From The Age
Teacher union calls for end to religious classes
By Michael Bachelard
May 15, 2011
Victoria's teachers' union is calling for an end to religious education in state schools, increasing pressure on the Baillieu government over the controversial program.
The Victorian branch, representing 46,000 state school teachers, passed a resolution at its Friday council meeting calling for Special Religious Instruction during school hours to be scrapped.
Its resolution stated that public education must remain ''free and secular''.
Full Story: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/teacher-union-calls-for-end-to-religious-classes-20110514-1enkw.html
My thoughts: Firstly, I'll just remind readers that, whilst the current NSCP news circus is mentioned in the article, this issue is separate to the NSCP. Secondly, I'm not sure I completely agree with this motion that SRI/SRE/RI/RE classes (or whatever the different states want to call them) should be halted. Re-assessed and re-configured ? Definitely... but not ended completely. I do feel, however, that this instruction should be in a historial context, and that only comparative religion should be taught. Ideally, no single religion should be given preference or promoted above another by the instructors, and there certainly shouldn't be any proselytising to students.
Curiously, one might also be prompted to ask who would best be chosen from our community to fulfil such a role. I understand that, in a recent survey in the US, atheists were determined to be the most knowledgeable in the community with regard to the various religions. Would this make them best suited to perform such a role ? Perhaps, but folks of faith might feel uncomfortable at the suggestion. Why might this be ? A lack of trust, it seems. Another US survey from a few years ago identifies atheists as the least trusted persons in their communities.
You couldn't make it up.
As the previous blog post testifies, fear of folks with differing opinions or world views than one's own is often more powerful than reason.
