Many schools throughout New Zealand use the NZ Principals’ Federation enrolment form that includes a yes/no question about religious instruction. I contacted them to see if I could improve the way that the question was presented.
In a Radio Rhema interview, Stephanie Sewell, who is the National Director for the Churches Education Commission claims that local churches should “own local schools”.
Nikki Kaye wants to modernise the education portfolio. She has an uphill battle as long as a schools’ board of trustees still have the power to indoctrinate children in religious faith.
The NZSTA provide support and advice to the boards of trustees around the country that run our state primary schools. But did you know that they support religious instruction and have recommended Parliament continue to include it in the review of the Education Act? I asked them why but they refuse to tell me.
Parents who object to religious instruction need support from other parents to effect change. Without strength in numbers, pro-religious instruction staff and parents tend to think that they can do whatever they like and dismiss anyone against RI, no matter how clear-cut the argument is that children and families are being discriminated against.
Cleave Hay’s full report on the issues surrounding religious instruction at Fenwick School has been released. There are some interesting comments that expand on the recommendations. However, I don’t think it goes far enough and doesn’t really address the real conflict of interest. Read more…
The review of Pastor Damien Goodsir’s role at Fenwick School has turned into a bit of a farce. He has stepped down from the unimportant roles of RI Teacher and Chaplain and claimed that this resolves any conflict of interest. Apparently there is no issue with him wanting to “infiltrate” the school to spread his religious faith and continuing as the Chairman of the School Board of Trustees.
One of the greatest challenges to raising awareness about religious instruction is the way that the media allow “fluffy” reporting on the topic. In this blog, I review a couple of recent articles that fall far short of professional journalism. One completely misses the issue of religious instruction when talking about the importance of religious education and the other is effectively an advertorial for Bible in Schools written by a report with a personal bias.
Oamaru Pastor, Damien Goodsir is the Chairman of Fenwick School’s Board of Trustees. He’s also the school Chaplain. A recent sermon of his talks about “infiltrating” the school and other local groups. The locals aren’t happy about it and they are doing something about it.
The kind of moral “cherry picking” that religious instruction advocates ignore is exposed most painfully by the subversive introduction of “hell”. Of course, they are not meant to teach it themselves but zealous Christian teachers seem to ignore this sometimes and playground evangelism is also an inevitable issue resulting from the introduction of religion to the school.
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