Thursday 4 September 2014

The Speech

Hi guys,
So recently, I have been put into a group of people who might go to the Ellesmere Speech competition. We were given a week to write a speech about any topic. The only catch was... it had to be a persuasive speech.
Anyway, here it is,

The Speech


Religion. It is a very important part of modern society today. We benefit from the range of cultures and religions that we have today.
Yet some primary schools are stopping religion from thriving in New Zealand, by trying to ban religious education being taught in some Canterbury schools’.
I believe that religious education should be taught in schools, but the parents should have the freedom to opt out.
Looking at the world stage right now, we have numerous examples of religious intolerance. For example, the Shiite muslims versus the Sunni muslims, and also the Palestinians versus the Israelis, and many more. By teaching children about other peoples beliefs and opinions, they would learn to respect other peoples beliefs. You may be thinking, what would we gain from this? We would gain a significant decrease in future, religion based wars.
Many religion based wars, are rooted in intolerance. In other words, not accepting others opinions. Intolerance to other peoples beliefs is based on the idea, that only one religion is the one that should be followed, and the right religion. Yet if we  properly educated children about other peoples point of view, then we wouldn’t have as much intolerance and fanaticism in the world, as we have today.
What is fanaticism? Fanaticism is wildly excessive or irrational devotion, dedication or enthusiasm. Look at fanatics through the years. For example, look at Osama Bin Laden. He was an extreme fanatic. Even to the extent of destroying the twin towers, and the lives of almost 3,000 people, just for religious purposes.
The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 #13 states: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief, including the right to adopt and to hold opinions without interference.
59% of New Zealand parents said that they wanted religious education to be taught in New Zealand schools.
By educating, our young children of today, about different beliefs and value systems, we are showing that every belief has its points and merits, and that we get a generation of informed thinkers.