What school is it?

This syllabus is used throughout the Queensland state education system and the Victorian state education system. It is entirely likely that it is used in other states as well.

I’m confused. My kid goes to school in NSW, and religious education is entirely optional, offered by each denomination, and is actually designed to teach kids the actual religion in question, rather than teach them about it — no sleight-of-hand involved. Are you saying that religious education is required for all kids, and you, the parent, have no choice as to which denomination’s religion classes your kids will attend?

We can opt out, but there’s no alternative course (when we were in Victoria, there was a separate course for Jewish children — I don’t know if that’s offered in Qld). Two years ago, when my son was feeling upset at the quasi-creationist drivel his RE teacher was spouting, we allowed him to opt out. He got to play on the computers in the classroom because there was nothing else for him to do. It was a failure of the school system that my son (then aged seven) had nothing constructive to do for a class each week because he knew more about the world than his RE teacher. Last year he had a much better RE teacher and was quite happy to attend the lessons.

Even so, there should be no place for religious instruction in state schools. It doesn’t matter whether the schools offer different classes to different denominations. The place for religious instruction is in private life. The role of state schools is to give every child a decent, well-rounded education, not to sort children into indoctrination classes according to the denomination of their parents’ choice.

I happen to agree with you completely on that one, and I’m an observant (well, relatively observant) Christian. (Catholic, to be specific, although we’re a family of several different Christian traditions.) I’m an American expat, and even in these troubled, hyper-evangelical, apocalyptic times, there is no religious instruction in government-funded schools. I think it is much to be preferred, frankly, but my kid actually quite enjoys the classes, and her materials are not like the scans you posted. This year, she decided she wanted to be in the Catholic class, to see what it was like.

I’m glad you agree, Laura. I’ve never understood why this isn’t obvious to people of all religious persuasions. I don’t want anyone indoctrinating children with any religious position — not even my own. Religious upbringing belongs in the private sphere. Not that I think all private religion is OK (consider the charming Westboro Baptist Church), but any attempt by any government to manipulate religious instruction within families, even if limited to sociopathic religious instruction like that provided to the Westboro congregation, is bound to end in disaster.

Thanks for tackling this Chris. I’ve been meaning to prep my followup post to this (mainly waiting till the end of school holidays to find the time/energy!)

I wrote a series of questions to the State (WA) Education Ministry, and got a series of non-answers. In essence: they have absolutely no idea what’s going on in SRE classes, they either can’t or won’t say how many kids opt out and what alternatives are provided, there is no curriculum control, no national strategy, no way of even gathering this data, and the department doesn’t give two hoots.

I can remember in RE when the teacher made us all recite some prayer about accepting God as our saviour or some-such happy-crappy.

It made me feel dirty.

Yeah, apart from the fact that it was boring as hell to start with and a waste of time.

A lot of extra paper planes would always be around on those days. ;)

But what we have is not teaching about Christianity. What we have is open proselytising, and not just of Christianity but of a narrow band of Christianity.

THANKYOU. A few days ago I got an “opt out if I wanted” form (if you don’t opt out, your kids are doing RE until yoiu DO opt out) regarding these classes– which seem similar to the ones you’ve posted about– for my oldest son. Today I received a flier in the school news letter about how great these classes were, and they seemed more like an ad for Junior to get the chance to welcome Jesus into his heart and “make good life decisions” rather than actually learn anything.

It really bothers me that a) this is the extent of religious education offered, and b) it’s a policy of opt-OUT rather than opt-IN. When I was in high school, we couldn’t do sex education without a signed permission slip from our parents saying it was okay. Yet this– which is aimed at kids who are much younger– is acceptable?

My 10 year old son has just left, what they like to call, an elite anglican school, for myriad reasons, and I have decided to home school him for a while.

In a rush to organise his day of learning yesterday, I asked him to research indigenous culture (planned to be the first of many cultures) and identify bits that made him feel good and that he could/should include in his life. His response ….”Wow, Mum, am I really allowed to do that - that is soooo cool”.

Now, that is teaching one to fish and no school fees to boot!

Mum said, “Praise be to the…… stars”.

Hi there. Oh Golly. (face turns red).

I am also one of those “good” Christians who reads from Dawkins and Dennet that Christian belief is tantamount to child abuse, should be outlawed if possible (as far as instruction, at least), and since this kind of apparent domestic tranquility recipe that wise sages of atheism such as Dawkins offers us is not nearly as bad as the numerous and admittedly often fair critiques of atheism, I won’t comment. I’ll be a good boy. Promise!

After all, as Talking Squid commentators have mentioned in posts regarding issues like this, (after much Purple Mountain Majesty prose and wordsmithing and not a too few examples of parenthetical horse dismountings, which by the way is highly annoying), it seems hundreds of atheist quotes and catcalls for outlawing, say, homeschooling and/or shutting down Christian thought or commentary to the effect that (per, say…oh…let’s see…..Christopher Hitchens) the public schools need to be the “anvil on which faith is crushed” (also said by Margaret Sanger, for those wondering which of the exotics on the atheist side of things ever produce social kooks with agendas), Christians are STILL nastier in manner. No doubt they smell worse than atheists too.

I must concur–Christians are far more dangerous bileslingers to the whole biosphere than atheists. Even more dangerous than men like Dawkins, whose understanding of faith must await his next book on the topic. As soon as he finishes coloring it. But still….

So, I’ll just stand over here for now.