Spiritual teaching 'not schools’ job’

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 9

Spiritual teaching 'not schools’ job’

The teaching ot spiritual; values to children is the job; of parents, not the responsi-l bility of the State, schools,’ or the community, Mr 8.. Brown, a lay preacher and a| school committee chairman,’ toid rhe Canterbury Feder-; ation of Parent-Teacher As-: sociations. He said that parents who) believed otherwise were ab-' dicating their responsibility. "New Zealand is said to be! a Christian nation—and; sometimes there’s consider-' able doubt about this—but 95 per cent of parents deny; this by their actions.” He said he agreed with the; idea! of Bible in schools, but wondered about the practical; application. Christianity was' not a philosophy and "there-I fore should not be taught. It was to do with the whole ot life, and therefore the pat-i tern of learning and living; had to be a total thing. The school on whose committee he served was one of; the 14 in Christchurch that!

■ldid not have Bible studies in, ; school, and he received questions from parents who; ; wanted to know why their ■ Ichildren “were not getting al | religious shot in the arm.”; They felt they could salve, itheir consciences by allow-! iing their children to take! part, he said. ; Mr Brown said that the; double standard of Bible in I school, and a home which | I lacked love and care, and i where people were violent, was having more effect on children than anything else. I "‘The religious slot says, ‘This is the way you should : live,’ and the child goes home to chaos.” Mr S. Simpson, the chairman of the Church Commis-j ’sion, and a senior inspector! of schools with the Depart-! ment of Education, said itl I was the commission’s job to I (provide materials for the; voluntary Bible in schools; .teachers and to help with I itheir training. It was import-! iant in New Zealand to teach!

iiChristianity from the Bible, ■ he said. i; As a committed Christian., (however, he was absolutely, ;■ opposed to evangelism ini schools. “It is quite wrong,! ijin my opinion, with a captive' ■audience.” He said he could not agree , with Dr D. P. Brewster, a ■; senior lecturer in religious | studies at the University of i ] Canterbury, that teaching Ii about Jesus Christ could be , replaced by something else. Dr Brewster said that if • intolerance and prejudice . were to be eliminated, child--1 ren had to know about ! people of other religions as! well as Christianity. Christi-; ■ anity would, of course, be! I the "major religious study inj '(schools. :i — i Athletics. —Morag McKechnie (Rotorua) sprinted brilliantly to set a New Zealand resident re- ■ icord of 11.4 sec for the women’s II ! 04) metres on the second day of [the Waikato athletic championships at Porritt Stadium. HamilI • ton.