Sore loser ttbn. When are you going to realise the jig is up. The days are gone when you and the closet deviants of the rabid right could kick the crap out of minorities and get away with it. The day of social justice has dawned, and you and the rest of the crusty old die hard's have to get used to it. You no longer rule the roost, social justice has triumphed over bigotry and homophobia etc. This leaves you and the rest of the forums hard line right wing out in the cold.

//So, no examples of perverts being excluded from private schools// Nah the Catholics simply moved their hoards of perverts to other schools, to bugger children with the churches blessing.

I notice that Paul tells those of us who don't agree with him need to 'pull our heads in once and for all'. At least, unlike most of his vicious mates, he doesnt try to hide the fact the he does not support freedom of speech, belief and thought.

Paul,

Thank you for those diatribes, now would you kindly remark on the following?

If a person does not subscribe to the beliefs of an institution the institution should be able to expel them.

As in, for instance, should the Catholic Church be able to expel a member who becomes a Freemason, or joins the Communist Party or a homosexual priest who molests small boys?

Dear Not_Now.Soon,

«Same goes for if the school neglects to teach the students fundamentals to be literate in reading, writing, and math. If at least the basics are not being taught, or aren't being learned, then the government can step in again to tell them to step it up or be shut down.»

Well this is what worries me about the move to have government step in and order private schools around, rather than this stupid fuss around homosexuality and the non-existent schools that ban it.

Suppose you have a private school which teaches reading, writing and math, but not in English, nor using the Latin script or the decimal system. Suppose the school's aim in doing so is to shield children from the corrupting influence of modern Western society, so children grow up leading an upright and simple life, read scriptures in their original language and avoid the temptations of commercialism and consumerism.

Some ideas are wholesome, others less so - but I wouldn't let government be the judge who decides which is which: all government currently cares for in its "education" program is to produce Australia's future "work-force" of consumer-good and technology addicts that will slavishly increase the GDP and provide it with more taxes.

This is why I support the freedom of schools to accept or reject any teacher or student as they will, for whatever reason, wise or stupid, provided that the parents know what the school is about and are informed in advance about its policies.

Dear Armchair Critic,

You wrote,

“If one man can only find love in another mans anus, dismisses the female vagina as being of no interest to him, then no, he's not normal.”

You are one hell of a strange bird old fella.

Why do you think you will find love in a vagina? Most normal people love the person rater than objectify specific body parts.

It appears you are not one of them.

I get the feeling that too much is being made.
Of course any school - should have the right to
expel students for inappropriate behaviour.
The same goes for their teachers. I don't
understand this obsession that some people seem to have
about gay people - and attributing all sorts of perversions
to them - as if straight people are exempt from any sort
of deviant behaviour.

The issue in question here is - the legal rights of
what religious schools should be entitled to do regarding their
students and teachers.

All Australians are free to follow any religion they choose
so long as its practices do not break any Australian law.

Australians are also free not to follow a religion.
Australia has a secular government and no official or state
religion. Governments under our laws are supposed to treat
all citizens as equal regardless of their religion and
religious laws are not supposed to have a legal status in
Australia.

This is what is emphasised in the booklet given to new citizens
when they take the "Citizenship Test."

We are told that - all Australians are entitled to the
protection of these laws and that all Australians are equal
under the law.

This means that nobody should be treated differently from
anybody else because of their race, ethnicity, country of
origin, sexual orientation, age, gender, marital status,
or disability or because of their political or religious
beliefs. Government agencies and independent courts must
treat everyone fairly.

We now come to what religious schools should be entitled to
do - according to the laws of the land. And this is something
that the government is going to have to decide for us - because
the laws that we are all expected to abide by are the laws
enacted by Parliament under the Australian Constitution.

Religion instructs its adherents on faith, morals and conscience.
But there is not a separate stream of law derived from
religious sources that competes with or supplants Australian
law in governing our civil society. The source of our law is the
democratically elected legislature.