It's scripture in school time again!

DebnWill said :

I was raised in the Catholic education system, hence my interest in masturbation (I own an adult toy business)!

I’m for religion, as long as the chicks are hot….

blimkybill said :

Jethro said :

2604 said :

Is there an opt-out form for all the politically-correct horses**t that gets slung in public schools nowadays?
– Acknowledging “the traditional owners of our land” at every opportunity
– Not discussing fathers’ day or mothers’ day because some kids don’t have a mother or a father
– Not discussing the fact that Christmas and Easter are Christian festivals because not everyone is a Christian, but teaching at length about the meaning and history of Ramadan
– Getting five year old kids to call teachers by their first names rather than “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss”
– Not punishing kids for anything, ever, because nothing is ever their fault

In case you hadn’t noticed, political correctness is the new religion being taught in public schools. As a value system, it’s no better.

Yeah… apart from the traditional owners being mentioned none of the things you listed actually happen.

+1 Jethro
Mothers day and fathers day still get acknowledged, but these days teachers do make an effort to be somewhat sensitive to those who don’t have one of those. And Christmas and Easter still get celebrated. As far as I know my kids have never been taught about Ramadan – although I wouldn’t mind if they had, they’ve been taught about Easter and christmas every year of their lives. Teachers are not usually called by their first names, and children do receive punishments. Sorry to disillusion you.
But, if you are still not happy, of course there is an opt out – go to a religious school.

I spent the first 4 yrs of my schooling in Sydney at a school named Enfield Public School. We were taught about ramadan – maybe its because we had lots of muslim kids n our school and the teachers thought it best to tech us why the kids were not eating at school like they had before during the year. If you teach your kids religion now they will have the knowlege to laugh at it later. Plus religion was a bludge class – do some colouring in of jesus hugging some sheep and your outta there – i never listened untill it was something interesting.

s-s-a said :

What is your problem? It sounds like a whinge because they didn’t do it the way you’d like it done.

No, they didn’t do it as per the DET Policy. Which specifically dictates an opt-in approach should be used, and that children not attending must receive ordinary curriculum work.

I read the policy and I didn’t see anything that dictates an “opt-in” approach at all. Maybe you could tell us where that us?

From the policy: “4.3.6 The principal must ensure that the only children who attend the religious education program are those whose parents have consented to their attendance.”

Newsletter: “We are having religious education classes commence. If you do not consent, you’ll need to fill out the form”.

Parents who didn’t fill out the form are understood to have consented. Pretty simple, really. So yes, it still sounds like a whinge because it wasn’t done the way the OP wanted it done.

Jethro said :

2604 said :

Is there an opt-out form for all the politically-correct horses**t that gets slung in public schools nowadays?
– Acknowledging “the traditional owners of our land” at every opportunity
– Not discussing fathers’ day or mothers’ day because some kids don’t have a mother or a father
– Not discussing the fact that Christmas and Easter are Christian festivals because not everyone is a Christian, but teaching at length about the meaning and history of Ramadan
– Getting five year old kids to call teachers by their first names rather than “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss”
– Not punishing kids for anything, ever, because nothing is ever their fault

In case you hadn’t noticed, political correctness is the new religion being taught in public schools. As a value system, it’s no better.

Yeah… apart from the traditional owners being mentioned none of the things you listed actually happen.

+1 Jethro
Mothers day and fathers day still get acknowledged, but these days teachers do make an effort to be somewhat sensitive to those who don’t have one of those. And Christmas and Easter still get celebrated. As far as I know my kids have never been taught about Ramadan – although I wouldn’t mind if they had, they’ve been taught about Easter and christmas every year of their lives. Teachers are not usually called by their first names, and children do receive punishments. Sorry to disillusion you.
But, if you are still not happy, of course there is an opt out – go to a religious school.

Jethro said :

Yeah… apart from the traditional owners being mentioned none of the things you listed actually happen.

“Actually”, they do. Inner North primary school whose name starts with “L”.

What is your problem? It sounds like a whinge because they didn’t do it the way you’d like it done.

No, they didn’t do it as per the DET Policy. Which specifically dictates an opt-in approach should be used, and that children not attending must receive ordinary curriculum work.

