SRI opponents denying kids their cultural heritage

As we have moved away from Christian values in recent years, we have become more individualistic, more consumerist and more focussed on rights than responsibilities.

Just three parents and a few militant secularists given a platform in The Age have created the false illusion that SRI is broken and damaging Victorian kids.

Neither SRI or the specific offering by Access Ministries known as CRE is compulsory, any child can opt out, and any parent can make this choice. In fact they can do this at any time during the child’s education. Children who opt out of the 30 minute program are usually encouraged to do other things like self directed learning, under the watchful eye of a school teacher.

But this is not good enough for opponents of SRI such as the outspoken Anglican Priest, Gary Bouma, who describes Christian curriculum developed by Access Ministries as “crap”.

Imagine if that sort of language was used to describe the SRI curriculum that the Muslim community uses for its SRI classes.

To their credit, Access Ministries and its thousands of volunteers are not running off to the Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission crying ‘vilification’.

The intolerance and bad language with which opponents are prosecuting their case probably shows they didn’t pay enough attention in SRI when they were at school.

The current system which gives kids a chance to know about the Golden Rule while allowing equal access to other faiths seems to be working well.

Exposing kids to values which pre-date consumerism and humanism’s rights-obsessed individualism can’t be all bad.