Editorial: You do not need God to be good

Religious studies should be taught in social studies class, says Matthew Martin.

There is a place for religion in schools.

It's in the social studies class alongside all other religions, myths, creation stories, fairytales and other ideas that have passed their use-by dates.

My main issue with religion in schools is that it doesn't teach about all religions, only one, that of Christianity, and it's beyond me how a bunch of Iron Age farmers can offer anything to a modern society.

Just look at the world around us right now and leaf through a history book if you need any proof of how religion has "advanced" society.

Do they teach these kids about the horrors of the Inquisition? The burning of so-called witches? Christian pogroms against Jews?

Even more disturbing is the fact that, according to The Bible, bad people go to a place called Hell. Isn't that a wonderful thing to put into a child's mind?

It also is patently obvious that excluding and discriminating against children is harmful. We all need to think about that when youngsters are being quietly indoctrinated while the children of parents who believe in other religions are excluded from class, along with those from atheist families.

"Because it's traditional and New Zealand is a Christian country," is also a particularly poor reason why it should be taught.

There are many traditions, some, like slavery, were both defended and opposed by those quoting passages from the The Bible.

Yes, there are some nice, comforting stories in The Bible, and if he existed Jesus sounds like a lovely bloke. But, equally, there are some of the most abhorrent, racist, xenophobic and genocidal stories in that same book that many Christians prefer to ignore.

And look at the latest census statistics. In 2001, 29.6 per cent of New Zealanders stated they had "no religion". In 2006 it was 34.6 per cent and in 2013 it was 41.9 per cent. And no doubt by now it is even more.

Do we really need a book to tell us murder is bad? If so, then why doesn't almost half of the population who have no religion head off on some wild killing spree? It just proves that you don't need God to be good.