If you don’t get any luck with the Principal but think you might get some support for your case from other parents, an option would be to approach one of the parent representatives on the School Board and ask for it to be raised there.

Mysteryman said :

Watson said :

Yes.

And some atheists are happy to shove their justification for why they think the whole god thing is BS down others’ throats but are outraged if a religious person tries to justify their believes.

Agreed.

I’d love to know where all these evangelical atheistsmouldy strawmen I keep hearing about are hiding while they ram their opinions down peoples’ throats. You obviously aren’t referring to the ones on the WWW because the WWW’s a public forum.

Jethro said :

Watson said :

And some atheists are happy to shove their justification for why they think the whole god thing is BS down others’ throats but are outraged if a religious person tries to justify their believes.

Once they start having atheists coming into religious schools, forcing kids to stop actual classes, and telling them that their parents are lying to them about god, let me know.

I think I’ve just read one of the best smack downs in the history of the Internet.

trevar said :

Religion is a personal thing, so if you believe that your children would be best served by avoiding religion, teach that to your children, rather than trying to teach that to your school.

trevar… as has been mentioned earlier, the problem isn’t with education ‘about’ religion, it is education ‘by’ a religion, whereby a proselytiser from a particular religion (usually a sect of Christianity) comes in to a school for an hour a week and lectures children about their (the proselytiser’s) god.

My kids (well the two who are old enough to understand language) are probably more well versed in the teachings of the major religions than most kids of their age from those religions are.

This isn’t an issue of hiding religion from kids, but one of not wanting to bastardise the education system in order to indoctrinate kids towards a particular religious philosophy.

You mentioned you’re a teacher, so you would be aware that kids get, at the very most, 25 hours of education time a week. To have 1 of these hours given to an evangelical Christian in order for them to convert children to their faith is wrong. It is a waste of scant educational time and an inappropriate use of tax dollars.

The hour devoted to religious indoctrination is not allowed to be used for anything else. It’s not like the kids who opt out can get extra instruction in maths or science. Because if that were to happen, the kids being evangelised would be missing out on learning, and that wouldn’t be fair to them.

As a result, the ‘opt out’ kids get to sit there for an hour and wait.

(As an aside I wish Pommy Bastard were still around, because we would have something to agree upon and bond over. He never did like me much.)

I was raised in the Catholic education system, hence my interest in masturbation (I own an adult toy business)! When it came to choosing a school for my son I went for the public system. I haven’t faced the issue of scripture (yet) as he’s only in preschool, but I’ll definitely being opting out unless it’s a comparitive religious class. I like the idea of him learning about different religions and choosing one for himself when he’s older if that’s what he wants to do.

I love the work of David Thorne – check out http://www.27bslash6.com/easter.html for his take on school scripture.

Mysteryman said :

It’s been a while since you were at school, hey Gramps? 😉

About 9 months actually. Before that I worked in them for 10 years.

I went to an Anglican school, with compulsory Religious Education class. My parents sent me there because the school performed better than the neighbouring state schools. I don’t want to talk about my views on religion. What I do want to contribute is that this school taught religion in a secular way: defined it, looked at the creation story in a bunch of different religions, debated what belief and faith meant, and how it contrasted with the science. That was a couple of years worth at that point. Then we looked at the major faiths in turn. First one we covered in depth was judaism. Judaism part 2, and christianity were to be covered the following year. But in that year the subject was an elective, so no more RE for me. Weird that the one religion I DIDN’T learn in a christian school was christianity.

Jethro said :

2604 said :

Is there an opt-out form for all the politically-correct horses**t that gets slung in public schools nowadays?
– Acknowledging “the traditional owners of our land” at every opportunity
– Not discussing fathers’ day or mothers’ day because some kids don’t have a mother or a father
– Not discussing the fact that Christmas and Easter are Christian festivals because not everyone is a Christian, but teaching at length about the meaning and history of Ramadan
– Getting five year old kids to call teachers by their first names rather than “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss”
– Not punishing kids for anything, ever, because nothing is ever their fault

In case you hadn’t noticed, political correctness is the new religion being taught in public schools. As a value system, it’s no better.

