Remember those young men who took their couch and their BBQ up Mt. Taranaki? ZenTiger wrote a satirical piece about it, which didn't go down well with everyone, but hey, we should be allowed to not think of mountains as ancestors or gods. They're just mountains. In fact, thinking of them as ancestors would be somewhat sacrilegious, and thinking of them as gods would be in violation of the First Commandment.
Anyway, the ensuing conversation on ZenTiger's post is interesting from the perspective that DOC has gone from issuing serious warnings to transgressors of Maori religious beliefs to now being able to take those who aren't believers to court and have them fined. In two years, that is how fast things have moved.
Basically, New Zealanders now risk the equivalent of blasphemy fines for treating mountains like nothing more than large mounds of dirt and rock.
See also my post from this morning: When a person can get fined for offending a mountain anything goes
Related links: Summit cook-up offends ~ 2011, Stuff
Hovering helicopter 'gravely offensive' ~ 2013, Stuff
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