I come from a non-religious household so didn’t really get the whole Jesus thing because I had never heard of it.
When I was five years old, my public school taught scripture once a week which you had to pay for. This wasn’t known by my parents.
If I’m correct, the first few lessons were free and I learnt very quickly about the wrath of God and that bad kiddies go to hell.
When the fees had to be paid, mine wasn’t.
Like the rest of my class, one day I went to scripture and the lady who taught it saw I didn’t pay the $2. She growled me in front of my peers and put me in the corner of the room to face the wall as punishment.
I had to sit there for an hour doing nothing. I was so upset and told my Mum what happened when I got home.
She was furious. She went down to my school and gave everyone a good talking to. Pulled me out of scripture.
I had to go to the school office during the lessons which was great.
After a year, heaps of parents pulled their kids from scripture because their child received similar treatment, they didn’t believe in God and believed public schools should be secular.
Now as a 20-year-old Maori woman, I see religion as a colonisation/brainwashing tool. I don’t follow any religion myself to this day and it should not be taught in public schools.
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