problem

In The Star newspaper today (16 Feb 2009 page 27), it was reported that there is a rise of juvenile crimes among secondary school students in Kelantan, who have no religious groudings.

The news brought my thoughts back to my school's Christian Fellowship. It has, as long as its establishment, been illegal and underground. The community of brethren (big word xD) in STAR school was limited to a small group of people who share the same faith and the same passion.

As far as I can remember, the committee never fails to submit a petition or a letter to request to make the CF official in our school, in order that we may have some sort of recognition so that our activities could take place in a designated area at a designated time, guided by a teacher. Our requests are always accompanied by prayers.

Year by year, our petition is rejected. Being a normal student, I have no idea why the school would reject our simple request. Is it because our school isn't a missionary school like Convent or La Salle? That doesn't make sense, because the CF in Kwang Hua is official and legal.

I dread to think that the reason CF isn't officialised in my old high school is because the teachers fear an interference or outburst of Christians in our school. As it is, the CF members are limited, and our meetings have not disturbed anyone, neither have we dirtied the compound of our school during meetings.

I do not have to list out the kebaikan memegang kepada prinsip agama or the kepentingan memberi kebebasan berucap (freedom of speech. sounds wrong in bahasa) kepada pelajar dan guru, because the school has been preaching it through the syllabus of our numerous subjects.

There is simply no point in not legalising the CF. We do not condone morally wrong behaviour, we do not support smoking/drinking/premarital sex/cheating/bullying/etc, we encourage the spiritual growth of students who are Christians and we do not force anyone to accept our religion as theirs against their will and clearly, very obviously, we do not pose a threat to the school's intergrity or image.

What is the problem here?

the views expressed here are entirely my own