I certainly don't want compulsory religious education in public schools and would consider it inappropriate to instil fear in children about 'burning in hell' and other such nonsense. While reasonable Christian Chaplains might temper their teachings there are no guarantees that these old forms of abuse have ceased.

Would the author want his children to be brainwashed into Islam or another religion not of his choosing. I don't think so.

Using the anti-censorship argument in this context is disingenuous. Religion is a personal choice and should not be forced onto children too young to formulate their own ideas in a rational way ie. those ages where 'their' ideas are imprinted via other influences - parents, schools and friends or their family Church.

The dust Tim Mander is raising obscures the fact that the prime aim of Hugh Wilson and the Australian Secular Lobby (ASL) is to have statutory Bible Lessons by staff teachers removed from the Queensland Education (General Provisions) Act & Regulation 2006. It's a reasonable proposition - eloquently and honestly explained at the ASL website: http://www.australiansecularlobby.com

Dear Tim Mander,

I oppose the school chaplaincy program and would like to see the chaplains replaced by trained counselors who are not missionaries and have no desire to get converts for their religion.

However, I think there should be more religion in schools. I would like to see religious education in the form of comparative religion. Many Australians have some form of religious belief, and students should learn about those.

PLEASE NAME those who you claim wish to exclude all religion from schools and object to comparative religious studies. Students of one faith may be reluctant to approach chaplains of another faith who are seeking converts. Public schools are for students of all religious beliefs and none.

Religious education has a place in the public schools. Missionaries and religious indoctrination have no place in the public schools.

Well well, Tim Mander speaks out. So the SU and their pals at the ACL must be worried that Rudd will not cave in next year when the current $165 million of taxpayers magic pudding runs out, and fund their so-called chaplains the $75, 000 a year, plus cars and on-costs they are seeking for these Christian-only lurkmeisters to hang around state schools running Hillsong programs and recruiting for all they are worth, for Jesus.

Amazing the gall of these people.

I've just had a look at the ASLs 'message in a bottle' website here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r8ESBkr128 and I neither saw nor heard anything to suggest they wanted to 'end religion in schools'. I re-read the Wilson article Mander was responding to and read nothing at all to suggest the ASL wanted religion out of schools.

It occurred to me that the message was a simple one: only Qld has Bible reading sanctioned by the state in public schools, and that means Christianity gets a free kick, and that should not be the case in a multi-cultural and multi-faith society.

Tim Mander needs to tell us which other state or territory in Australia sanctions Bible reading in state schools.

As for mentors, yes, let's have mentors in schools, but let's have that run by the Government to ensure we do not have the mentally ill evangelists being let loose, with no qualifications or training, spruiking for their religion, be it Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism or Islam.

As for the Buddhist Society running 'chaplains in schools', they have one, in one state school, in the whole of Qld, while Mander has about 503 employed on tax monies, mostly with no qualifications or real training, most of whom are evangelicals who believe in a literal view of the Bible.

If we were to have a representative bunch of chaplains, most would be from the Vatican, then Canterbury, then Uniting Church... about three would be evangelicals from the ACL-Mander camp.

Well, this is as close as I've seen to consensus on OLO.

I have to say that I'm indebted to Hugh Wilson and the Australian Secular Lobby for bringing to our attention the quite anachronous anomaly whereby Queensland State schools are mandated by law to teach the Christian religion to their pupils.

They have a very good point, but I doubt very much that the Bligh government would risk alienating the apparently significant Fundy minority - and of course much less so the LNP rabble that passes for an Opposition. Indeed, it's precisely the kind of issue that the LNP is probably quite literally praying for.

So I guess we're stuck with it for now in Qld - but it's certainly worth agitating for Federal funding to be redirected into proper counselling and guidance facilities that have no religious or ideological barrow to push.

I think we just found one of those NRL CEO high fliers Antiseptic was talking about.