The Fourth R - keeping religion in Queensland State schools within the Law

Welcome to Queensland's own Fourth R, where we attempt to keep Religion in our schools within some semblance of legality

Who are we? Well, without being too dramatic, we have to keep a fairly low profile because we receive, how can we put this diplomatically?... unsolicited mail... from Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals in our town when we manage to raise the temperature too high for them in the local newspaper.

And, from our previous two meetings with the Minister, we know he gets a little 'gingered-up' about us exposing the many failures of his staff when it has come to them not complying with both the law and Education Queensland's own policies on RI and chaplaincy... in fact, he once even asked, "Why are you on this Crusade?", without any hint of irony and as if there was something wrong with expecting his public servants to follow his own governments policy.

So, who are we?

We are 'ordinary Australians', with children at Queensland state schools, who are generally happy enough with most aspects of the under funded and not too professionally managed school system but who have noticed, particularly since 2006, a growing urgency on the part of Education Queensland to ignore their own policies and to pretend they are not.

We have supporters right across Queensland and now are receiving emails of support and sorry tales from the Northern Territory and country NSW, mostly about the Howard-Rudd school chaplaincy scam and the poor standard of responses from Julia Gillard's DEEWR staff when they complain about the intrusive nature of the NSCP program Gillard is responsible for.

We've noticed that the state school education system here in our home town has been overrun by evangelical Christian teachers, principals, and senior managers, from the new level of 'prep' right up to the highest levels of the Department, including science teachers who see nothing wrong with the so-called Intelligent Design notions of science.

Sometimes, our supporters children seem to have been singled out for 'special treatment' by teachers who have taken it upon themselves to advise they 'learn some values' and attempt to force them to attend the visiting Christian evangelist who has been sent to 'entertain' the students.

At other times, our supporters have noticed how school and P&C meetings dealing with 'religion' are seemingly stacked with supporters, sometimes not even from the state school but from local Christian schools... just to make sure of 'the right outcome 'and how the chaplaincy committee membership and meeting details are kept hidden from public gaze.

And again, supporters have noticed how, although RI is not allowed in 'prep' here in Queensland, some school principals actively support teachers who promote Old Testament stories in 'prep', while wearing crucifixes big enough to drown a Bondi lifesaver in a calm surf, just in case the students fail to make the connection between the joy of the stories, and the symbol of eternal love.

Of course, highly plausible explanations are always offered for all the 'odd dealings', with the dotted i's and crossed t's done to a tee, but we suspect that only an old welders dog could not help noticing how very pro-Christian Welford's Education Queensland, and Rudd's government, has become recently.

We support a secular Australia, a multi-cultural and multi-faith Australia, a tolerant nation that allows room for an open public square, where no single religion, faith or system of belief receives any preferential government treatment, particularly in a democratic nation such as Australia, where our secular system of state education has played a significant role in shaping our national character into what it is today.

Remember, whatever people think about Australia being a Christian nation, we do not, yet, have any established religion at the state or commonwealth level, like say in the UK, so there is no excuse for Anna Bligh to allow the preferential treatment the Christian faith currently receives with Rod Welford's open-door unquestioning policies that are encouraging the growth of Hillsong programs in state schools and are clearly designed to entice vulnerable young boys and girls into 'camps' run by evangelical zealots.