ACCESS dismissed Ron Noone as being out of touch, and not knowing anything about ACCESS, but today we learn that he knows a lot.

http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/05/23/3224387.htm

It is a must read for those following along at home …

The classroom is a place to promote intellectual rigor and provide a context of genuine enquiry and where respect for religious traditions is matched by an honest and open appreciation of the theological, philosophical and exegetical complexities embedded in religious beliefs, texts, traditions and cultures. It is not a place for narrow forms of instruction.

Though we aren’t sure what that means to a child in prep … it sounds pretty good as far as our aims are concerned.

Noone also has a reply to Denise Nichols who seems to now be the acting CEO at ACCESS Ministries, who said:

Reverend Denise Nicholls, director of Christian education services at Access Ministries, said: ”As Mr Noone is a senior school chaplain at a private school, I must ask how he is able to judge the content of Access Ministries’ CRE courses. Has he ever taught them? Has he ever considered the courses in their entirety? Or did he take a cursory flip through the Access website on his coffee break?”

Well, I guess the answer to that question is, yes. According to Noone:

As a former volunteer who taught in primary schools for the CCES, I don’t object to Christian stories and values being taught to state primary school children – quite the opposite. However, I do think how it done is crucial.

So much for dismissing him as a know nothing …