Religion in schools

Your article about religious instruction in schools (Opinion, January 21) brings to mind former US president Jimmy Carter.

On taking office he was visited by the head of his church. This man said they were praying that the president would rule that there should be prayer in public schools. Carter replied that he had sworn on the Bible to uphold the constitution of the US and that specified church and state were separate, so he could not so rule.

Similarly in New Zealand education is to be ‘‘free and secular’’. The law of the land is not Christian – and it is not sharia either. We as Christians may wish it was the law of the land and in doing so we often get the wrong end of the stick.

When ‘‘values education’’ was being introduced some years ago, there was an outcry against ‘‘sex education’’, but many Christians had been advocating for ‘‘values education’’ for years.

The ‘‘anti-smacking’’ law was passed (that title is a gross oversimplification), and there was a Christian backlash. Never mind that kids might appear in my class black and blue. Now we are told a ‘‘majority believe that discipline has declined since the antismacking law’’ but no hard evidence is given.

Yes there is an increase in family harm and I am sure any police officer will tell you the cause is generally alcohol and/or drugs.

As a Christian I believe we need the Christian faith as the backbone of our community. Jesus Christ was scathing about those who talked about the law diligently but neglected the spirit of the law. He lived the law so well that the religious authorities had him killed – and that wasn’t the end but a beginning. The world has never been the same since. Dennis Veal

Timaru