Anglican Communion News Service - Digest News

Anglicans in New Zealand have been heartened by their Archbishops' public challenge to a proposed tightening of religious observance in State primary schools.

And Kiwi Anglicans have been doubly heartened by the consequences of that speaking out.

In late August the Ministry of Education in New Zealand had announced that it intended to release new guidelines for state primary and intermediate schools, and their boards of trustees - guidelines which would have had the effect of suppressing or inhibiting prayers, readings or hymns at these schools' assemblies.

By law in New Zealand, teaching at this level is required to be secular. However, there is a long-established, legally-recognised precedent which allows Bible in Schools, and prayers, readings and hymns in assemblies to take place at times when schools are officially deemed to be closed for teaching.

Parents who do not want their children exposed to these activities can opt out, and take advantage of having their children do other supervised things during these sessions.

The Ministry's proposed new guidelines were apparently devised to deal with what the Ministry concedes is a "modest" number of complaints about these time-honoured arrangements.

The two New Zealand Archbishops, Brown Turei and David Moxon, issued a statement (ACNS 4183) which criticised the proposed new guidelines as "inappropriate" and "unnecessarily prescriptive."

They gave detailed reasons why the proposed guidelines - which had been outlined by the Ministry of Education officials to a Parliamentary select committee - were uncalled-for, inconsistent and likely to undermine the wishes of elected school Boards of Trustees.

The Archbishops' statement, which was endorsed by all the New Zealand bishops, was broadcast at midday, Sunday September 3.

Almost immediately, it provoked a number of requests from the media for interviews with the Archbishops, some of which were broadcast on New Zealand radio during that Sunday afternoon.

But more was to come. Because by that evening, New Zealand's Minister of Education, Steve Maharey, had publicly announced that the ministry would not be proceeding with the new guidelines.

The status quo, he said, was fine. He effectively vetoed his ministry's plans.

The Minister's announcement provoked a second flurry of requests - much larger than the first - for interviews with the Archbishops.

In that second round, which continued for several days, the media were seeking the Archbishops' response to the perceived "U-turn". In some cases, newspaper editorials specifically named the Archbishops' statement as the cause of that change in direction.

Lloyd Ashton, the Media Officer for the Church in the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, says he likes to think that the Archbishops' statement was a 'tipping point' for the Minister:

"Perhaps he read that statement, picked up the phone and said to the ministry: 'That's it, you guys. Enough. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Forget the new guidelines.'

"Who knows? One thing I am sure of - the Archbishops' timing was superb."

Large numbers of other Anglicans within New Zealand apparently agree: in unprecedented numbers they have emailed and rung to express their appreciation of their Archbishops' stand.

What's more, those expressions of thanks haven't been limited to Anglicans. They have also come from people from other Christian denominations in New Zealand - in some cases, with notes to say they wished their own leadership had spoken out.

Ends

Footnote: To see the original September 3 Archbishops' statement, please refer to ACNS 4183: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/41/75/acns4183.cfm

At its May 2006 General Synod, the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia adopted a shared primacy, with three Archbishops representing each of the three tikanga, or cultural streams, within the church.

Because the issue of the proposed Ministry of Education guidelines was peculiar to New Zealand, Archbishop Jabez Bryce, the Bishop of Polynesia, who is based in Suva, in the Fiji Islands, did not take part in forming the statement.

Article from: Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia