Religious education in State schools

[Kevin Bonham]

keep school limited to maths science enlish social studies etc.

Unfortunately most of them can be tampered with too.

[Sir Cromulent Sparkles]

Unfortunately most of them can be tampered with too.

good point, but spirtual/ethical quandaries are of a much greater importance than what the capital of greenland is or pi to a thousand places.

[Rincewind]

Jono's fellow christofascists are at it again.

Primary school abused over dropping Lord's Prayer

A state primary school in Perth has been inundated with hate mail after deciding to drop the recital of the Lord's Prayer at assemblies.

The Education Department says the Edgewater Primary School has received letters, emails and abusive phone calls from people around Australia, venting their anger at the decision.

The school dropped its 25 year tradition of saying the Lord's Prayer at assemblies after complaints from some parents that it breached state school policy, which states public schools should not promote one religious faith over another.

Looks like some people are happy with Australia being a secular society so long as it is a christian secular society.

[Capablanca-Fan]

Jono's fellow christofascists are at it again.

Primary school abused over dropping Lord's Prayer

A state primary school in Perth has been inundated with hate mail after deciding to drop the recital of the Lord's Prayer at assemblies.

The Education Department says the Edgewater Primary School has received letters, emails and abusive phone calls from people around Australia, venting their anger at the decision.

The school dropped its 25 year tradition of saying the Lord's Prayer at assemblies after complaints from some parents that it breached state school policy, which states public schools should not promote one religious faith over another.

Looks like some people are happy with Australia being a secular society so long as it is a christian secular society.

Not having seen this alleged hate mail, how do we know. But given that this school bureaucrat cancelled because of a vociferous minority of atheopathic parents, it's more likely he has a very low threshold for what counts as "abusive".

[Kevin Bonham]

Not having seen this alleged hate mail, how do we know. But given that this school bureaucrat cancelled because of a vociferous minority of atheopathic parents, it's more likely he has a very low threshold for what counts as "abusive".

Bit of a double standard here. You imply scepticism concerning whether the "alleged hate mail" was necessarily hate mail (given that we have not seen it) but at the same time are happy to assert without evidence that the parents who complained must have been "atheopaths" - for all the article says they could have been Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, deists or even Satanists.

It also seems that the school is being targeted (including by the Premier) for correctly implementing a policy. If there was a policy that implied that "public schools should not promote one religious faith over another." then the Lord's Prayer should have been given the boot under that policy without waiting for even one parent to complain, unless it appeared alongside equivalent texts from other religious faiths and non-religious viewpoints. Bibliopaths ( ) who have an issue with what has happened should be targeting the policy instead of abusing the messenger.

[Rincewind]

Bit of a double standard here.

I agree but the bigger double standard is Jono promulgates a highly dubious story without corroboration regarding the Islamic religion thus seeking to denigrate the "competition" without any critical thought. When presented with a story of Christian intolerance which is corroborated he questions its veracity without any evidence to support such denialism.

Certainly the level of violence in both case is not comparable, it does seem likely the Norwegian story was mere fantasy.

Regarding Colin Barnett's response. He is the epitome of a gormless worm.

[Sir Cromulent Sparkles]

I agree but the bigger double standard is Jono promulgates a highly dubious story without corroboration regarding the Islamic religion thus seeking to denigrate the "competition" without any critical thought. When presented with a story of Christian intolerance which is corroborated he questions its veracity without any evidence to support such denialism.

Certainly the level of violence in both case is not comparable, it does seem likely the Norwegian story was mere fantasy.

Regarding Colin Barnett's response. He is the epitome of a gormless worm.

steady on there rincewind, colin isnt that useful.

anyway, good to see christians spreading their love generously.

[Rincewind]

steady on there rincewind, colin isnt that useful.

His only "use" would be to serve as a warning to others.

[Sir Cromulent Sparkles]

His only "use" would be to serve as a warning to others.

we like to think of him as our "accidental premier".

[Rincewind]

we like to think of him as our "accidental premier".

Unfortunately for WA, "accidental" premiers have a habit of sticking around (with an increased majority) in their second term.

[Sir Cromulent Sparkles]

Unfortunately for WA, "accidental" premiers have a habit of sticking around (with an increased majority) in their second term.

our sense of humour is quite an acquired taste.
julie bishop and wilson tuckey are further examples of this.

colin will most likely get re-elected. he doesnt seem to offend anybody due to the fact he hardly has an opinion on anything (except the mining tax which is just far too easy to deride out here in the quarry state.)

as for the hate mail im sure colin is paralysed in his usual somnulent quandry and is unable to discern what a secular institute is and how support for the removal of the prayer would affect the liberal partys christian demographic vote count come election time.

nice fence sitting by our glorious premier stating that " most people would believe the lords prayer is appropriate in a government school ".

obviously that statement will send the right message to all the gutless wonders writing and calling the school with their special brand of "dissatisfaction".

the story from "the west australian". - http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...-mail-barrage/

[Ian Murray]

School acts after parents reject the teaching of scripture during class time

Spencer Park Primary School in Albany has informed its school community that it would discontinue with scripture classes after the school conducted a survey of parents and guardians.

As reported by the ABC in late October, the school launched a survey after parents complained that Christian scripture was taking up valuable learning time.

In its recent newsletter published on 18 November, the school announced that the majority of parents wanted scripture to be removed.

“Results from the survey indicated that the majority of parents do not support the continuation of Scripture in its current form,” the newsletter said.

“Based on this and other feedback the School Board has decided to cease the existing Scripture format from next year onwards. ...

[Scott Colliver]

Do not try to pervert childrens minds by exposing them to religious bullshit. There is no god, all religions are man made and totally false and have no part in our childrens education

[MichaelBaron]

There is no god, all religions are man made and totally false and have no part in our childrens education

I do not follow a particular religion. As far as my ''Faith'' is concerned - I believe there got to be some kind of ''higher powers/intellect'' (not sure what those are - could be God...could be some other force that we may not be even able to know/describe) but saying that ''all religions are bullshit'' is no different from saying all values/sets of beliefs that people have are bullshit.
I am by no means supporting having religious classes in State schools irrespective of which particular religion we are referring to but parents/children have a right to follow any religious of their choice. Likewise, parents have a right to introduce their religions to their kids.

So 1) I agree with you that religious education should not be part of the state school system (beyond general cultural/society/history studies as religion has been big part of culture...so while studying history - issues where religion has been involved over the years will inevitebly get touched)
2) We need to treat those who follow/worship with respect.

[antichrist]

I do not follow a particular religion. As far as my ''Faith'' is concerned - I believe there got to be some kind of ''higher powers/intellect'' (not sure what those are - could be God...could be some other force that we may not be even able to know/describe) but saying that ''all religions are bullshit'' is no different from saying all values/sets of beliefs that people have are bullshit.
I am by no means supporting having religious classes in State schools irrespective of which particular religion we are referring to but parents/children have a right to follow any religious of their choice. Likewise, parents have a right to introduce their religions to their kids.

So 1) I agree with you that religious education should not be part of the state school system (beyond general cultural/society/history studies as religion has been big part of culture...so while studying history - issues where religion has been involved over the years will inevitebly get touched)
2) We need to treat those who follow/worship with respect.

My interpretation of a doc called something like Human Rights of the Child was that children should not be brainwashed but religions do it in all countries except China. But Chinese virus literally "washes" the brain