Yeah… apart from the traditional owners being mentioned none of the things you listed actually happen.

It’s been a while since you were at school, hey Gramps? 😉

I don’t think the snippet of the Education Act you quote permits an opt-out option; it specifically requires parental consent, and therefore prescribes an opt-in approach. I can’t see any way to interpret it otherwise. Consent has either been given or it hasn’t. If it has, it may be done verbally or it may be done in writing, but it can’t be implied. If you have not given that permission either verbally or in writing, the actions of the school as described in the OP are clearly in breach of the legislation.

But still, I think this whole debate is over-wrought with emotion. Most of it seems to focus on teaching the school what it should be doing, rather than teaching the child how to respond. If religion is a personal thing (and I think it is), surely it’s more important to be teaching that to your children than fighting with the school over it. And really, a child is as likely to reject instruction in maths or geography or literacy as they are to accept teaching in religion (I don’t know how many times as an English teacher I’ve tried to preach to a classroom that apostrophes should not be used for pluralisation, only to have the students treat me like a heretic and insist on apostrophising plurals anyway, in accordance with their personal punctuational faith).

I don’t think any topic should be taboo in a school. Shielding children from religion just makes them more vulnerable to cults; shielding children from anything just makes them more vulnerable to it in adulthood. So although I agree that the system described in the OP is clearly, absolutely and unquestionably in breach of the legislation, on religion in schools generally I think it’s better that your child comes to you while they’re young and impressionable and talk about what the religious folk at school have convinced them of, than come to you in adulthood and try to convert you into the cult they’ve joined.

Religion is a personal thing, so if you believe that your children would be best served by avoiding religion, teach that to your children, rather than trying to teach that to your school.

2604 said :

Is there an opt-out form for all the politically-correct horses**t that gets slung in public schools nowadays?
– Acknowledging “the traditional owners of our land” at every opportunity
– Not discussing fathers’ day or mothers’ day because some kids don’t have a mother or a father
– Not discussing the fact that Christmas and Easter are Christian festivals because not everyone is a Christian, but teaching at length about the meaning and history of Ramadan
– Getting five year old kids to call teachers by their first names rather than “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss”
– Not punishing kids for anything, ever, because nothing is ever their fault

In case you hadn’t noticed, political correctness is the new religion being taught in public schools. As a value system, it’s no better.

Yeah… apart from the traditional owners being mentioned none of the things you listed actually happen.

Is there an opt-out form for all the politically-correct horses**t that gets slung in public schools nowadays?
– Acknowledging “the traditional owners of our land” at every opportunity
– Not discussing fathers’ day or mothers’ day because some kids don’t have a mother or a father
– Not discussing the fact that Christmas and Easter are Christian festivals because not everyone is a Christian, but teaching at length about the meaning and history of Ramadan
– Getting five year old kids to call teachers by their first names rather than “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss”
– Not punishing kids for anything, ever, because nothing is ever their fault

In case you hadn’t noticed, political correctness is the new religion being taught in public schools. As a value system, it’s no better.

Jethro said :

Watson said :

And some atheists are happy to shove their justification for why they think the whole god thing is BS down others’ throats but are outraged if a religious person tries to justify their believes.

Once they start having atheists coming into religious schools, forcing kids to stop actual classes, and telling them that their parents are lying to them about god, let me know.

Jethro, I think I love you. You make more sense on this topic than most others. Religion has no place in public schools unless is it being taught as history and covers all types of religion. If you want to be educated in a Christian way, go to a Christian school.

What’s the quote?

Religion is like a penis. I’m happy you have one and in your own home you can use it how you like. But please don’t whip it out in public and certainly don’t try to stick it down my or my kids throats.

Watson said :

Yes.

And some atheists are happy to shove their justification for why they think the whole god thing is BS down others’ throats but are outraged if a religious person tries to justify their believes.

Agreed.

So… they stated it in the newsletter and you obviously saw it so it can’t have been hidden, and they placed the opt-out form in the newsletter, which you also clearly found…

What is your problem? It sounds like a whinge because they didn’t do it the way you’d like it done.

