RELIGION IN SCHOOLS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26264, 8 November 1950, Page 3

RELIGION IN SCHOOLS

REPORT TO BAPTIST ASSEMBLY

The view that the place of Christian religion in education should be recognised in schools is contained in a statement setting out the church’s attitude to education in New Zealand, which was presented to the Assembly of the Baptist Union yesterday afternoon by the Rev. L. H. Jenkins, principal of the New Zealand Baptist College at Auckland.

“This assembly records,” says the statement, '*(1) its conviction that the proper system of education for our Dominion is a unified system of education under public control, with reasonable freedom for individual schools to develop their own characteristics and traditions; (2) its firm opposition to State grants in any form to private and denominational schools without public control of these schools; (3) its conviction that in order to sustain the spiritual foundations of our civilisation the place of Christian religion in education should be recognised in our State scnools. It urges the development of both discussion and negotiation to increase the usefulness of the Nelson system of Bible teaching in schools and further to consider the possibility of including the teaching of religion in high schools; (4) its welcome to the formation of the Council of Christian Education and indicates its general support for that council in its policy of securing the furtherance of religious education in our schools, both primary and secondary.”

The statement, made on behalf of the public questions’ committee, was adopted by the assembly.