Now more than ever children need a firm grasp on religion

This is the issue that Education Queensland and Education Departments around the nation seem unable to address. Students need to gain a firm grasp on religion now more than ever.

Without religious understanding conflicts in the Middle East or the Sudan or Australia’s immigration policy make no sense. Without a level of religious literacy students are not equipped to follow the contemporary debate between atheists and believers. Without the religious factor most of history is mystery, whether the student is being introduced to Constantine, the founding of Indonesia, or the monarchy in Great Britain.

To not promote the robust teaching of general religious education in state schools is censorship. This censorship maybe unconscious but it is a real part of our political reality. Another part of our political reality is the potent influence of conservative Christians on governments, and this does not represent all Christians in Australia.

As Christians and humanists, we should put aside our organisational claims, look first to the needs of students to know about beliefs, and press Departments of Education to do better in their job of educating students about the world, including the analytical teaching of religion and all human beliefs, whether “supernatural” or not.