I wish I wasn’t surprised to hear this happening. I remember the “pancake breakfast” at high school and while it was great to get a warm breakfast once a week, the religious undertones were not appreciated. Then later in college a Chaplin was introduced instead of a qualified guidance counsellor. The information PickedANickname showed above is quite disturbing to read.

I’d be interested in researching this further but as I have no children at this point in my life I have no base school to start research from. If anyone would be interested in contacting me further about this scripture program I would greatly appreciate it. I would only need a school name, how the school runs the program and anything else you know about it.

For matters regarding this I can be contacted at emilycresearch[at]gmail[dot]com, names won’t be used.

Oh, and watch out if your school is holding an “Exo Day”. It seems this is a sneaky way to get kids recruited into the Hillsong Cult….er…..Church.

I think all schools should just concentrate on making sure the students can read and write first. The standards of literacy in this country are appalling and I believe schools are failing their students.

Watson said :

And some atheists are happy to shove their justification for why they think the whole god thing is BS down others’ throats but are outraged if a religious person tries to justify their believes.

Once they start having atheists coming into religious schools, forcing kids to stop actual classes, and telling them that their parents are lying to them about god, let me know.

CapitalK said :

…..BTW – my daughter has decided that she wants to be god

Any chance you could ask her for a copy of the interview questions pls…?

longshanks said :

qbngeek said :

longshanks said :

Bigot: Someone who is intolerantly convinced of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion, practice, etc. (Macquarie Dictionary)

So, just to clarify, while you might not be “sexist, racist, heightist, fatist or fascist”, you are clearly both intolerant and convinced that your opinions are right. Therefore, you are a bigot.

Out of interest, what school does your kid go to?

I will keep the name of the school out of it, but I will point out that you should go back there.

At what point was I ‘intolerantly convinced of the of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion, practice, etc’. I am not convinced that my opinion on anything is right, and will always change my opinion if given evidence to show it should be changed or at least reconsider my position.

If anything I demonstrate to my son and everyone else that there is no ‘right’ creed, opinion, practice etc. I have posted on here about many things, sometimes I agree with the Liberals, sometimes the Greens, sometimes Labor, sometimes nobody and sometimes I even agree with other posters who I have done battle with in other threads or even on the same issue and they have changed my opinion.

I am however entitled to my opinion and my opinion is that you should learn to comprehend a dictionary before you start to quote it.

Oh goody, where can I start?

1. Anyone who said “I hate the f*^king Muslims” or “I hate the f*^king Jews” or “I hate the f*^king Chinese” or “I hate the f*^king Africans” would probably be viewed as intolerant. “I hate the f*^king Catholics” is no different.

2. Let’s go back to our dictionary definition shall we? “I hate the f*^king Catholics” is clearly an intolerant statement. In addition, you are clearly convinced that your creed is correct – after all you have a creed, which is that “there is no right creed, opinion practice, etc”. This is something you firmly believe (the origin of the word creed is “credo”, latin for “I believe”), to the extent that you try to teach your son to adopt this belief. This creed is also incompatible with religious beliefs, which mostly state that their “creed”, however they define it, is right.

So if you are convinced that what you believe is right (I’m not talking about opinions here, I’m talking about beliefs, i.e. creeds) and if you are intolerant of others, then you are a bigot.

Look, at the end of the day, I don’t want to get into a slanging match, and for what it’s worth I don’t agree with compulsory religious education in schools either. However, is it really that difficult to focus on the facts, and leave the sweeping statements out of it? Some Christians are hypocrites, as are some Muslims, as are some Jews, as are some Atheists, as are some members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (or whatever it’s called). Some motorists are hypocrites, as are some cyclists. Some dog owners are hypocrites. Some people from Charnwood are criminals, as are some people from Queanbeyan, as are some from Forrest, as are some people wearing hoods.

Fewer broad generalisations make for more informed debate, I’d say.

Yes.

And some atheists are happy to shove their justification for why they think the whole god thing is BS down others’ throats but are outraged if a religious person tries to justify their believes.

