Josh Barley was raised in a devout Christian family. He eventually left the faith and became an atheist. He felt so strongly that how his former church targeted young people was wrong, that he created a blog about them to expose their agenda, methods, and goals. Read his story here…
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.
When his Daughter came home and told him that her Bible teacher had told her that she was “going to hell” because she didn’t believe in God, Paul Bennett took action. After several years of campaigning, the Point View School Board of Trustees has agreed to remove bible classes from the school. But is the fight really over or do we need changes to legislation that allows boards to bring favoured religious beliefs into our schools?
NZ school kids always seem to be raising money for some charity or other. They doing some good while learning empathy for others. But what if there’s a hidden religious motivation? Should religious groups be able to spread their faith with financial assistance from kids in state schools? There are other non-religious charities to support!
This is an interview with Jared Brandon, author of the website Waking Up – Once Christian, now turned Atheist. Jared was raised in a strongly Christian family but through his own research into religion, decided to turn away from religious beliefs and declare himself an Atheist to his family and friends.
There’s an assumption that all Christians support Religious Instruction programmes in state schools. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m going to use this page to collect comments from Christians who oppose the classes. Please feel free to send me your own submission!