RELIGION IN SCHOOLS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sta,—In the present concentration of human effort upon mutual destruc- tion it is widely felt that the values of civilisation are endangered. While nightmares of cruelty are enacted abroad, home life in Great Britain is widely dislocated and juvenile crime has increased alarmingly. After the war, relaxation of compulsion will presumably lead to fresh strains in the social structure. In these circumstances, it is important that the ethical framework of Society should be strengthened ; and it is suggested that the remedy is Christian education and the teaching of specifically Christian doctrine in schools. The new White Paper on education would appear to buttress this view. I should like, Sir, to state a reasoned case against doctrinal instruction.
In the first place, belief in Christian doctrine has ceased to be a wide- spread social bond. Not only do churchgoers form a small minority, but numbers of them do not subscribe wholly to the official doctrines. Is it in accord with the spirit of democracy to adopt in education a policy
• doubtful of support from the majority of parents—even supposing agree- ment on essential doctrines' possible amongst the believing minority? The advocates of doctrinal teaching make seemingly unlimited assump- tions, mostly unwarranted or on shaky foundations. For example: (a) That institutional religion is in accord with the mind of Christ. Surely the leaders of institutional religion were the objects of His bitterest denunciation?
(b) That the inculcation of self-sacrifice and obedience as paramount virtues will necessarily tend to create a harmonious society. In Spain, Italy and Mexico, not to mention the U.S.S.R., the Christian order either favoured or tolerated exploitation of the many by the few, and revolu- tionary situations resulted. The affinity of right-wing Christianity—in some respects, of Pauline Christianity—with Fascism is strenuously denied, but the authoritarian principle in both renders it inevitable.
(c) That the ethics of Christianity are both superior to, and different in kind from, those of other great religions. Neither a study of history nor the present state of Christendom supports this contention. Long before Christ preached- the sermon on the Mount, its essence was con- tained in the Golden Rule of Confucius and in the Buddhist Satyagraha. If we are to achieve world co-operation, it will be not by a totalitarian victory of one religion but through a synthesis of religions. I am not a Communist, but I -would not hesitate to class Communism as a religion or to recognise the important contribution it has to make *towards the society of the future. The intransigence of official Christianity upon this point alone makes a striking parallel wiih the Pharisees.
It is assumed, finally, that faith is in itself good. Is it? Personally,
I prefer the scepticism of a Havelock Ellis or a Bertrand-Russell to the faith of a Torquemada, a Luther, a Philip the Second.
No, Sir. If we are to continue religious teaching in our schools, let it be on a comparative basis, not a sectarian or solely Christian. It is possible for children to know: of and share in the magnificent cultural heritage of Christianity without dogmatic instruction on topics which even St. Athanasius found incomprehensible. For the preservation of a democratic society—an aim I take to be good—the development of a critical attitude among young people seems to me absolutely essential ; and you will not arouse it by enforced doctrinal teaching.
Criticism is not cynicism, and centuries of " dangerous thought " have -not affected the fundamental precept: Do unto others as you would be
Previous page
