The Conservative Party have a reputation for being a Christian Party, although their previous leader Colin Craig (a Christian), staunchly opposed the suggestion that they were a Christian Party and said that religion and politics should remain separate. But do they think that religious instruction and the education of children should remain separate?
I asked all the main political parties what their policies were on religious instruction in NZ State Primary Schools. You can find link to the other party policies here. Read on to find out what the Conservative Party thinks about this issue. Here’s the questions I asked them…
I would like to know what your party’s policy is regarding religious instruction in state primary schools.
Currently, religious instruction (teaching religious faith) is allowed to be taught in primary schools for up to 20 hours per year under sections 77-80 of the Education Act 1964. During this time, the school is “closed” and children who opt out are required to stop curriculum learning.
Non-Christian families are forced to declare their lack of affiliation with Christian religion and opt-out or go along with their children being taught religious beliefs that they don’t agree with so that their children “fit in”.
This is religious discrimination and needs to be stopped. What will your party do about it?
Date: Fri, Jul 14, 2017
From: Kevin Stitt (Conservative Party Secretary)
To: Dave Smyth
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your question. We too are concerned about religious discrimination in schools. While the current situation, as you rightly point out, provides for religious education for 30 minutes per week while the school is “closed” and parents who do not wish their children to participate can either have them opted out or arrive late for a later school start, there is another religion being taught in schools which no child has the right to opt out of and that is totally discriminating.
As an accepted part of the school curriculum, our children these days are subjected to the new religion of gender identity. Totally unsupported by science, based purely on personal preference, this new theology states that we are supreme, we know best, and we can all identify with whatever gender we desire. It is simply an unsubstantiated belief system that opposes nature itself and every child is subjected to this religious faith with no option to opt out or even oppose the teaching.
We see this as far greater discrimination than what currently exists, which is basically story telling of lives based on historical facts from a presupposition that the western world is based on. This new religion, and the secular humanistic presuppositions/faith which it is based on, is a far more damaging influence on our children than that which has served us well for centuries past.
So yes. We would love to see religious discrimination in schools stopped, and will do all we can to see it stopped.
Kind regards,
Kevin Stitt
Conservative Party Secretary
Date: 14/07/2017
From: Dave Smyth
To: Kevin Stitt (Conservative Party Secretary)
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the quick response!
I have to admit that I’m not well informed on the gender identity debate but I wouldn’t have thought it as a “religion” in the sense I’m enquiring about.
The religious instruction classes taking place in primary schools are far more than story-telling. The very first lesson from the CEC syllabus teaches of the existence of God, that God created the world and that God created the children in the class. Subsequent lessons teach the children how to pray and that the Bible is the source of all knowledge about God. These lessons are all without any kind of critical thinking, alternative views or objective study. They are taught as if they were fact. It’s pure indoctrination.
Does the Conservative Party believe that religious instruction classes should be removed from secular state primary schools?
regards,
Dave
Date: Fri, Jul 14, 2017
From: Kevin Stitt (Conservative Party Secretary)
To: Dave Smyth
Thanks David,
Your concern that the lessons are all without any kind of critical thinking, alternative views or objective study, that they are taught as if they were fact, and that it is pure indoctrination are our very concerns for the new religion of secular humanism that has infiltrated our entire curriculum and which children and parents have no recourse against. Evolution requires just as much faith as Christianity. It has no true scientific base. No scientist has been able to prove that any species or kind has evolved into another species or kind. There have been some adaptations within species or kinds but no proven evolution from one species/kind to another.
Apart from the completely unsupported teaching on gender issues and the serious confusion that is creating in children’s minds, current accepted curriculum also teaches that everything that we see and that exists started from nothing, and that nothing created a big bang, and that there is no God. Is there a place to dispute that with critical thinking? Are students allowed to have alternative views? Will they pass tests if they actually say what they believe to be true and dare to think critically or be objective?
Is that different from what you are saying is happening in the RI classes? I actually think it is worse because there is no escape for families with a different world view. It is clear from research that the Bible has been the foundation of Western Civilisation’s values from the beginning and those values, and beliefs we might add, have served us well through the centuries.
To answer your question regarding the removal of RI classes from state primary schools, we are quite happy with the current situation which gives the local Boards of Governors and parents to decide for their children, and would not move to remove that choice from them.
Kind regards,
Kevin Stitt
Conservative Party Secretary
Kevin seems very keen to talk about all sorts of things that I’m not really asking about but I have to give him credit for giving a straight answer to the religious instruction question.
If you’d like to find out more about Evolution, you can take a look at this website, which gives a simple explanation of why evolution is not just a theory, this article from Scientific American, which offers some proofs for the evolution of new species, or view the video at the bottom of this article that gives 9 proofs for evolution.
Date: 14/07/2017
From: Dave Smyth
To: Kevin Stitt (Conservative Party Secretary)
Hi Kevin,
I don’t think that the curriculum teaches that there is no God. Not even as part of the science curriculum. I suppose they can only teach what science has been able to prove or theorise about based on evidence as opposed to God, which is entirely based on religious faith. Being a secular institution, as I understand it, the school is not meant to have any stance on religion to ensure that religious neutrality is kept. That is why the school has to close in order to teach religious faith.
Regarding values, I’d have thought that the values that most Christians adhere to are actually held by virtually everyone regardless of their religious beliefs and are more like human values that have been around longer than Christianity. Haven’t we actually abandoned a lot of Christian values? Things like stoning, slavery and subjugation of women are all condoned in the new testament.
Regarding religious instruction and choice… All parents have already made this choice outside of the school. Bringing religious instruction into a secular school, which on average is mostly not Christian, is an imposition of choice where it is not wanted or needed.
Why do you think that a school board of trustees should have the power to impose this choice on all families within the school?
regards,
Dave
Date: Fri, Jul 14, 2017
From: Kevin Stitt (Conservative Party Secretary)
To: Dave Smyth
Thanks David,
Biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins says religious education is vital for British children.According to the Telegraph, Dawkins was asked at the Cheltenham Science Festival if he thinks religious studies should be banned over fears kids were being brainwashed.He said it’s an important part of our culture to know about the Bible because so much of English literature refers to it.He said: “It’s an important part of our history. So much of European history is dominated by disputes against rival religions and you can’t understand history unless you know about the history of the Christian religion and the Crusades and so on.”
Kind regards,
Kevin Stitt
Conservative Party Secretary
I didn’t send it to Kevin but there’s a video at the bottom of this page that gives 9 proofs for evolution.
Date: 14/07/2017
From: Dave Smyth
To: Kevin Stitt (Conservative Party Secretary)
Hi Kevin,
There is one thing that we may be able to agree on. That is that religious education is important.
However, when Dawkins was speaking in support of religious education, he was not referring to the kind of classes that we have here.
In the UK, they have Comparative Religious Studies, which teach children about all the major religions from an academic perspective, rather than the religious faith teaching in one religion (always Christianity) that we allow here.
I would be totally supportive of a policy that recommended the removal of religious instruction with a view to replacing it with a class that taught ethics, philosophy, critical thinking and religious studies. Without a diverse education, tolerance and understanding is more difficult to encourage.
regards,
Dave
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