Maori prayers could be banned from the classroom if campaigners are successful in their bid to remove religious instruction from state schools, an academic says. AUT history professor Dr Paul Moon’s comments come after a High Court judge last month threw out a test case because the parent challenging the legality of the Bible in Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Bible in Schools’
Bible in Schools campaigner to appeal strike off of case
Tuesday, April 26th, 2016
Bible in Schools campaigner Jeff McClintock has gone to the Court of Appeal about the decision to strike out of his case. He took the board of Red Beach School on the Hibiscus Coast to court because he alleged the school’s Bible in Schools classes showed disrespect for his daughter’s rights to freedom of religion. The Read more
Human Rights Commission looks to court on Bible in Schools
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016
The Human Rights Commission and members of the Secular Education Network have applied to join court action against religion in state schools. A case is being taken by Jeff McClintock against Red Beach School. He laid a complaint with the commission several years ago after his daughter was put in a corner when she opted Read more
Professor Morris: scathing review of Bible in Schools material
Tuesday, June 30th, 2015A religious studies professor says lessons provided by the country’s largest Bible in Schools organisation are not suitable for state schools. Victoria University professor of religious studies Paul Morris said the syllabuses used by the Churches Education Commission, which runs religious classes in about 600 state schools, taught religion, rather than taught about religion. Morris Read more
Believers and atheists join in opposing school Bible lessons
Friday, May 22nd, 2015
About a dozen protesters from the Secular Education Network (SEN) picketed outside the High Court at Auckland on Thursday in support of the McClintock family. A SEN spokesperson, David Hine, said the group of protesters included atheists who wanted no religion to be taught in state schools, as well as religious people who believed all Read more
Religious Studies in schools: Legal challenge by Church Commission
Tuesday, May 19th, 2015
On Thursday, the Churches Education Commission (CEC) will launch a legal challenge to be allowed to give evidence in a dispute between a family who believe their daughter was segregated and humiliated after opting out of religious studies, and a Whangaparaoa school. The lawyer representing the McClintock family, Richard Francois, is also seeking to repeal Read more
Silly complaint about religion
Friday, July 25th, 2014
An editorial on the Suff website labels as “plain silly” a woman’s complaint that her son could hear religious instruction from the classroom next door. He was in the room for the duration of a religious education class that he had chosen not to attend. Tanya Jacob says she pulled her son out of Harewood Read more
Bibles in Schools issue goes to Human Rights Commission
Friday, July 4th, 2014
A parent has taken concerns about religious teaching to the Human Rights Commission in the latest effort to remove the lessons from state school time. Red Beach School north of Auckland has been in a long-running dispute with parent Jeff McClintock over its Values in Action lessons, which are 30 minutes a week and teach Read more
No change to religious instruction policies
Friday, March 7th, 2014Religious instruction policies will not be altered, despite some schools making changes after complaints from parents, the Ministry of Education says. Parents at four schools in Auckland and Palmerston North have raised concerns about Christian Religious Instruction (CRI) being taught and three of those schools have since made changes to their classes. However, ministry spokeswoman Read more
Will religious symbols be banned in schools?
Tuesday, March 4th, 2014Concerns are being raised that all religious symbols could be abolished from schools following the removal of Bible studies from an Auckland school timetable. Some parents are worried that New Zealand could follow the lead of France and enforce a strict secular educational environment. It comes two weeks after St Heliers School announced it would Read more