Bill Text: HI HR27 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Resolution 27 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Recognizing The 200th Anniversary Of Christianity In Hawaii.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-02-13 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HR27 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-HR27-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	27
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

RECOGNIZING THE 200^TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHRISTIANITY IN HAWAI�I.

WHEREAS on March 30, 1820, Hawai�i would witness the dawn of Christianity and the most influential religious group in Hawai�i when after 164 days of traveling the Thaddeus with fourteen missionaries would arrive in Hawai�i, landing at Kawaihae and Kailua-Kona, Hawai�i; and

WHEREAS, before their arrival, the Hawaiian kingdom was transforming, King Kamehameha I died and Kamehameha II and Queen Kaahumanu co-ruled Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, one of the most powerful converts, Queen Kaahumanu, embraced Christianity, imposed it to the rest of the kingdom and banned Hawaiian religious practices which left behind a religious void; and

WHEREAS, the missionaries converted Hawaiian people to the Christian faith, developed the written form of Hawaiian, discouraged many Hawaiian cultural practices, and encouraged the spread of English;

WHEREAS, the missionaries-built churches, taught the Hawaiians to read and write in Hawaiian, and brought a printing press to Hawai�i to print Hawaiian-language Bibles, books and newspapers; and

WHEREAS, there were some missionaries' that are still talked about today and have left imprints in Hawai�i that contributed to the spirituality and religious foundation of Hawai�i; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Hiram Bingham and wife Sybil Moseley in 1819 was part of the first company of missionaries sent to Hawai�i where he was instrumental in translating the Bible and was the founder of the Kawaiaha'o Church in Honolulu in 1836; and

WHEREAS, BETSEY STOCKTON was born an enslaved person and following her emancipation left Connecticut and arrived in Hawai�i in 1823 and shortly after opened and led the first school for maka'ainana but returned to America two and a half years later; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Lorenzo Lyons came to Hawaii as part of the Fifth Company of ABCFM missionaries and in 1851 became a naturalized Hawaiian citizen; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Lorenzo Lyons was remembered for translating and writing over 600 hymns in his "Buke Himeni Hawai�i" but is best known for writing "Hawai�i Aloha"; and

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, that we recognize the 200^th anniversary of Christianity in Hawai�i.