ABSTRACT
Since the 1960s, New Zealand’s Education Act has allowed even state schools to close for up to 60 minutes a week to enable religious instruction. It is simpler still for private or integrated schools with charters transparently anticipating religious instruction. However, the Secular Education Network has been campaigning to eliminate even the possibility of religious instruction in state schools, claiming it views such teaching as inconsistent with New Zealand’s identity as a secular country because it leads to the bullying of nonreligious students. This chapter thus discusses whether the existing education law framework in New Zealand needs to be overhauled as proposed by the Secular Education Network or whether teaching about religion can continue in public schools.
