HR27

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.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

200^th ANNIVERSARY OF CHRISTIANITY IN HAWAII

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