Malcs,

By all means lets get our facts right. I have no argument with that but Billie is not really all that interested in facts.
Billie's issue IS EMOTIONAL. Billie is very angry at the Church but in this thread is focusing that anger on the government and faith-based schools.

Remember these lines from Billie’s posts to date:
“.. I don't want to see my taxes used to fund religious schools.”
“I don't like exclusive schools which exist to segregate a sects children from mainstream society.”
“..I want ... not being stifled in the confines of a restrictive religion.”
“..the inordinate amount of money the government spends propping up the Catholic church..”
“If the state system is poor then the religious schools can be poor too!” (This one is particularly telling)
“I resent subsidising other people's religious beliefs..”
“ ..constitution guaranteed us freedom from having a state religion foisted upon us.”

Not much doubt here that Billie is seriously p.. off with the Church. The irony is that Billie recognises, at least to some extent, the good that at least one faith-based school is doing and yet stands on his/her ‘principle’ that this school should be punished.

So, while it is important to get the facts straight, and that seems to be very important to you, Billie and others like him/her are unlikely to be convinced by facts. It is anger and not reason or even ‘principle’ that drives Billie's attitude here. It is this anger that needs to be heard and felt.

You sought to deflect Billie's emotions. That seemed inappropriate since the emotional content of this thread is what makes it interesting and potentially either constructive or destructive.