for Religious Instruction=

The Committee considers that the Nelson system of religious teaching in
schools should be encouraged and developed. In so far as the basic
philosophy of education in New Zealand may not be religious, the
Committee notes that a conference between the Department of Education
and the New Zealand Council for Christian Education is being arranged.

Church activities among youth affected were criticized on the grounds
that they appealed only to the "good boys and girls", or to those who
already belong to a church. This situation presents a challenge which
needs to be met, and it will demand, in particular, a consideration of
how young people are to be encouraged to spend their time on Sundays.

=(3) The Need for Family Religion=

As family life is vital in this inquiry something must be said about
religion in the home. It is clear that, other things being equal, a home
with a real religious atmosphere is a good safeguard against immorality,
and a sound background for moral teaching, particularly for the
development of knowledge about sex.

The practice of family religion is to be strongly endorsed.

_XIII. The Family, Religion, and Morality_

=(1) The Importance of the Family=

From all that has been above written it will be seen that there is not
any one cause of the sexual delinquency among children which has
provoked this inquiry. There are many predisposing and precipitating
causes. If there be any common denominator in the majority of cases
studied by the Committee it is lack of appreciation by parents of their
personal responsibility for the upbringing and behaviour of their
children or, if they do appreciate their responsibility, they are unable
to guide them correctly and to maintain control of them. This finding is
in harmony with the current of public opinion expressed in the
statements that "it all comes back to the parents" or "the parents are
to blame". That much cannot be gainsaid.

But what is the root cause of this failure or inability on the part of
present-day parents? This is an aspect of its assignment to which the
Committee has paid great attention.

It should be made quite plain that the Committee does not subscribe to
the view that the sexual immorality which has recently been brought to
notice is entirely of the pattern which prevailed in former generations.
Nor can the Committee be content with platitudinous recommendations as
to how this immorality am