Govt’s unlawful land war is not history reinterpreted . . . it is fact

Geoff Parker (Letters, February 3) says Waitangi Day celebrations are “disrupted by the circus of dysfunctional and disaffected” who “ruin the day” by “reinterpreting history, promoting lies, resentment, feudalism and separatism”.

It’s a pity Parker doesn’t listen to himself because he is doing exactly what he accuses others of doing. He says the Treaty brought equality and property rights. It didnt. The government waged an unlawful war against Ma¯ ori citizens and wrongfully confiscated large swaths of their land. This is not a reinterpretation of history. It is fact.

Parker says the only winners of this situation are “the greedy and selfish tribal mafia”. There is no tribal mafia, Mr Parker. You are lying and causing resentment.

I agree with Parker that apartheid ideology is destructive and dangerous and ask why he hasn’t opposed New Zealand’s apartheid laws such as Section 3 of the 1964 Cemeteries and Cremations Act, which specifically denies Ma¯ ori the same rights and privileges as fellow citizens. Peter Moeahu, New Plymouth

No principles

That the Prime Minister did not know the articles of the Treaty is not surprising as it appears neither does any other Cabinet minister or member of Parliament, otherwise they would not have allowed its corruption over the past 50 years.

The Prime Minister, acknowledging that she could not quote the articles, said “I know the principles well”. No principles are mentioned anywhere in the document. She is only perpetuating the erroneous inclusion of the fake principles and partnership in the document. The Treaty is not our founding document. Its sole purpose was to enable the chiefs to grant sovereignty to the Queen, in perpetuity, and in doing so New Zealand came under the legal control of the Colony of New South Wales.

Our “founding document’ is Queen Victoria’s Royal Charters/Letters Patent which made us a self-governing colony. This document has been hidden away in archives and conveniently ignored by politicians and Ma¯ ori Treaty revisionists. Bryan Johnson, Omokoroa

Holocaust hysteria

I think that there is a lot of hysteria and almost a growing outrage over the Holocaust (Paul Little column, February 3), which has many inconsistencies and strange coincidences that may just be down to some stories being exaggerated. But because there is so much political drama surrounding it you aren't allowed to analyse the Holocaust critically, even if purely for the sake of historical accuracy. Johan Wolfe, Palmerston North

Apples with apples

In saying theists are more likely to persecute than atheists, correspondent John Mihaljevic (Letters, February 3) is not comparing apples with apples. Theists usually have an ideology which they’ll impose on others (if they behave badly). Someone who is “merely an atheist” has no ideology to impose.

The “mere atheist” is rare: people usually take on an ideology. Communism showed us what atheism-plus-ideology looks like. It didn’t prove atheism is wrong or atheists wicked, just that ditching God doesn’t produce peace. Gavan O'Farrell, Lower Hutt

Man created God in his image

Gavan O'Farrell (Letters, February 3) did not get the god he wants, but that does not mean man did not invent the gods we know about. It means he has been persuaded to accept a god another man invented. Dennis N Horne, Howick

The prophet Orwell

To those correspondents seeking to understand the motive behind the behaviour of the leaders of religion throughout history, may I refer them to the words of the prophet Orwell in the preface to his book Keep the Aspidistra Flying, in which he offers us a modern version of 1 Corinthians XIII. The preface ends: “Now abideth faith, hope and money, these three; but the greatest of these is money”. Gerald Payman, Mt Albert