About a week ago i came across an article by Chrys Stevenson regarding parents at three schools on the [NSW] South Coast complaining after their children being forced to listen in on religious lessons, despite having opted out of the classes. It was there i first heard about Illawarra High School and a blog written by the volunteer SRI/CRE person.

I read through the blog which consisted of a lot of prayers to God to convince the non-believers to attend their CRE class, thanks for the fact that kids whos parents had opted out are now forced to sit in the same room, prayers that the non-Christian kids sitting (unlawfully) at the back of the class will hear the word of God and most disturbing, a march they organised to ‘claim the school for Christ’.

It read like a big bully sitting on the weak kids until they handed over their lunch money, or in this case, their souls.

You can find their blog at http://ucefinc.blogspot.com/ however dont expect to read any of this offending material online. It has been removed!

But not before the entire site was copied as screen shots. Here is just one screenshot of what has now been removed.

It seems very telling indeed when self editing takes place, like they realise they have done wrong and simply had got away with it until a few people finally started questioning this level of authority imposed on our schools.

Just today there is a report online about Illawarra and how the parents have indeed complained to their school about this disgrace. It appears that children are being bullied because they do not attend the classes. Some have even been sent to detention while the classes are being run. What do you think goes on in the mind of these children. Could they view it as anything other than a punishment? In fact the plan was that these kids would indeed be forced into the same room to hear the sunday school lessons whether they wanted to or not. Time and time again we hear about children who are left to feel discriminated against and to suffer the taunts of other children telling them they will ’go to hell’.  

And this is the problem across the country. Particular Christian groups have been given free access to our secular public school children; indeed they are paid in the millions for this opportunity as well as earning large profits from selling merchandise. It beggars belief that one single group is afforded such privelage in our multi-cultural, multi-faith community. Where is the Aussie trait of the ‘fair go’? Where is our all inclusive secular government schools? Where is the parents right to manage and nurture their own childs spiritual or ethical needs? How is it the our government hands this job over to volunteers with two days training and the freedom to teach what they please?

These are all valid questions, questions that both our major parties refuse to answer for fear of angering a small but very wealthy minority group. It is time that parents start asking these questions. Its time they demanded that their childs ethical and spiritual needs will be looked after by them thank you very much. Its time our public schools got on with the job of educating our children and not indoctrinating them into one particular religious group, no matter how upset they become. Give us all a ‘fair go’.

If you feel your child is being discriminated against, please contact us at religionsinschool@gmail.com 

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On Saturday a gathering of Humanists, Skeptics, Atheists and everyone in between had a fantastic day on the banks of the Yarra to celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday. Since the early 1990s, Darwin Day has been celebrated around the world including in Melbourne.

The Yarra banks are a terrific place to gather and is a great opportunity for families to gather as well. We hope in the future that more parents attend such an important, and fun day. We had a chicken and egg race (to find out which came first), lots of food, discussion and great weather.

By the way, the chicken came first if you were wondering   Congratulations to John Perkins who received the rubber chicken in lieu of a trophy  

Find more photos here.

The Humanist Society of Victoria’s current campaign is regarding religion in state schools. Click here to find out more.

The American Humanist Association is launching the largest national advertising campaign critical of religious scripture in history.

A national multimedia ad campaign – the largest, most extensive ever by a godless organization – launches today and will include a spot on NBC Dateline on Friday, November 12, as well as other television ads, that directly challenge biblical morality and fundamentalist Christianity.  The campaign, sponsored by the American Humanist Association, also features ads in major national and regional newspapers and magazines demonstrating that secular humanist values are consistent with mainstream America and that fundamentalist religion has no right to claim the moral high ground.

Check out the campaign website here. This is one of the videos being played in the campaign.

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