Render unto Caesar...

I think the time has come for people to realise that state law and religious law are two completely different things. Before this is done, we cannot expect to have a civil, level-headed and healthy discussion on the subject.

The government is there to enact laws that give equal rights to everyone, no matter what religious belief they have. It is then up to the individual whether he lives by his religion or not. This freedom of choice is something that must never be denied to anyone. One must also remember that one cannot impose the restrictions of one's religious belief on anyone but one does have to right to persuade, with genuine arguments, someone else to start believing in like manner.

This is where the Church comes in. Unfortunately, religious teaching in schools is not thorough enough. Imposing Cathechism lessons does not get one anywhere as more often than not, imposition leads to rebellion. Maybe a look at the diminishing Church attendance and the age groups mostly affected may give us a clue.

It is about time the Church takes the teaching of religion back to the classrooms, full-time, as it was about 50/60 years ago. Yes, times have changed but the religion taught so many years ago is still that same religion taught today with the difference that the study of the Bible has been absent from lessons for 40 years now.

One must remember that it is the teachings of the Bible that give us the solid foundation we need today.

The teachings of the Church build on it. We need to turn back the clock and go back to basics where religious teaching is concerned.

We all know that children love listening to stories, so why not start by teaching them the story of Jesus' birth, life on earth, death and glorious resurrection through the stations of the rosary and, at the same time, showing them what a beautiful prayer this is, reading the parables to them and explaining the morals of each one to them carefully, maybe giving them a parallel using modern-day examples?

Why don't we go into more detail of the significance of Holy Week by explaining the suffering Jesus went through, through the stations of the cross and the studying of the Passion? Teaching them the meaning of Mass and the importance of participation by giving them the various Mass prayers to study for homework? Teaching them what is means to walk into a church and the way one should behave there?

These are things that have to be taught in the early stages of primary school with the detailed study of one of the Gospels in the first year of secondary school. Having such a solid foundation, the teachings of the Church can then be introduced and will be more readily understood and accepted.

Giving our children and future generations a good religious foundation is the only way in which the Church can combat the evil that divorce is.