RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31378, 25 May 1967, Page 22

RANDOM REMINDER

FINDINGS

Serious efforts have been made In recent years to have the churches speak in a language which the young people of the day can understand. Getting with it, is the popular phrase. So that the clergyman of years ago, silverhaired and saintly, often has a modern counterpart wearing a tweed jacket and holding a glass of beer.

The results of a survey made in a primary school near Christchurch would undoubtedly be of interest to those working to bring religion closer to the young people. The questions were asked of senior pupils at the school. Many of the answers were enlightening, some amusing, some rather sad. And one of the points the survey produced was that parents evidently impress on their children the importance of the church.

but are less emphatic In seeing that their offspring are given religious instruction. More than half the children answering the questions never go to church: but two-thirds of them stated that the church was very important.

Attendance at church yielded these findings: 18 children never went at all, four went once a month, two went twice a month, four went three times each month, and four attended each week. And while 24 thought the church was very important, four found it out of date and eight claimed it was not worth going to. Twenty-four claimed the Bible was hard to understand; eight said it was easy to understand: seven concluded it was not worth reading. The New Zealand attitude to life was reflected in a question assessing the value of Bible

time in schools. While seven thought it a waste of time and three found it good fun, no fewer than 26 stated it was ‘‘all right.” Sixteen of the students felt that Jesus Christ was someone who lived long ago: 15 said He was a great person; five thought that His name was ‘‘a swear word.”

The pupils were also given four alternative answers to a question designed io discover what they regarded as the most important thing in life. And the answers here were comforting, provided the unworthy thought that some of them might have been under the influence of Hollywood is rejected. Of 37 children, only one plumped for money as the most important thing. A fast car had not even one vote. Having fun scored 7, love 29.

So all, apparently, is not lost