RELIGION IN SCHOOLS.

Evening Star, Issue 23745, 28 November 1940, Page 13

RELIGION IN SCHOOLS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —X read with interest the answers to my letter on religion in schools, and also your footnote.' The "five minutes’ observanccs ” sir© really only th© thin end of tho wedge, which, once started, would bring about’the greater issue. It is quite likely that the very people advocating it do not realise what the results are likely to be, but others will, and take advantage of it. “ Christ For All ” stated that his eldest child attended a Catholic school and also that he-attended-Bible reading when he attended school, but can he remember if any Catholic child attended tho class during that half-hour? I think he will find, as I did, that they were “ excused.” I understand that Catholics are forbidden to enter any place of worship not of their I believe it has been done on occasions, but it is not common. If the children are not allowed, by their religion, to go to these classes, it makes them outcasts amongst their fellows, and no parent wishes that to happen to his child. Consequently the parents of Catholic children are taking them away from the public schools and sending them to their own private schools, which are springing up all over New Zealand, and it is only a matter of time when, by the aid of this movement, they will he able to demand that their schools be subsidised by the Government. Then it will be the'turn of each of tho other denominations to follow of England, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, etc.—they will all want their own schools, and they will get them. Already I know of one public school which had to close because two families in the district sent their children to the Catholic school instead of the public , school. This meant that the other children had to travel into the nearest town by train as well, and I noticed quite a bit of ill-feeling about it. The results will be that the public school, where any child can attend, irrespective of creed, colour, or race, and learn to become a useful citizen, will be a thing ot the past, and all the old religious jealousies from which New Zealand has fortunately been free will spring up. I have frequently heard my father, who was educated in England before the School Boards came into force, tell me of the trouble caused by the rivalry between the children of schools of different denominations, and I would certainly not like to see the same happen in New Zealand. May X point out to “ Christ For All ” and “ E.W.W." that all these creeds base their teaching on the Bible, but it is the difference in their interpretations which causes the trouble, and if you read the history of the Christian religion you will see that these differences have caused untold misery and cruelty. That is why it is safer to teach religion in the _ Sunday schools and the homes and not in the public schools. The religious tolerance we enjoy in this country is a wonderful thing, and it is in an attempt on my part to preserve it that I write these letters.—l am, etc.. Free Education. November 28.