Christian Objects

Sir,—Most of the uninspired article on Religious Education which appeared in your issue of June 18 showed a reasonable attempt to be impartial. But the author's true feelings became apparent in studying his quote from Mr. Adam Gowan Whyte's book.

Any comparison of religious education in New Zealand and Nazi indoctrination is unjustifiable. The Christian Church was the only institution in Germany to offer Hitler any spirited opposition during the third Reich. Several church leaders gave their lives in the struggle against Nazism.

The suggestion that "one set of principles is inculcated to the exclusion of all others" in one hour a week is ridiculous. As for "daily acts of ritual" which Mr. Whyte claims foster "the process of bringing unique personalities to a standard pattern," I know of no State primary school in New Zealand which has daily religious observances.

Anyway, a close study of the Gospels would reveal that Christ's disciples, far from conforming to a standard pattern, included men of widely different and unique personalities.

Whoever the writer of the article. I consider the quote from Mr. Whyte as completely unsubstantiated and therefore quite pointless in considering the topic of religious education in New Zealand.