RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN STATE SCHOOLS

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24022, 10 August 1943, Page 6

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN STATE SCHOOLS

Sir,—lt looks, from the recent debate in Parliament on the Education Amendment Bill, as if religious instruction in State schools is likely to become an election issue. I very much hope not, for the following reasons: (1) State control of religion is implicit m any Statedefined religious education. State control of religion is a Fascist measure. (2) Religion cannot be taught as a school subject. Religious history, religious literature, and ethics cah be. Religion itself is a matter of consciousness of God—an innate quality. One either has it, or hasn’t it. It can be cultivated, and it can be expressed in schools, but not taught (3) I much distrust political propaganda near election time. I wonder if the parliamentary critics of our secular system are sincere.—Yours, etc., W. R. HAY. Whiterock, August 9, 1943. „ Sir,—After 35 years’ residence in New Zealand, the reason for the “Bible in the Schools” bitter controversy is still a mystery to me. I, as a .Congregationalist, attended in England a school controlled by five Anglican ministers. My schoolmates were of many denominations. Every morning we sang a hymn, had a reading from the Bible, and a prayer. One of the subjects was Scripture, but it was treated as literature and no dogma was introduced in any explanations. My companions never discussed religion, ’although several got hot over politics* repeating what they had heard at home. Looking over my small library, I am surprised to find how many books would be incomprehensible to me if I had not had a grounding in Bible history at a day school. Leaving put the spiritual value,, surely the greatest Book in the world is worth knowing as literature? Why all this bitterness? —Yours, etc., August 9, 1943.