Home-schooling rise of 50 per mirrors rise in religious bullying

CHRISTIAN families are turning to homeschooling because they say their children are being bullied for religious beliefs, citing instances where kids have been punished for opposing same-sex marriage.

Christians as well as Muslim children have felt persecuted because of holding conservative values.

CHRISTIAN families are increasingly turning to homeschooling because they say their children are being bullied for their religious beliefs, citing instances where kids have been punished for opposing same-sex marriage.

New figures obtained by The Saturday Telegraph reveal the number of pupils being educated by their parents has soared 50 per cent in just four years to 4479.

Experts believe hostility to religious beliefs is among the reasons to blame, saying many of the families seeking refuge from the schoolyard are Muslim and Christian.

Choosing a religious school is not an option for many because of additional costs.

Accelerate Christian Home Schooling co-ordinator Stuart Chapman said there had been a massive shift in schools, which had become hostile to Christian ideas and beliefs.

“In our celebration of a diversity, Christians are now the ones who are the target of bullying and in the minority,” he said.

“(Parents are) feeling their children are being targeted because they believe in the traditional family.”

Fees for Christian schools in Sydney run well into five-figure amounts.

Muslim students in Australia have also felt persecuted for holding conservative views.

As an example, Mr Chapman said parents had reported that their children had been made to stand at the back of a class after expressing opposition to same-sex marriage.

It comes the week Australia’s first Pentecostal Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was forced to defend his faith after an insidious leftist attack linking the country’s refugee policy to his Christian faith.

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QUT Education lecturer Rebecca English said it was not just Christians but also Muslim children who felt persecuted because of holding conservative values.

“My research found that some parents may be choosing home education in a bid to protect their children from being bullied because of their religion,” she said.

Choosing a religious school is not an option for many, with tuition fees of $3000 to $16,000 at some Christian schools in Sydney.

A NSW Department of Education spokesman said it supported parental choice when it came to homeschooling.

McCrindle Social Researcher Geoff Brailey said Christianity was in decline: “I think there is a lot of challenges the Christian religion has faced, ranging from the royal commission through to some responses from the same-sex marriage plebiscite.”