258 comments and counting on the damning article published by The Age – School religion classes probed

Many bring together some of the key moments over the last few months. The evidence of missionary work and the defiant refusal of Martin Dixon to even look into these issues leaves parents stunned by their inaction and lack of concern.

 

 Just recently, Access Ministries was exposed for selling cartoons from their website which depicted secular teachers as lazy and indifferent to bullying. Concerns have also been raised about them evangelising to Muslim students.

Anglican Priest and sociologist Emeritus Prof. Gary Bouma has criticized Access Ministries’ curriculum as ‘appalling’ ‘crap’.

Two court cases are currently underway pertaining to religion in schools.   A host of teachers’ organisations, mental health experts, education experts, academics, parents, politicians and others are now calling for the current system to be abandoned & replaced with an academically-based teaching.  Such a move would solve a lot of the state and federal governments’ current headaches with evangelicals who simply can’t be trusted in our secular school system.

 

This program is an offensive waste of money, especially when you consider that money is being stripped from other special education programs such as the provision of teachers assistants and literacy/numeracy program for disadvantaged aboriginal kids as revealed by the age early this week. Whether the overall program is scrapped or not, access ministries should be sacked.
You can’t expect these people to be able to be unbiased. They are strong believers and its going to come through one way or another. How does the education department propose to police it?

I don’t understand why it comes as a surprise to anyone that the aim of SRE classes and the chaplaincy program is to convert children to Christianity. If you believe in God and work for an institution that exists to spread the word of God, then it would be your duty to do so. Of course ACCESS ministries want this. This is PRECISELY why the government must not sponsor this kind of activity.

Peter Garrett is an evangelical Christian – he came to my school around 1986 and gave a sermon in the chapel. The Victorian education minister is a Catholic. Wake up Australia.