despite some notable blemishes!
- nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

Agreed Squeers. Along with some short and sharp rapid-fire responses on this thread that only seem to have been posted for the sake of getting up others' noses or provoking an emotional response.

And how did all those line breaks get into my post when it was perfectly fine last night.?!

As a former christain and former Scripture Union supporter I'm absolutely certain that RE and chaplaincy in schools is considered an evangelistic program by most involved. The spin that it's about understanding the Bibles place in western values is spin, not what really motivates. Maybe just enough truth in it to let some christains feel that they are not lying but it's the sort of truth that resembles a politicians non-core promise.

"With Christianity all but written out of the new national curriculum, what’s wrong with accredited volunteers teaching kids a few Bible stories and telling them about Jesus?"

"With Islam all but written out of the new national curriculum, what’s wrong with accredited volunteers teaching kids a few Koran stories and telling them about Mohammed?"

"Despite some notable blemishes, Christianity has been an overwhelming force for good." there has been some good stuff but the blemishes may seem a lot smaller from inside than out. Christain guilt and shame based teaching about sexuality continues to do massive harm to peoples lives. Christains are the leading lights in the fight for intollerance of homosexuals. Teaching on sin and man's nature as sinfull and fallen does a fundamental harm that I don't think we have begun to understand yet let alone unwind from our society.

I chose to have my son attend RE when he was in primary school because the way it was structured would have had him singled out if he'd not attended.

I didn't choose the lunch time programs run by christains at the school which were offering lollies and other treats to entice primary age kid's into their club. Nor was I informed that they were operating until my son had already been taking part - nothing like a few treats to get a kid's attention.

R0bert

I am not going to buy into this one. It seems most posts are of the opinion type rather than actually looking for discussion (not a judgement, just an observation).

Another observation, and one which intrigues me, is the amount of responses this post has received. If you check back over months of this forum, you will find that the topics with the most responses (by a long shot) are almost always religion based ones.

What's that about?

Oh, and I can't let Houellebecq's comment pass without thanking him for his generous words about the entire teaching profession (of which I am a member).

"BTW: I don't see that the children who sit out of SRE are wasting their time. Time is never wasted. That argument rubbish. Most of the school day kids sit there doing very little and supervised by a disinterested adult. They can get a head start on the current trend of 4 hours homework."

Perhaps shockadelic and Mr Ward can explain why RI has to take place in schools and not as part of the religious community to which people are involved.

We opted out for my daughter in Primary School and instead of giving the non-attendees meaningful work they were sat outside on a desk and given some crayons and pictures to colour in. Now it was a nice quiet time for my child but she could hear every word being said through the open door to the classroom.

Religion is only 'part of life' to those who choose it, religion should not be foisted on others other than in comparative education.

In communist countries and under Hitler, children were indoctrinated and forced into adopting certain political dogmas. Political and religious dogma are the domain of the home. In formal institutions like schooks, where there is no room for discussion and debate this is nothing more than fascism and history reveals it to be so.

While I don't liken voluntary RI in schools to fascism introducing any type of dogma as part of the school curriculum is a slippery slope.

Thank-you Rob for defending the teaching of Christian values in schools. Every Australian child must understand the teachings of Christianity, which underpin our history, culture, and democratic freedoms.