Godless Education is like Military Intelligence

The High Court has knocked down the Federal Government's funding for the School Chaplaincy program. Simply said, the Constitution does not permit the Federal Government to directly fund school programs. It must, and perhaps will, do it through the State Governments, if they agree.

The unGodly commentators are rapturous, but so far not translated into glory. Crikey betrays its own particular bigotry by urging us to "Get God out of State Schools". How disappointing that a journal of commentary has to stoop to prejudice to make a point.

Leave aside whether, if there be a God, we could keep him out by the authority of a human court, no matter how High.

Once schools and Universities were places where a broad education was possible. Curricula are slimmer now than ever. Once you could do three foreign languages, including a few dead ones. Once you could be exposed to a view of the development of humanity that helped you to understand the role, for better or worse, played by religion. Such learning helped one to identify the religions of today-the primary ones in Australia being Materialism and Nationalism. The former characterised by our shopping rites, the latter by the sacrifice of asylum seekers.

Schools without chaplains will not be less religious. They will just give students fewer tools to know how human society is created and the role that taboos, rituals and idols play in that creative activity.

It is many years since Easter, Christmas, not to mention Yom Kippur or Ramadan were considered or examined in our schools despite being features of our regular calendars. Instead we have teachers resorting to Halloween and Anzac Days as substitutes. Secular religion remains. And God is displaced by the gods of our own making.

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