A Study in Attitudes: An Investigation of the Attitudes of Adolescent Young People of the Methodist Church of New Zealand to Those of Other National and Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Christianity is a universal religion: it recognises no barriers of race and colour as being sufficient to set one group of people above another. The universal factor in Christianity is not a new feature grafted on to the old in order to suit more liberal contemporary ideas. In the Gospel of St. Mark, Chapter 16 and verse 15, we read the instructions of Jesus to His disciples before His ascension, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature". St. Paul was able to write (Colossians 3 : 11) "There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all". In this sense, the ideal of catholicity is continually before Christians, and theoretically, they should have a fundamental rationale for refusing to recognise the barriers of race, class or colour which are so prevalent in the world today. It is true that in many areas of Church life Christians fall short of their creed; but when they do so, to that extent they cease to be fully Christian. As an essential part of Christian doctrine, the equal worth of all men to their Father, God, is taught to the young people of the Methodist Church. As children in the Sunday School, they are most likely to see week by week a picture on the wall of their schoolroom showing Jesus surrounded by children of many lands. As they grow, the romance of Christian missions is set before them: later still, they are encouraged to discuss social and international arrairs in the light of Christian teaching. How far is this indoctrination successful in its purpose? Are young people who have been subject to it in fact more positive in their attitudes than those brought up outside the influence of the Christian Church? Are there widespread inconsistencies in their thinking between the Christian premises and their actual attitudes? Can those points of tension and prejudice be discovered? This investigation, undertaken by means of a questionnaire, is an attempt to answer these questions.