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Banned Down Under
I was just reading about how the Christian organization Focus On The Family has been banned from Australian Central Territory schools while allegations about its practices are investigated by the Education Department down under. Focus On The Family has been accused of vilifying homosexuality, and preaching religion to students without parental consent. A spokesman for the Australian education system says the government launched the investigation after a complaint made by a parent at a Canberra high school. He also said that Focus On The Family had also run programs in five other schools, although no other complaints have been made.
The Australian Christian Lobby has attacked the investigation saying there is a place for a values-based program in schools, which covers issues like marriage and abstinence, as well as the dangers of pornography.
It makes me laugh when I read stuff like this because it just reminds me of the old saying, he who shouts loudest always gets heard. One complaint… they are conducting an investigation based on one parents complaint – that they were teaching values, albeit from a religious POV, without parental consent.
Let me ask the question, is this usual practice? For parents to give consent for everything that takes place in schools? I mean, do parents, especially Christian parents, have to consent to their children being taught evolution? And would the authorities even give me the time of day if I said that I didn’t want my kids going into any class that taught evolution as fact? In fact, I have known many parents who have complained, both formally and informally, about evolution being taught in schools and for the most part they were ignored.
Personally, I think our kids should be taught values and morality and not just because I’m a Christian, but because it makes sense that they know right from wrong. However if you take out the value system as presented in the Bible “Thou shalt not” what are we left with? Where would we teach values and morals from… let’s face facts, most value systems, whether religious or not, are based in part on the big Ten.
Come on parents, we’re losing the fight against culture. How many of our kids are becoming more and more value and morally clueless and bankrupt? I know some say that we should leave things like value systems and morals to the individual; that each of us should and will make up our own minds as to what’s right and wrong; that no-one has the right to tell another what’s good or bad for them. But this is a slippery slope that only gets more slippery the more we slide.
If I were to go into a school today and teach your kids there that murder is wrong or that stealing is wrong would you complain saying that they need to figure this out for themselves – even the hard way if necessary? And yet, some close minded parents (although they would call themselves open minded) are saying that even if their kids wind up in jail or killing their classmates they have the right to learn right and wrong for themselves and from themselves.
Fact – Most of us teach our kids that murder, rape, stealing, violence, and abuse is wrong, but what are we basing our teaching on? Common sense? Well we all know where common sense usually ends up…
I’m sorry if it offends you that I am standing up for Focus on the Family, but regardless of the fact that they are a Christian organization, they have some great teaching and I know their organization to be one that truly cares about families, children, and people in general. I’ll give you that if there were more than one complaint then maybe there could be some merit to what’s being said. But one complaint? And how much is this investigation going to cost the Australian people?
Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
November, 2009
Original article here
Any time you get into the subject of homosexuality, there is so much confusion and craziness that comes with the territory that people can’t think clearly. I’ve stopped thinking that it has much to do with religion. The strong reactions that people have regarding the topic appear to be sharply political, but really and truly, I think it’s a spiritual battle that can’t be fought by human methods.
Focus on the Family is probably trying to do what’s right, but the battle lines are being drawn and they are placing themselves right in the line of fire. Not that they shouldn’t go ahead if they feel God is leading them, but they have to know what they have got themselves into and prepare for a brutal war.
I imagine that the accusation that they are preaching religion without parental consent, probably has to do with the homosexuality topic. Abstinence is a pretty hot political topic, too. Unless they were forcing Jesus on kids, most parents probably wouldn’t have an issue with their children being taught morals and ethics. I guess I’m wondering how F.O.T.F. are involved in the schools. Is it a voluntary after-school club or an actual classroom debate or what?
Good question Ruth, the original article didn’t say and I can’t find anything on how they do things in Australia. I don’t think that they would be teaching core courses; from my experience they lead groups in schools that take place during lunch breaks and after school, and usually voluntarily – for those who want to be there. If this is the case then maybe the parent who is complaining should be talking with their child and asking why they went to these meetings… by doing this they might actually learn something about their child.
