Witnessing

Witnessing
(c) Melina Magdalena (2007)

This morning I was digging up my front yard and thinking about – of all things – God. About an hour later, when I was inside about to roll up my sleeves to do the dishes, there was a knock on my door and there were the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The JW who spoke, talked about how so many people say that history continues to repeat itself whereas as a JW he believes that “man keeps making the same mistakes”. Considering one of my first actions this morning was to write to Turnbull via GetUp, and beg him not to eradicate the Tamar River in Tasmania by permitting Gunn’s Pulp Mill to be built on its banks, this was quite apt. It almost felt like I had that oft-touted personal relationship with God, who sent these JWs to knock on my door today.

The scripture message the JW shared with me this morning was from Psalms. The last line promises us “an abundance of peace”. He stuffed himself up considerably, to my view, when he began to talk about how most people in Christendom believe that they will die and go to Heaven but aren’t able to say what they’ll be doing there, because I began to question in my mind just how an era of peace would differ from that. How will the lucky chosen ones choose to spend their time on this rejuvenated planet where we are all brothers and sisters with no need to toil? To my way of thinking, the distinction is between peace on earth or peace in heaven. I believe we can have heaven on earth, if it’s what humanity chooses.

But then again, perhaps we are not really destined for peace at all. Perhaps it is in the conflicts we encounter in our lives, that we grow and evolve? Or perhaps the talk of god and peace and heaven is just an expression of humanity’s need to be important and effective? Perhaps all the various things we humans do and say and believe is part of our eternal quest for significance?

Did you know that God has a dotcom? I’m not putting that link on my blog. The links here are playful, and I have no wish to promote fundamentalist Christianity or any other brand of fundamentalism. But I do want to write about God today.

I was recently privy to an episode of Radio National’s http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2007/1987489.htm Religion Report, with Stephen Crittenden. It made me hopping mad. I missed out on the following program one week later, broadcast in response to Part One of the program. The subject of discussion was http://www.samfordschool.com/FAQ.htm/ Steiner Schools, and their infiltration into the secular public school system in Victoria. Accusations have been levelled against proponents of Steiner Education, that it is occult and that including a Steiner Stream within a public school contravenes the principles of secular education. These accusations come from parents who enrolled their children into the Steiner Stream but later withdrew them, finding it not to their liking.

I have two main objections to the program, and the way it attacked Steiner Schooling. My first objection is about the hypocrisy in claiming that the secular public school system of Australia is less objectionable than Steiner Schooling on the basis that Steiner Schooling promulgates racist ideology, whereas secular schooling does not.

Rudolf Steiner, the originator of Steiner Schooling, is held responsible for all aspects of contemporary Steiner Education. I was disturbed when I heard about the Sri Lankan children who were prevented from using dark colours to depict themselves. The basis for preventing these children’s access to accurate skin tones is plainly racist. Likewise, the absurd notion that blue-eyed, fair-skinned children are more intelligent than dark-eyed, dark-skinned children. These ideas should hold no currency in contemporary culturally diverse Australia.

But Rudolf Steiner lived from 1861-1925. Racist ideology against Aboriginal people was still being openly acted upon through government policies in Australia until 1967 http://www.abc.net.au/messageclub/duknow/stories/s888141.htm when Aboriginal people were finally granted the right to vote as citizens of this nation. Many would argue that Australia continues to manifest its racist ideologies against people of colour, including Aboriginal people, southern Europeans, Middle Easterners, Asians, South Americans, Africans and everyone who does not conform to the fair-skinned version of what a real Australian is supposed to look like (i.e. Anglo-Celtic).

Scratch the surface of Australia’s public school systems and expose the underlying racist ideology that informs almost every aspect of its curricula. What is not made explicit is nonetheless very present, and those whose life experiences have sensitized them to racism will feel a familiar prickly heat of outrage whenever the whitewashing of their experiences continues to be promulgated.

Yes, conscientious politically-correct schools and teachers do what they can to counter ingrained societal attitudes, but this holds as equally for teachers who are teaching in the public sector as it does for those in any alternative education system, including Steiner Schools. When outdated educational materials that are inescapably racist, homophobic, ageist and sexist continue to be used in schools, what hope do we have of changing societal attitudes?

Secondly, why is it so difficult to imagine that Steiner Education has grown beyond the beliefs of its founder? Is it impossible to consider that teachers have minds that can incorporate the beautiful, functional, effective aspects of Steiner Education whilst rejecting the bigoted aspects?