Our public primary school (ACT) also uses the newsletter for an opt out option. We’ve opted both our kids out until Year 4 (I think that is right) because they are curious to what the other kids are doing, and despite my views I am happy for them to form their own. The program given to the non-scripture kids seems to be poorly planned and just a time filler. I’m not happy that scheduled class time is given to the scripture program without valuable options also planned.

Should about here declare I am strongly atheist.

Perhaps my biggest issue with our school’s program is that is is presented by one particular Christian “flavour” and is wholly and solely their views. And the handouts that come home are very much of a “recruitment” style.

Perhaps because of my own views, I would welcome a balanced look at ALL religions (perhaps all represented in Canberra, with the time and resources to contribute) so the kids could understand the similarities and differences betweens them and what each core message might be. For this, done right, I would be happy for a lot more classroom to be assigned.

I guess “all in” or “all out”.

What I don’t like is a week of propaganda leading up to pagan festivals usurped by organised religion because no-one turned up to their gigs!

CapitalK said :

I am a Catholic (and no PickedANickname I can’t afford to pay extra tax).

I think PickedANickname was referring to churches and religious organisations that are currently provided tax-except status by the government, not individuals who practise religion.

qbngeek said :

THink yourself lucky, Our son is forced to go to scripture at the start of every year and there are no opt-out notes sent home or any information. In Kindergarten I said he was not to attend Scripture, each year they force him to go even when he protests.

The school has told me I need to opt-out every year and that it is up to me to contact them. To make it worse, non-scripture is a teacher in a room who tells them to bring a book or something to draw on and then tells them not to make a sound. That seems like a good way to bore kids into wanting to go to scripture.

On a few occasions he has been forced to go if they havve a substitute teacher who can’t be bothered to check, and I know he is going because he comes home and tells me how I am going to hell and then starts crying thinking he is a big bad sinner. Apparently I am going to hell because I have tattoos, I listent o ‘devil music’ and have said that Satan is better than God because he has a sense of humour.

F#@k I hate the f*^king catholics. Why can’t we be a non-religious country and then religion is a personal choice. Lets start by taxing them, they can afford it.

Far out, that is horrible! I am Catholic I don’t go to church every week only on occasions like Easter and Christmas, so essentially I am not a ‘practicing Catholic’ I also don’t believe that kids should have anything shoved down their throats at a young age BUT once they are old enough to understand the religion it should be their choice to make!!!

Guess what i also have tattoos (quite a few) and no one has ever told me I am going to hell!!! I also have an ecliptic taste in music, and again NO ONE has ever told me I am going to hell for that either!

Maybe you should make a decision on people based on the actual person and not their beliefs before saying you “hate the f*^king catholics” as a whole!

I am a Catholic (and no PickedANickname I can’t afford to pay extra tax). I went to a Catholic school and my children will do the same – but this is our choice, I want my children to learn about our religion and also about other religions.
When I first read your story I was a bit against what you were saying I really think that learning about Religions as a whole is something very valuable – not preaching in any way but just learning about different religions and cultures. However in reading further and finding out that it is one group and they are teaching about one belief system I am really annoyed and actually find it quite unbelievable that this is the case.
Just because someone goes to a govt school does not necessarily mean that they have no religion nor that any religion they do have is of a christian basis.
I would definitely talk to the principal, hope it goes well.
BTW – my daughter has decided that she wants to be god

qbngeek said :

longshanks said :

Bigot: Someone who is intolerantly convinced of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion, practice, etc. (Macquarie Dictionary)

So, just to clarify, while you might not be “sexist, racist, heightist, fatist or fascist”, you are clearly both intolerant and convinced that your opinions are right. Therefore, you are a bigot.

Out of interest, what school does your kid go to?

I will keep the name of the school out of it, but I will point out that you should go back there.

At what point was I ‘intolerantly convinced of the of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion, practice, etc’. I am not convinced that my opinion on anything is right, and will always change my opinion if given evidence to show it should be changed or at least reconsider my position.

If anything I demonstrate to my son and everyone else that there is no ‘right’ creed, opinion, practice etc. I have posted on here about many things, sometimes I agree with the Liberals, sometimes the Greens, sometimes Labor, sometimes nobody and sometimes I even agree with other posters who I have done battle with in other threads or even on the same issue and they have changed my opinion.

