As I understand it, the current arrangements for religious instruction in schools were enshrined in the 1958 revision of the Education Act and left unchanged in the 2006 Education and Training Reform Act. If this is correct, then I think VCAT will have very limited, if any discretion in the matter.

I might say, although I am not a religios person, that the point of religious instruction is to inculcate in children a belief in God and what we used to call Christian Doctrine. There's not much point calling religious instruction 'indoctrination' as if this is some sort of underhand behaviour. That's its avowed purpose.

…Too succinct and poignantly simple for this audience SV…

A start to redress the utterly unchristian situation in Victoria that cynically offers parents only a Sophie's has been made in NSW. Following a successful trial in 2010, schools can now offer an ethics class alternative to non-scripture children. It has been a hard won initiative that is under renewed attack in the form of an upper house (MLC) inquiry into whether the enabling legislation should be repealed. This inquiry was forced on the incumbent Liberal Premier by the MLC, the Rev Fred Nile, whose party has just enough members to give him upper house balance of power. Using an extremely unethical (and unchristian?) tactic, Rev Nile assured the Premier that he would only allow passage of an important but unrelated bill if the Premier gave him one last chance to kill the ethics classes in the form of an inquiry. That inquiry is underway.
In NSW, the ethics classes have been designed and developed by the St James Ethics Centre. They are not taken by the normal classroom teachers but by volunteers properly vetted and trained (by the Centre staff, I think). The classes use the open discussion format that proved so successful in the University of Dundee's trial in Clackmannanshire in Scotland a few years ago. While all religions, and especially the two Sydney Archbishops, virulently opposed the concept of the classes in 2010, and the fundamentalist churches still do, the mainstream churches now seem most concerned by the fact that children who attend scripture classes cannot also attend the ethics classes; they are arguing that the present arrangement actually disadvantages those who attend scripture. This is the flip side of the argument that the parents of non-scripture children have been making for years.
The decision to allow the trial in 2010 was taken by the then Labor government. The incumbent premier, the Liberal Barry O'Farrell, has flip-flopped a bit. It is believed that he personally supports the ethics classes (what reasonable person wouldn't?) but he has to manage an extreme Christian based right wing faction that wants to see them abolished

no doubt the good Dr is happy for the children to be exposed to the idiotic faith based evolution religion that leads to all sorts of mental deficiencies. Kids that opt out of this religion will also feel 'unhappily segregated '. I would of thought a Dr would of been smarter than believe that such a complex earth came from nothing and without design. Then again when someone is blinded by such idiotic faith its not surprising.The funniest thing is she is secretary of the 'rationalist society'. Quite hilarous if it was not so sad.

no doubt the good Dr is happy for the children to be exposed to the idiotic faith based evolution religion that leads to all sorts of mental deficiencies. Kids that opt out of this religion will also feel 'unhappily segregated '. I would of thought a Dr would of been smarter than believe that such a complex earth came from nothing and without design. Then again when someone is blinded by such idiotic faith its not surprising.The funniest thing is she is secretary of the 'rationalist society'. Quite hilarous if it was not so sad.
Posted by runner, Thursday, 8 March 2012 12:10:05 PM

Evolution is not a religion, so you make a "category error". Religions involve notions of "the supernatural", while evolution is about what has been fundamental to nature - DNA coding for reproduction, and the proportion of traits in populations changing from generation to generation.

Evolution is not about cosmogenesis (or abiogenesis), either. It is is possible for Evolution and its mechanisms to be viewed as a creator's mechanism, as many do.

Hey runner, "the idiotic faith based evolution religion that leads to all sorts of mental deficiencies", so what explains your afflictions?

The real story here is that schools are for professionals who come under various codes of conduct.

There is no place for these volunteers, religious or ethical, to come tramping into schools with who-knows-what to be gifted a class of students for an average 45 minutes a week.

We would never tolerate having plonkers from political parties being given such access so students to learn about politics, so why do we tolerate them for religions?