wealth found that 56.2% of the 13.1 million millionaires in the world were Christians. A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found that Christians ranked as the second most educated religious group around in the world after Jews with an average of 9.3 years of schooling, and
10976-567: The vote. At the 2020 general election, they gained 1.5% of the vote. The party changed its name to New Conservative in November 2017, and then to New Conservatives in 2023. Defunct The New Conservatives party's policies include, or have included: Co-leader Ted Johnston described the party in November 2021 as "centrist to centre right". He also said that the party no longer advocates removing Māori seats , easing of gun laws , or introducing forced prison labour. Other past and present high profile members include: The Conservative Party
11088-500: The world among those who call themselves Christian. Denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of "Christianity". For example, Timothy Beal notes the disparity of beliefs among those who identify as Christians in the United States as follows: Although all of them have their historical roots in Christian theology and tradition, and although most would identify themselves as Christian, many would not identify others within
11200-516: Was felle ( فەڵە ), coming from the root word meaning ' to be saved, attain salvation ' . The Syriac term Nasrani ( ' Nazarene ' ) has also been attached to the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala , India. In northern India and Pakistan , Christians are referred to ʿĪsāʾī ( Hindi : ईसाई , Urdu : عیسائی ). Masīhī ( Hindi : मसीही , Urdu : مسیحی ) is a term Christians use to refer to themselves as well. In
11312-571: Was called Western or Latin Christendom , and Constantinople ( Eastern Christianity ), Antioch ( Syriac Christianity ), Kerala ( Indian Christianity ) and Alexandria , among others, whose communities were called Eastern or Oriental Christendom. The Byzantine Empire was one of the peaks in Christian history and Christian civilization . From the 11th to 13th centuries, Latin Christendom rose to
11424-569: Was consensual. In his defence, Craig claimed that MacGregor had resigned primarily because he had rejected her marriage proposal on the grounds that he was already married. On 20 September, Craig's wife Helen Craig testified that MacGregor had privately contacted her to confess to having an emotional relationship with Craig and kissing Craig on the night of the 2011 general election. Helen also confirmed that she had forgiven her husband. While Craig had admitted kissing McGregor, he denied undressing or having sexual intercourse with her. On 21 September,
11536-474: Was founded as the Conservative Party in August 2011 by businessman and political activist Colin Craig , who led the party from its foundation until his resignation in June 2015. The party had two members on the Upper Harbour Local Board in Auckland from 2013 to 2016. The party has contested the four general elections from 2011 through 2020 without winning any seats. At the 2014 election it received 3.97% of
11648-593: Was founded by Colin Craig, a businessman who had organised a protest march in 2009 and who had stood in the 2010 Auckland mayoral election , polling third with 8.7% of the vote. Craig announced the formation of the Conservative Party on 3 August 2011 at a media event in Newmarket, Auckland. It gained the 500 members required for registration within a month of its founding, and the Electoral Commission registered it on 6 October 2011. The Conservatives contested
11760-569: Was later abbreviated as 基督 . The term is Kî-tuk in the southern Hakka dialect ; the two characters are pronounced Jīdū in Mandarin Chinese. In Vietnam, the same two characters read Cơ đốc , and a "follower of Christianity" is a tín đồ Cơ đốc giáo . In Japan, the term kirishitan (written in Edo period documents 吉利支丹 , 切支丹 , and in modern Japanese histories as キリシタン ), from Portuguese cristão , referred to Roman Catholics in
11872-436: Was reported that the New Conservatives' Instagram page had been hacked the previous day with pro- LGBT messages posted on their message feed. In addition, screenshots of the party's logo were shown in rainbow colours. The hack was condemned by party leader Baker and deputy party leader Ikilei, who accused their opponents of intolerance. According to NZME journalist Ethan Griffiths, the hacker had temporarily gained access to
11984-666: Was seeking legal advice to ensure that his statement of defence complied with court rules for defamation cases. However, Craig's lawsuit against Stringer and Jordan Williams' lawsuit against Craig remained ongoing. In September 2016, the Auckland High Court began hearing Jordan Williams' defamation lawsuit against Craig, expected to last five weeks. On 7 September, the former party chief executive and Epsom candidate Christine Rankin testified that revelations about Craig's alleged romantic impropriety with his press secretary Rachel MacGregor had led her to doubt his suitability to lead
12096-479: Was standing by her husband and characterized the charges against him as "false allegations." According to the Herald , several board members of the party including Stringer, Christine Rankin , and Laurence Day indicated support for a change of leadership. A board meeting was scheduled for 27 June 2015 and Day called for Craig to be expelled from the party. Rankin, Garth McVicar, and Bob McCoskrie all ruled out contesting
12208-631: Was subsequently renamed the "New Conservative Party". As of mid-2019, the party's two key bases were in Canterbury and the Auckland Region , where leader Baker and deputy leader Ikilei are based. Since its revamp, the party has campaigned on free speech issues and conservative family values, and opposed the United Nations ' Global Compact for Migration and the decriminalisation of abortion and euthanasia . In late April 2019, Deputy Leader Ikilei
12320-416: Was temporarily suspended from Twitter for posting "'Trans women' are men with dysphoria/disorder, to be treated with compassion and tolerance"; a remark which many regarded as transphobic . While supporting counselling for people with gender dysphoria , the party said that it "recognises that there are two biological genders" and supported the withdrawing of funding from gender reassignment surgeries and
12432-417: Was the new party leader. When the University of Auckland Debating Society organised a cross-party debate in March 2017, more parties than expected accepted the invitation and the society decided to limit it to parties that had been in Parliament, and they withdrew the invitation to the Conservatives. Baker stated that, despite thinking the move was unfair, he would not follow Colin Craig's footsteps by taking
12544-543: Was used to denote "free" Christians of steppe origin and East Slavic language. Nominally "Christian" societies made "Christian" a default label for citizenship or for "people like us". In this context, religious or ethnic minorities can use "Christians" or "you Christians" loosely as a shorthand term for mainstream members of society who do not belong to their group – even in a thoroughly secular (though formerly Christian) society. As of 2020, Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion adherents. The faith represents about
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