Having an opinion and asked to share our concerns is not always a safe thing to do. What we think is safe ground to do this may end up with having to face a court case because what we were asked to say might offend someone! I found this out in 2001 when I was a theology student and we had some trouble among the students and faculty. What aspired to us being asked to finally have some time to sit down and share our thoughts about various issues turned out to having the students being told that whatever we have to say may open the ground for someone to take us to court on a defamation case. Having this said shocked and surprised us! We thought we were given the ground to share our concerns only to be trapped by the faculty and told that we might face a court case! We walked out of the meeting!
Although this episode in our lives is long past I was reminded of this again when I read a friend’s Facebook talking about a well-known Maori novelist held up by the literature world for plagiarising the work of other people and claiming credit for it. Although he did admit it and apologized this somehow triggered something in me to react! And my friend told me I had a melt down! She was right I did have a melt down! Why? Because 1) I still had some past issue to deal with and let go! 2) Or is it because I’m tired of Maori exploiting their indigenous identity, sexuality, race, religion and victim hood to get ahead of everyone else to climb the corporate ladder, no different to their colonial masters!
I was asked to write a bible study for the CCA General Assembly in Malaysia and I too had to be careful not to overdo the indigenous, queer, sexuality thing. I was thinking next time I’ll do a bible study devoid of all of these and see where it might take us. Nonetheless my melt down was warranted. The trust we put in people and are inspired by their work only to come to the realization that they too climbed on someone’s back to get ahead in life. This was all too common a pattern I found in the institutional church. Nonetheless before I go judging others on this, I had a very long think about this and discovered that I too was guilty of this! In many cases scholarships are designed to help the down and out and vulnerable, so our language changes too! We victimize 
ourselves to get ahead and hopefully like a fish hook something will bite and someone will feel sorry for us, publish books and promote us to degree level!
I then came to the next question: is theology accessible to all? Similarly we could ask is God available to all, or have we become accustomed to tradition and culture and enslaved ourselves using whatever identity we have to meet the goals and aspirations of modern day academia so that we can have those extra letters at the end of our name. M.Th, PhD, Dip Soc Serv bla bla bla bla! The unfortunate thing about theology in many cases is that it is taken out of the hands of the ordinary folk to be probed and prodded by the academic arena eventually to be rewarded and given a certificate to say you have passed your bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees making you just as much a credible person in this field.
I grew up among people who engaged, interacted and practiced theology in their lives putting both faith into action and vice versa without any justification to any theological discourse, measurement and higher degree. Their faith and action told me automatically that they were capable of practicing theology. I always feel that these are the people who have worked hard all their lives with the vision in their hearts to lead a life of theology! This to me was more important. So yes I had a melt down because it took me back to the day we were told that we can speak but then we can’t speak at the same time. Our rights were taken away before we were given the chance to say anything.
I feel that if we are to learn something from this experience the best way would be to never let anyone stop you from having your opinion and voice taken away! For me I need to let go of the past! Yet in my stubborn self I always tend to raise the past back again. And we need to remember to remind people of their short memories when they prejudge you or assume you are some uneducated, subservient naive country kid. 
I mihi to you my fellow crusader! Why should we let these two-faced liars get away with what they do? Keep it up! I love reading your blog
Kia ora Raymond, thank you for your response to my blog. Actually although I didn’t name people you know clearly the situation we were put in when I was a student. Just as much as this is all in the past I’m sure issues continue to arise from time to time and yet people feel powerless about this. Also I was reading your blog about the bishop of the south. I know clearly this story you are alluding to. Many people talk but no one can come out with anything without facing a legal battle. But everyone knows! I think we need to keep imagining the impossible because one day, and I’m sure, it will become possible.