Friday, July 11, 2014

The Red Beach School Bible


At a meeting yesterday we heard from the Chaplain-at-Large of the inner city that Auckland has over 250 distinct ethnicities, more than Sydney or London. That must reflect a huge number of different religions.

Which seems to give some point to the complaint of Jeff McLintock to the Human Rights Commission about the Values in Action programme at Red Beach School, just over the road from our home. It is clear that the Values in Action curriculum has moved a long way from what used to be called "Bible in Schools". And it certainly doesn't appear to engage in the disgraceful, fundamentalist kind of "evangelism" that led me to refuse to participate in religious instruction in schools fifty years ago.

But the two sample lessons on the VIA website are both coat-hangered on passages from the sacred writings of just one religion. This may be thought to be OK in somewhat monocultural Red Beach - though Jeff McLintock, from the perfectly legitimate perspective of one with no religion, obviously doesn't agree. The VIA religious emphasis would certainly be quite unacceptable for the inner city as we heard it described yesterday. And the discomfort for children of parents who "opt out" of any "voluntary" programme - as distinct from "opting in" to a programme of personal choice - must surely be a matter of concern.

The style of the VIA looks great. I recall having some really stimulating times with school children in Panmure in 1964, involving them in these kinds of discussions. But what other volunteers taught in those days discredited whatever values a few of us managed to convey. So I became a conscientious objector to religious education in schools.

While I remain unconvinced that that faith can be "taught" I am all in favour of encouraging children to explore "values" in the school setting. But tackling values through the faith of just one religious group says something a little negative about the values of those who do it.


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