I am however entitled to my opinion and my opinion is that you should learn to comprehend a dictionary before you start to quote it.

Oh goody, where can I start?

1. Anyone who said “I hate the f*^king Muslims” or “I hate the f*^king Jews” or “I hate the f*^king Chinese” or “I hate the f*^king Africans” would probably be viewed as intolerant. “I hate the f*^king Catholics” is no different.

2. Let’s go back to our dictionary definition shall we? “I hate the f*^king Catholics” is clearly an intolerant statement. In addition, you are clearly convinced that your creed is correct – after all you have a creed, which is that “there is no right creed, opinion practice, etc”. This is something you firmly believe (the origin of the word creed is “credo”, latin for “I believe”), to the extent that you try to teach your son to adopt this belief. This creed is also incompatible with religious beliefs, which mostly state that their “creed”, however they define it, is right.

So if you are convinced that what you believe is right (I’m not talking about opinions here, I’m talking about beliefs, i.e. creeds) and if you are intolerant of others, then you are a bigot.

Look, at the end of the day, I don’t want to get into a slanging match, and for what it’s worth I don’t agree with compulsory religious education in schools either. However, is it really that difficult to focus on the facts, and leave the sweeping statements out of it? Some Christians are hypocrites, as are some Muslims, as are some Jews, as are some Atheists, as are some members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (or whatever it’s called). Some motorists are hypocrites, as are some cyclists. Some dog owners are hypocrites. Some people from Charnwood are criminals, as are some people from Queanbeyan, as are some from Forrest, as are some people wearing hoods.

Fewer broad generalisations make for more informed debate, I’d say.

Watson said :

If you have not studied the bible and christian practices, you have as much right to attack christianity as a vegetarian has to comment on the quality of a meat tray.

You don’t have to read a religion’s holy book to be qualified to judge the behaviour of its institutions.

qbngeek said :

Apparently I am going to hell because I have tattoos, I listen to ‘devil music’ and have said that Satan is better than God because he has a sense of humour.

You sound like a regular Justin Beiber fan to me. Can’t see a problem with that..

Can I just add a disclaimer to clarify that I have nothing against religious education. In fact, I would love for my child to learn about religions. Because if you do not know what they are about, you are not in a good position to criticise them. I was raised a catholic and I am well equiped to attack their doctrines. If you have not studied the bible and christian practices, you have as much right to attack christianity as a vegetarian has to comment on the quality of a meat tray.

However, I vaguely remember the specific RE offered at her school seemed a bit of an obscure brand, though I cannot remember what it was. Probably Anglican as I do admit to finding Anglicanism even more ridiculous than other brands of christianity.

Gantz said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

…stick to the facts…

LOL facts and religion!

To be honest, I struggled using the word facts 🙂 but I think you can factually teach about what people believe without suggesting that what they believe is fact.

{quote]

No, I haven’t. I have sent him to a public school. I don’t see the value in Catholic schools as I attended one and struggled until I was moved to a public school and started performing at the top of my year.

thanks for clearing that up, maintain your outrage.

Reminds me of a good Supernintendo Chalmers quote:
“Thank the Lor — thank the Lord? That sounded like a prayer. A prayer. A prayer in a public school! God has no place within these walls, just like facts have no place within organized religion.”

longshanks said :

Bigot: Someone who is intolerantly convinced of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion, practice, etc. (Macquarie Dictionary)

So, just to clarify, while you might not be “sexist, racist, heightist, fatist or fascist”, you are clearly both intolerant and convinced that your opinions are right. Therefore, you are a bigot.

Out of interest, what school does your kid go to?

I will keep the name of the school out of it, but I will point out that you should go back there.

At what point was I ‘intolerantly convinced of the of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion, practice, etc’. I am not convinced that my opinion on anything is right, and will always change my opinion if given evidence to show it should be changed or at least reconsider my position.

If anything I demonstrate to my son and everyone else that there is no ‘right’ creed, opinion, practice etc. I have posted on here about many things, sometimes I agree with the Liberals, sometimes the Greens, sometimes Labor, sometimes nobody and sometimes I even agree with other posters who I have done battle with in other threads or even on the same issue and they have changed my opinion.

