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Christian Heritage New Zealand

Christian Heritage New Zealand
Leader John Allen (1989-1990) Graham Capill (1990–2003)
Ewen McQueen (2003–6)
President Bill Van Rij, Henk Geerlofs, Nik Gregg (2003–6)
Founded July 1989
Dissolved 3 October 2006
Ideology Christian democracy

The Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand (CHP, known for a time simply as Christian Heritage New Zealand) was a New Zealand political party espousing Christian values. Although it never won seats in an election, it came close to doing so in 1996 as part of the Christian Coalition and briefly had a member in Parliament.

On 3 October 2006, the Party said it would disband to allow "new things to arise in Christian politics in New Zealand". This came after a highly publicised scandal which resulted in its leader, Graham Capill, going to jail for committing sex crimes.

According to Christian Heritage New Zealand's self-description, the party aimed "to provide leadership that takes the initiative in building a culture that affirms marriage, strengthens families, and celebrates life as a precious gift of God. We believe these are the key issues that need to be addressed if we are to make an impact for the next generation."

It described its three key policies as "Affirming Marriage, Building Families and Celebrating Life", i.e. opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion and support of law and order.

The party espoused strongly conservative views on social policy. It favoured law changes to strengthen heterosexual marriage and to prevent same-sex marriage and civil unions. The CHP had an anti-abortion stance, but for most of its existence, the Party supported the re-introduction into New Zealand of capital punishment (abolished in 1989). Christian Heritage NZ supported restrictions on prostitution, as well as mandatory standards for television with a view to reducing violence and pornography.


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