There is a degree of “religion by stealth” in our education system. Christians embed their preferred god in Maori cultural observances and when challenged, say that “Maori are Christians”. But Maori are hardly any more Christian than the rest of us. So why are Christian prayers acceptable when part of a karakia or a kapa haka lesson? Ngaire McCarthy gives her views.
A complaint I made to the Advertising Standards Authority has been rejected without review on appeal. The ASA ignored their own processes for assessing an appeal application, misrepresented my complaint and ignored the evidence. Is it religious bias or just wilful ignorance in response to a tricky and controversial issue involving religion?
The Churches Education Commission (now known as Launchpad) seems to carry on accessing schools despite harsh criticism from parents about their methods and syllabus content. They do this by infiltrating school boards of trustees with sympathetic church-goers who ignore the rights of non-Christian children to promote their own religious faith.
Pastafarians from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are approaching primary schools offering to teach values to children. Evangelical Christians have been doing this for years… is it their turn?
The Pastor that proudly claimed to have infiltrated a local school has finally been ousted from the school’s Board of Trustees. He failed to be re-elected, as did another church member who stood.
Attempts to remove religious instruction from secular primary schools often result in claims of discrimination against Christians. In this case, an email to SEN goes further and claims that secularism is a religion in itself and is also discriminatory.
There are many claims made about Bible in Schools. Every time there’s a media report, I see the same tired old claims about choice, values and how it’s not hurting anyone. But is ANY of this true? Actually not so much.
Should we put religious instruction to the vote? Is it fair and reasonable to ask parents to vote on whether or not to close a secular school and promote some people’s religious faith? I don’t think so!
The Māori Party view on religious instruction is that community consultation is the way to go. Democratically deciding on issues of culture hasn’t worked out too well for Māori historically, so why on earth would they suggest that it’s ok when it comes to religious indoctrination of children?
Find out what all the main political parties think about religious instruction in our state primary schools. If you want to watch them squirm and fight amongst themselves, ask about this issue!
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