I am however entitled to my opinion and my opinion is that you should learn to comprehend a dictionary before you start to quote it.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

…stick to the facts…

LOL facts and religion!

The Scripture Union ACT (SU ACT) http://www.suact.org.au/ conducts the Supa Club and bi-yearly week-long scripture program. There isn’t much information on what is in the lessons other than:

Working with the churches, SU aims:
1. to make God’s Good News known to children, young people and families, and
2. to encourage people of all ages to meet God daily through the Bible and prayer.
SU wants to see people come to personal faith in Jesus Christ, to grow in Christian maturity and become committed church members and servants of a world in need.

Completely Christian based. My child was once invited to the lunch time activity (without my consent). My child came home and told us that we were liars and didn’t “make” them that “the god made” them. This was after one visit! My child also misses out on an assembly as well, so it is really isolating.

To be fair to the school, I called, voiced my concerns and the lunch time club hasn’t been a problem since. That is why I am hoping the chat with the principal will go well.

qbngeek said :

qbngeek said :

THink yourself lucky, Our son is forced to go to scripture at the start of every year and there are no opt-out notes sent home or any information. In Kindergarten I said he was not to attend Scripture, each year they force him to go even when he protests.

The school has told me I need to opt-out every year and that it is up to me to contact them. To make it worse, non-scripture is a teacher in a room who tells them to bring a book or something to draw on and then tells them not to make a sound. That seems like a good way to bore kids into wanting to go to scripture.

On a few occasions he has been forced to go if they havve a substitute teacher who can’t be bothered to check, and I know he is going because he comes home and tells me how I am going to hell and then starts crying thinking he is a big bad sinner. Apparently I am going to hell because I have tattoos, I listent o ‘devil music’ and have said that Satan is better than God because he has a sense of humour.

F#@k I hate the f*^king catholics. Why can’t we be a non-religious country and then religion is a personal choice. Lets start by taxing them, they can afford it.

I should make it clear that I also hate the Christians.

And I hate them as a group, not individually. I will judge them on their deeds individually, but as a group they are the most hypocritical groups out there.

I an individual basis, I am not sexist, racist, heightist, fatist or fascist. I hate everyone equally.

Bigot: Someone who is intolerantly convinced of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion, practice, etc. (Macquarie Dictionary)

So, just to clarify, while you might not be “sexist, racist, heightist, fatist or fascist”, you are clearly both intolerant and convinced that your opinions are right. Therefore, you are a bigot.

Out of interest, what school does your kid go to?

Religious education has no place in government schools. If parents want a religious education for their kids there are plenty of religious schools out there.

The curriculum is already over-loaded, so time should not be wasted on this. Kids whose families opt out end up having 1 hour of do nothing time.

I do, however, agree with CSRI – comparative religious studies is fine. I’m all for kids learning about different cultures and their belief systems. I do, however, have a problem with some Christian coming into my kid’s classroom and lecturing them about god.

We’re at Harrison and they have opt-in scripture. I’ve heard rumours of kids being sent when their parents didn’t opt-in, but it hasn’t happened to me or anyone I know. Perhaps it was when the school was new (it’s only 4 years old) and they hadn’t quite got on top of things yet.

I think that for a public school it should absolutely and most definitely be opt-in not opt-out! Our public schools need to cater for all Australians and residents, not just the Christian ones. I would be moaning largely and loudly to everyone who will listen and make it stop. Wrong wrong wrong. You have my sympathy.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

qbngeek said :

THink yourself lucky, Our son is forced to go to scripture at the start of every year and there are no opt-out notes sent home or any information. In Kindergarten I said he was not to attend Scripture, each year they force him to go even when he protests.

The school has told me I need to opt-out every year and that it is up to me to contact them. To make it worse, non-scripture is a teacher in a room who tells them to bring a book or something to draw on and then tells them not to make a sound. That seems like a good way to bore kids into wanting to go to scripture.

