SECULAR EDUCATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 281, 26 October 1940, Page 6

SECULAR EDUCATION

DEFENCE BY INSTITUTE. TOLEBANCE CLAIMED. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Oct. 25. "In stating its position in regard to religious exercises in schools, the New Zealand Educational Institute wishes to make it plain at the outset that, although attempts have been made to present this subject as one of urgent topical importance thrust into prominence by the war, it is, in, fact, as old,as the New Zealand education system* itself," said the secretary of the institute (Mr G. R. Ashbridge) in a statement issued to-day. "In 1877 free, secular, and compulsory education was instituted in New Zealand by Act ,of Parliament. Four years later an attempt was made to have the secular provision withdrawn. This attempt was heavily defeated, and other attempts since then have met with a similar fate. For 63 years primary education in this country has been conducted on a secular >rasis. "In that period New Zealanders, as individuals and as a nation, have placed achievements to their credit in all walks of life which may be matched but cannot be bettered v in any other country. A fine record has been made in both peace and war by a. country which has clung tenaciously to the secular education system. "The secular clause is part and parcel of the compulsory clause. It has secured tolerance for every point of view without infringing in any way upon the individual rights of conscience. It says no more than that, for 25 hours out of every 168, the children shall be given that part of their education which can be provided by the State which has no official religion for all, but parents and churches are free to bring the children within religious influences to any extent they may think desirable. RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.

"Parents who feel there should be more prayer in the lives of their children' have an ample opportunity to conduct these simple religious observances in their own homes. That the State should have no official dogma and that absolute freedom of religious opinion should be guaranteed and maintained is a fundamental tenet of our democratic way of life. Indeed, the New Zealand Parliament has guarded the rights of conscience so jealously that even in'history teaching specific provision is made in the Education Act that no shall be compelled to be present at the teaching of history whose parents or guardians object thereto. » "No crisis, however serious, should be used as an excuse to force religious observances upon the schools of a community which for generations has fought for and upneld the principle of absolute tolerance. "The New Zealand Educational Institute, with a record of public service that )dates back nearly 60 years, cannot permit the people who support the campaign for religious exercises in schools to arrogate to themselves the sole rights of judgment in this matter or to present themselves as more virtuous or more public-spirited than their opponents. The institute sides with those distinguished Christian leaders who have objected in the strongest terms to the use of religious observances as a kind of social tonic in times of national crisis.

"As a professional body the institute has stated and re-stated sound educational and sociological reasons for retaining the long-standing secular system. In doing so, it has educational authority, commonsense, and law on its side, for-the fact is that the current proposals for instituting religious observances are illegal. They run contrary to consolidated public opinion over a jperiod of more than 60 years, and ■ they are in conflict with NewZealand law," concluded - Mr Ashbridge.