And I’ve never heard of FOTF forcing Jesus on anyone, if anything I’ve heard quite the opposite.
I think you’re right about that parent finding out about why their child was attending the Focus on the Family group. Maybe thirsty for something other than “do unto others as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody.”
I guess if you think about the school system and how it has shaped young lives, that could be a big part of the answer as to why we might be losing this next generation. And why my own age group appears to be lost, too.
I still remember the day that things changed in my public high school in the early 70′s. Up until a certain time we had listened to the Lord’s Prayer over the loud speaker and everybody stood up and waited silently until it was over. Then one day, I came back to school after having been away sick. Suddenly nobody in my classroom was standing. They had come to a consensus that they didn’t need to. I was in grade nine and stood up by myself feeling my cheeks burning because I knew I wasn’t a cool kid anyway and I had just made myself really uncool. The teacher came up to me afterwards and said, “you don’t need to stand anymore.” I answered, “Yes I know, but I’m doing it anyway.”
So the next day I stood up again, but then I felt so incredibly foolish that I sat down half way through the prayer. This girl, a non-Christian, afterwards told me she was disappointed with me because before I had at least “stood” for something.
After that time, when Bible reading and the Lord’s Prayer were completely gone, you could see and feel the change in the atmosphere in school. It was palatable. Not that Bible reading was perfect. Sometimes you had these weird passages that kind of needed some interpretation, but the Lord’s Prayer is fairly generic and kids had at one time listened respectfully to the ideas that God was Holy, that we needed to be forgiven and to forgive others, that there was real evil and we needed help against it, that we even needed to acknowledge that God was the giver of our daily food.
It makes me very sad to think that our culture is such a wasteland now and that it’s like that in so many places in the world, especially places like Australia that at one time had at least paid lip service to a belief in Christianity.
Yeah, when I was in school back in the 80′s (and no, I’m not saying anything about age
) we had Religious Ed classes, prayed and sang Christian songs in a morning assembly, and were taught values and morality from the Bible. Only a couple of years after I finished at Secondary School the schools in the UK were forced to teach all religion in equal measure, and now RE is basically non-existent.
I like how you put it, that our culture is now a wasteland. I think if we could see the spiritual side of culture we would be shocked as it would look like something out of I Am Legend
I agree we need spiritual eyes to see the climate even if it looks like I Am Legend.
Interesting that Religious Ed classes at least taught about a lot of different faiths in the UK. I wouldn’t mind if my child learned about Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism as well as Christianity. It’s just part of being educated about the world. Christianity doesn’t have anything to worry about as far as competing with other religions. I think it would quickly become apparent that Jesus is a standout as long as He was well represented.
What I don’t understand is how religion can be so completely divorced from culture in the school system. Do they think it doesn’t have any relevance? They act like Jesus never existed. And they say Christians have their heads in the sand regarding evolution!
You do speak for me on this issue. Your point about not every parent gives consent for everything taught in the public school is dead on target. Why don’t we (the ones who do not complain when values are taught) begin to be heard? Why is it considered standard practice to teach ONLY evolution and not any other THEORIES? You open up a huge huge door to so many things with this one post. I believe that public schools are the gateway drugs to society…
if we want to change society for the better or worse we begin in the school system. It makes me want to scream when I hear how upset people become when values, morals or consequences for one’s own actions are taught…but where are they when the children are being indoctrinated into beliefs alien to their own parental views?
Maybe we should start to be vocal about what we believe and what we would like to see taught in schools… or not as the case may be. I have no problem with evolution being taught as a theory, but at the end of the day that’s all it is. What about all the other “theories” out there? Not only that, but some parents have a problem with values being taught and yet our kids are being taught how to use condoms… hummm, a valueless testosterone filled male teen being taught about sex… not a good idea!