On a few occasions he has been forced to go if they havve a substitute teacher who can’t be bothered to check, and I know he is going because he comes home and tells me how I am going to hell and then starts crying thinking he is a big bad sinner. Apparently I am going to hell because I have tattoos, I listent o ‘devil music’ and have said that Satan is better than God because he has a sense of humour.

F#@k I hate the f*^king catholics. Why can’t we be a non-religious country and then religion is a personal choice. Lets start by taxing them, they can afford it.

Please tell me that you haven’t sent your son to a Catholic school and are now complaining about them teaching him Catholic doctrine…

No, I haven’t. I have sent him to a public school. I don’t see the value in Catholic schools as I attended one and struggled until I was moved to a public school and started performing at the top of my year.

qbngeek said :

THink yourself lucky, Our son is forced to go to scripture at the start of every year and there are no opt-out notes sent home or any information. In Kindergarten I said he was not to attend Scripture, each year they force him to go even when he protests.

The school has told me I need to opt-out every year and that it is up to me to contact them. To make it worse, non-scripture is a teacher in a room who tells them to bring a book or something to draw on and then tells them not to make a sound. That seems like a good way to bore kids into wanting to go to scripture.

On a few occasions he has been forced to go if they havve a substitute teacher who can’t be bothered to check, and I know he is going because he comes home and tells me how I am going to hell and then starts crying thinking he is a big bad sinner. Apparently I am going to hell because I have tattoos, I listent o ‘devil music’ and have said that Satan is better than God because he has a sense of humour.

F#@k I hate the f*^king catholics. Why can’t we be a non-religious country and then religion is a personal choice. Lets start by taxing them, they can afford it.

I should make it clear that I also hate the Christians.

And I hate them as a group, not individually. I will judge them on their deeds individually, but as a group they are the most hypocritical groups out there.

I an individual basis, I am not sexist, racist, heightist, fatist or fascist. I hate everyone equally.

Wow, I would seriously complain about that to DET. That is way out of line.

Majura Primary has an opt-in strategy for their scripture class. I don’t even know what brand of christianity it teaches.

qbngeek said :

THink yourself lucky, Our son is forced to go to scripture at the start of every year and there are no opt-out notes sent home or any information. In Kindergarten I said he was not to attend Scripture, each year they force him to go even when he protests.

The school has told me I need to opt-out every year and that it is up to me to contact them. To make it worse, non-scripture is a teacher in a room who tells them to bring a book or something to draw on and then tells them not to make a sound. That seems like a good way to bore kids into wanting to go to scripture.

On a few occasions he has been forced to go if they havve a substitute teacher who can’t be bothered to check, and I know he is going because he comes home and tells me how I am going to hell and then starts crying thinking he is a big bad sinner. Apparently I am going to hell because I have tattoos, I listent o ‘devil music’ and have said that Satan is better than God because he has a sense of humour.

F#@k I hate the f*^king catholics. Why can’t we be a non-religious country and then religion is a personal choice. Lets start by taxing them, they can afford it.

Please tell me that you haven’t sent your son to a Catholic school and are now complaining about them teaching him Catholic doctrine…

THink yourself lucky, Our son is forced to go to scripture at the start of every year and there are no opt-out notes sent home or any information. In Kindergarten I said he was not to attend Scripture, each year they force him to go even when he protests.

The school has told me I need to opt-out every year and that it is up to me to contact them. To make it worse, non-scripture is a teacher in a room who tells them to bring a book or something to draw on and then tells them not to make a sound. That seems like a good way to bore kids into wanting to go to scripture.

On a few occasions he has been forced to go if they havve a substitute teacher who can’t be bothered to check, and I know he is going because he comes home and tells me how I am going to hell and then starts crying thinking he is a big bad sinner. Apparently I am going to hell because I have tattoos, I listent o ‘devil music’ and have said that Satan is better than God because he has a sense of humour.

F#@k I hate the f*^king catholics. Why can’t we be a non-religious country and then religion is a personal choice. Lets start by taxing them, they can afford it.

If it covers all mainstream religious belief systems and taught in a non-sectarian way, I support religious education in schools – ie stick to the facts, this is what followers of religion x believe, this is the history of religion x etc.

But, if the education is being delivered by a follower of one particular religion, it has no place in our schools.