After years of home-schooling, my oldest son will embark into the NZ school system next year. And the very first thing he will be subjected to is a Maori religious ceremony, called a Powhiri.
Related links: Pōwhiri – the Māori welcome ~ NZ.com
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT ~ The Catechism of the Catholic Church
The pōwhiri signifies two groups coming together, negotiating the terms of their engagement and finishing with guests joining their hosts as one.Considering that we only believe in one God, this acknowledgement of "gods" disturbs me. I don't know if I can allow my son to participate as acknowleging other gods goes against the First Commandment:
It is a spiritual or religious journey where gods, heaven and earth are acknowledged, ancestors remembered and kinship ties reinforced. It is also when intentions are ascertained, issues debated and lobbying carried out.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.Well, this is getting our entry back in the state schooling system off to an interesting start.
Related links: Pōwhiri – the Māori welcome ~ NZ.com
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT ~ The Catechism of the Catholic Church
That is the heresy of multiculturalism.
ReplyDeleteImagine the fuss if the kids were blessed by a Priest at the start of the school year.
Prayers, incense and holy water - it would drive the usual suspects crazy
Andrei,
ReplyDeleteNot to mention, indicate those that are possessed.
Which is exactly why religion needs to be confined to the personal, not the public and not endorsed by the state.
ReplyDeleteThe French are much better at this than we are.
As part of my submission on Constitutional Reform I will be advocating the practice of beginning parliament's working day with a prayer.
I support the righhts of anyone to hold on to their delusions, to continue meaningless rituals, but these should never be included as part of a general event or a governmet activity.
I have been to the opening of a new Catholic Church where the people and Bishop are welcomed in by a Powhiri - kind of a call-and-response thing.
ReplyDeleteI really am not sure what it's all about.
Fletch, unfortunately there are many Catholics who are far more interested in religions other than their own. Your experience would not be unusual.
ReplyDeleteLRO, you would have us return to paganism, then?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLucia, if people want to identify as pagans, that is fine by me. But again, I see no place in the public or government spheres for paganism.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you would have us return to a time when women who spoke up were burned as witches and men who dared speak the truth we hung, drawn and quartered? A time where people died from the simplest of ilnesses, because that's the way god planned it, that's the way god wants it to be.
Man's progress has come at great cost to many, and only by diminishing the role of gods and religion in civil society.
I.M Fletcher commented on participation in maori religious: “LRO, the State does support an ideology; which is…”
ReplyDeleteWish I could have seen the rest of this post. Any chance of a re-run?
Oh, I deleted my comment as I wasn't sure it was pertinent, but I was saying that the State does have an ideology (even if it does not realize) which is that of Cultural Marxism, or (as it is known these days), Political Correctness.
ReplyDeleteHmm, my AV doesn't seem to be loading...
ReplyDeleteLRO,
ReplyDeleteLucia, if people want to identify as pagans, that is fine by me. But again, I see no place in the public or government spheres for paganism.
We agree, then.
Perhaps you would have us return to a time when women who spoke up were burned as witches and men who dared speak the truth we hung, drawn and quartered?
The Reformation? Not likely.
A time where people died from the simplest of ilnesses, because that's the way god planned it, that's the way god wants it to be.
Suffering and death is our lot, for now, LRO. But that is not because it's the way God wants it to be. Death is connected to sin - only the sinless cannot die.
Man's progress has come at great cost to many, and only by diminishing the role of gods and religion in civil society.
That same sentiment was expressed by the communist rulers of Russia, and quoted in a book written by the Polish military commander my would attribute his life to. Take God out of the picture and human life becomes expendable.
Nope, death is connected to accident, disease and the ageing process. Nothing sinful, or magic, about it. Death is a part of life.
ReplyDeleteWith or without god in the picture, human life is expendable. Sad, and I wish it wasn't so, but it is. At least our lives are, in the main, not as expendable as those in much of the animal kingdom.
Belief in god does not make someone a better or more humane person than the non believer. It is a person's humanity that can elevate some above the herd.