Religion and education; the two cultural institutions that stir the passions of every South African. So when the Johannesburg High Court ruled that schools are prohibited from teaching just one faith, emotions were bound to run high.
There are some who are dismayed by the decision; Twitter, ever the endless source of opinion, showed some Christians denouncing the ruling and calling it an insult to God.
However, those on the other side of the coin – including many Western media sources – see this change as a pro
They believe that schools have a duty to provide ‘religious education’, not ‘religious instruction’. Their support for the decision is based on the principle that our children must become independent learners, free to form their own judgments.
Those opposing the change are fearful that Christian values are being pushed to one side to make way for the teachings of other faiths, and the exclusion of theirs – it’s simply not the case: All schools of a current religious persuasion are still able to promote their own religious values, but must introduce teachings of other religions too.
It’s a two-way street. There are schools excluding Christian values which now must adhere to the change as well.
The brilliantly acronymized ‘OGOD’ – Organisatie vir Godsdienste-Onderrig en Demokrasie (Organisation for Religious Education and Democracy) – have been chasing this ruling for some time and persisted with applications against six predominantly Christian schools.
When presented with the case, Judge Willem van der Linde believed these schools had breached a section of the Schools Act which forbids the promotion of one religion at the exclusion of others.
What Judge van der Linde said in his ruling:
“Accepting a notional feeder community of 100 per cent single religion parents, could it ever pass muster of the need for a national democratic respect for our country’s diverse cultural and religious traditions for that school to brand itself as adhering to that particular single faith to the exclusion of others?”
“The overarching constitutional theme is that our society is diverse, that diversity is to be celebrated and that specific rights are conferred and dealt with in pursuance of that principle.”
Where there is change, there is a debate. But our children must learn that there is a bigger, wider world out there and they cannot just live in the bubble of one narrative, constantly recited.
A difference in religion counts for nothing. The freedom for everyone to believe what they choose to is everything.