Thirdly, the outright hypocrisy in labelling Steiner Education as inherently racist and occult is shown up by the eager acceptance of Christian fundamentalism in schools. In South Australian public schools, it has become popular to invite Chaplains onto the school sites to work with the students. This is cheaper than hiring a qualified school counsellor, because evangelical organisations are willing to foot the bill. A quick glance at the website of Marryatville High, http://www.marryatvillehs.sa.edu.au/schoolprofile/ser_chaplain.html/ one of Adelaide’s most prestigious secondary public schools, shows exactly what a chaplain brings to the school – and it doesn’t even pretend to pander to the realities of cultural or religious diversity.

I wonder why Steiner Education in the classroom is seen to be promoting the Spiritual World and the Occult more than Christian Fundamentalism on the school site? Is this not in itself a hypocrisy, given Rudolf Steiner’s professed adherence to the Christian faith?

In this episode, the spiritual aspects of Steiner Education were attacked on the premise that children enrolled in public schools should not be exposed to any spiritual elements within their schooling. This is another fallacy. Rare is the teacher who chooses not to engage in the Christmas and Easter celebrations that are mainstream Australian fare. In my experience, it is only when JW families have the temerity to explicitly demand of the teachers of their children that they not promote birthday celebrations or other religious events within their classrooms that teachers bother to examine whether it is appropriate to assume that every child in his or her classroom is Christian.

To be fair, this may be changing as the face of Australia changes. In the mid 1990s when my children were in kindergarten, I went to the Director and suggested that she request families bring halal or vegetarian dishes to our family luncheons, so as not to offend or exclude anyone. At that time we had an Indonesian Muslim girl and a Brahmin boy amongst our class, as well as my Jewish children. Such a thing had not occurred to the Kindergarten Director, but to her credit, she took it on board.

To accuse Steiner Education of being occult is as silly as accusing mainstream teachers of satanism on the basis that they put up Christmas trees and other decorations, and teach their students about Easter Bunny and Father Christmans http://www.lone-star.net/mall/main-areas/santafaq.htm/.

Don’t you think children need to have something beyond themselves to reach for? Yes, these MeMeMegeneration Individuals are egocentric and have disproportionate beliefs in their own entitlement, but for many young people the mirror image of this is the void of connection with anything other than their peers. Couple this with the fanatical belief in their efficacy and it becomes obvious why the denial of access to the development of spiritual belief leads to a very sick society.

Every child is the centre of his or her own universe, and as such, every child tends to believe in his or her ability to cause things to happen. When children are left hanging with no one to catch them, it is easy for a child to attribute anything bad that occurs, to something he or she does, thinks or believes. Why aren’t my parents married? Oh it must be my fault. Why is my mother so unhappy? Well, if she hadn’t had children, (i.e. me) she would be happy. Why did the car break down? Oh, it must be because I wet the bed last night. Why didn’t she want to be my friend today? Oh, it must be because I ate two helpings of dessert last night when I was only supposed to eat one.

Parents who apathetically deny their children any spiritual guidance other than what they may glean from mainstream commercial drivel, bequeath them an emptiness. The thirst to fill up this emptiness can result in disorder and diseases such as addiction, depression, greed, lack of empathy and criminality. In this sense, even a passionate atheist is preferable to someone who refuses to engage in any brand of spiritual discourse with his or her children.

For me, the idea of ‘magic’ is strongly linked with childhood. I learned early that things happen sometimes that have nothing to do with me. These things impact upon me, and those I love, but that’s not always my fault. I learned to acknowledge the mysterious and invite it into my life, and this is valuable for two reasons. Firstly, it makes life more interesting and secondly, it frees me from having to be right all the time.

Furthermore, an examination of the processes of life gives us access to some of the most intriguing mysteries any human being could want. Don’t scientists frequently devote large parts of their lives delving into such mysteries?

If you think about scientific processes, the ritual objects that are part of the ceremony of experimentation are no less occult to the general observer, than the ritual objects used by adherents of religions. The difference is that scientists generally seek to explain and enlighten, whereas the conventionally religious often prefer to maintain an air of impenetrable mystery. But the parallels are undeniable.
The Radio National episode against Steiner Education becoming part of public schools in Victoria used the examples of Daily Blessings and Candle lighting as rituals that are linked to the Occult.

Now really, what gives rise to such ALARM?

In a school, a Daily Blessing is a tool to gather and focus the attention of the class. This tool works to positively engage the children so that they are ready to work. If mention is made of Life, how is that damaging to children who naturally seek to know their place in a confusing and complex world?

And candles? As well might I ask why we light candles on birthday cakes and romantic dinner tables? Are these equally occult?

Pity the detractors to Steiner Education who would deny their children an experience of wholistic education – but do they also deny their children the everyday magic of family celebrations and rituals? My JW friend would no doubt inform me that as birthdays are not celebrated in the Bible nor should they be celebrated by people today. He might go further and tell me that celebrating birthdays goes directly against God.