Should religious education be the norm or the exception in government schools?
SOUTH Australia’s education laws are being updated for the first time since Don McLean’s American Pie was in the charts — including a controversial section on religious instruction.
AUSTRALIA has been losing its religion for quite a while now. Most Australians (52 per cent) identify as Christian, but the latest Census shows that an increasing number of Aussies are without religion.
That demographic shift has been reflected in the national conversation.
Should we still have the Lord’s Prayer before Parliament?
Is there a threat to religious freedom?
Is the entirety of Western Civilisation on the brink of collapse?
In everyday life, that angst is also seen in the role of religion in public schools.
Not independent schools, which are often religious even if non-denominational.
Not Catholic schools. But the government school down the road.
Should religious education be the norm or the exception?
The existing state legislation allows public schools to give over half a day here and there to religious activities.
It might be an Easter play, or a Christmas show.
It could be a Chinese New Year celebration or a mosque tour (although the latter is rarer).
The battle lines have been marked out over whether these religious or cultural excursions should be “opt-in” or “opt-out”.
In an opt-in system, parents have to put their hands up for their kids to participate.
In an opt-out system, all kids take part unless parents explicitly say otherwise.
Put simply, it’s about the default option.
Under the current 1970s state law there is a vague-ish paragraph about how it’s possible for students to skip religious instruction on conscientious grounds.
Parents describe it as a grey area.
Some schools don’t bother checking one way or the other.
So parents who want religious instruction for their kids never get it, while those who would have opted out never got the chance.
Under the proposed law, which will possibly hit Parliament as early as next week but is more likely to come up after the winter break, it’s made far more clear: A principal has to give notice to a family that a religious activity is on the cards. A parent can then seek permission for an exemption.
The student cannot be stuck in a corner if they are pulled from religious instruction.
But that still means the religious class is the default, and that makes some people unhappy.
The former Labor Government tried to change it, and make it an opt-in system.
That ultimately failed because Labor ran out of time to get its broad education Bill passed before the March state election.
New Education Minister John Gardner said under the Liberal Government’s legislation, parents would be delivered a “yes” or “no’ form” but if that form was not returned, the student would go to the religious class.
“Religion and culture are part of our society and there is a role for schools,” he said.
“If the parent doesn’t express a point of view then the child will participate.”
Mr Gardner said it was not an opportunity for people to proselytise, but he understood other people had different views.
Opposition education spokeswoman Susan Close said all government schools should have an opt-in system to ensure that parents get a say.
With opt-out, parents may miss the paperwork, Dr Close said.
“Given that we have a separation of church and state, given that schooling is not from a religious perspective, if we are to offer experiences by churches we ought to at least allow people to opt in,” she told The Advertiser.
“I think it’s so important that teachers teach children about the existence of religion but we recognise that government schools are not religious institutions.”
Paul Willis is a National Secular Lobby ambassador and a former head of the Royal Institute of Australia.
He went much further, calling the opt-out system a “gross abuse of religious freedom … because freedom of religion also means freedom from religion”.
“If it’s an opt-out system then there is too much risk of people being able to impose a religious belief or doctrine on someone who doesn’t necessarily want that religious indoctrination,” he said.
Mr Willis said he worried that those religious institutions offering the instruction tend to be more evangelical.
Mr Gardner’s mission will be to get that old 1970s legislation changed.
That means he needs to persuade enough of the Upper House crossbenchers to side with him on religion in schools.
Otherwise his education Bill could suffer the same fate as the former Labor Government.