Get thee behind me God Botherer!

Whispers in the leaves
are talk
to the foolish man

It is with deep shame that I review my last post date and - sadly- discover almost four months between blogs. It's not as though I haven't wanted to write - but as is the frequent vice of any mother, taking time for myself is often accompanied with guilt. So tonight the blogging recommences, with the strong hope of increased longevity this time round - but I make no promises.

But it is religious education that finally brings me back to the trough. If you've managed to read between the lines of this blog in the past, you'll soon get the idea that I just might not be religiously inclined. This is sometimes a difficult thing - as a child growing up in the church in South Australia, I was aware of travelling in a minority group. So imagine my horror, when after a number of years of exploration I confirmed myself as an atheist with a "hell yes!" - and discovered myself to again be part of a minority - this time in Queensland.

Don't get me wrong - I don't mind this side of it - it allows those threatened by an assertive woman to convince themselves that I am who I am because I lack "spirituality" - and somehow am less womanly, less thoughtful - less christian like. Get over yourself - with the French in my blood I can't be anything BUT arrogant - and have never suffered fools or incompetence gladly. As an embracer of chaos , string and big bang theory - I enjoy nothing better than inserting myself into a religious argument.

But what I don't appreciate is an education system that allows well-meaning God botherers into our children's schools as "religious educators". I particularly resent that I must write a letter every year to my son's school, requesting that my son be exempt from religious education, because I don't support the context under which it is taught at school. My interim solution is to change the teacher's name and the date of the same letter year after year, and resubmit. There is a level of satisfaction in resubmitting an extensive attack on religious instruction versus religious education every year - every one's boxes are ticked!

Now, should a particularly irksome god botherer actually read this blog and demonise me as some form of demonic hell hound intent on corrupting my children, READ THE FOLLOWING. I do not expect, or encourage my children to be atheists - nor do I hide them from religion, or impose judgement on any religion that we discuss - and that's the point - we discuss them all. I don't support my children attending religious education classes at school, because they are not education but rather religious instruction. That is, these classes are taught by a christian church member, who brings their own judgements and religious authority into the classroom. And given that I actively encourage my children to question everything - indeed that's the fundamental underlying theme in the education system, to develop a child's enquiring mind - it infuriates me that an uneducated person (contextually) can walk into a classroom and tell my child that they must believe in God, without having to back up their position with a factual argument. There is no place in the actual education curriculum where this would be acceptable - except in religious ed.

I believe that religion goes to the core of your belief system - and as a child you simply don't know what this is, and realistically even as adults many of us spend many years before we decide what we believe. An easy way out of this dilemma is to endow your child with your own belief system. The harder route is to open their eyes to all belief systems, and support them and their choices throughout their lives. This is the path we've opted along for our children. We encourage our children to make no decisions on beliefs now, but to question and explore all faiths, tasting the beauty and the horror of each religion, their eyes wide open. I went through many iterations into young adulthood before finally shaking off religion - why would I deny my children the opportunity to question and explore their own spirituality? The Christan values that are the foundations of our law and society are common to all religions - and more critically to defining us as a compassionate species - and so we teach these in our home. We take religious education out of the school, and bring it back into our home - where both unbiased information and a questioning environment are supported.

This means therefore that chattering chipmunk sits at the back of the class with a few peers during the religious education (RE) lesson, doing other work, but nevertheless privy to the
content of the RE lesson. I'm not thrilled about it, but tolerate the situation, recognising the complexity of managing this situation otherwise.

However, when the RE educators conspire to host an Easter concert in the school hall, where all classes are present - and my child, with his godless peers are required to sit outside the hall, playing hangman.............Well I have to admit I'm more than just a little bit snakey! There are inherent judgements for the children here - a level of second class, worthy only of a teacher peering out of the school door ensuring they don't become too burlesque with their outside activities. The irony is, if asked, we would have allowed chattering chipmunk to attend - as a point of discussion for the family after.

But this approach reinforces an ongoing stereotype. My son has endured a range of taunts from school peers over the last few years for not attending RE - from families I might add that have no contact with religion other than the child's RE lesson. And of all children, he better than most appreciates the importance of respecting every one's individual right to have their own beliefs, and recognises that we may have fundamental differences in our beliefs, but can still get along. yet my son has been told that "You can't have love in your heart if you don't believe in God", questioned intently about what he does or doesn't believe in (as if these other children know what they do believe in) - and I blame RE for this - for implying that children have to pick a side. If this were McDonald's coming into the class to promote their healthy kids meal, week in, week out, there would be an uproar throughout the community, despite the fact they would probably hire a range of pediatricians, nutritionalists, etc to do the job. But any religious zealot can enter the classroom and set up subliminal messages that promote "us" and "them" attitudes among children - and somehow this translates to developing the children's values system.

For a brief moment the Queensland Government exercised courage, with the intention of requiring a letter from parents to allow their children to attend RE - effectively testing how many children attended because it was implicitly compulsory, rather than parents specifically wanting their children to attend. However, with the religious right uproar, and a great deal of posturing from the opposition, this position was quickly revoked. Interestingly, parents with their children in school seemed to have very little comment at all. Once again, the noise created by a few empty vessels, driven by self interest, win out over the apathy of the general population.

Well enough now - Knock it off. Our taxes pay for teachers to educate our children. As a parent it is my responsibility to encourage the development of my child's spirituality, as it is for every parent with their own child. If you want your children to have religious instruction, then get off your backside and take them to your house of worship/Sunday School/spiritual elder - and if you don't want them to have religious instruction - then stop supporting the religious indoctrination that passes for education in our schools.