Thanks Individual, I shall file that under "Rants without substance".

David F - I'm sorry you disagree with the High Court of Australia but as I said before, the fight has been fought and lost. Is is disappointing that so many people try to stretch the intent of separation of Church and State to such extremes. Shows an lack of historical understanding of the basis of the concept and an innate bias.

Rants without substance"
rational-debate,
I suspect you're a teacher hence the escape route you've chosen. Sad reflection on teachers really.

Individual - Thanks for the research, as requested. I shall take the time to digest it fully and get back to you.

I was worried for a moment that you might just resort to a cheap cop-out, followed by an generalised insult. What a relief you didn't...

Dear rational_debate,

I don't think my definition of separation of religion and state is in the least bit extreme. "Church and State" by Bishop Tom Frame contends we don't have the separation in Australia. I agree with him and would like to see it. He is satisfied the way it is now.

I have an excellent understanding of the concept.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10725&page=0 and
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10790&page=0 contain two articles I have written on the subject.

Certainly I have a bias in favour of separation of religion and state. I think it is a very good idea.

The story of Finland's success contained in the link http://bit.ly/steoRz would deal with the insanity of religious education were it introduced into Australia. The only way to make a country unified, educated and peaceful is to give everyone, no matter where they live, how wealthy they are or what religion or ethnicity, the same education for free, taught by well educated and trained teachers who are given almost total responsibility for their charges.
With this system there is no place for religious and other private institutions indoctrinating their clients with notions of superiority, privilege and contempt for everyone else, as is the case today. Our politicians are, for the most part, the result of inequalities in education, which is why they're so stupid, ignorant, and unable to see the consequences of their actions.

For the record, Finland does have a limited number of private schools and they are fully funded by the government. Some of these are even run by insane religious people!