RELIGIOUS education in public schools has never been so controversial.

This week it was reported that the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority are considering phasing out Special Religious Instruction classes in favour of a general religion class as part of the curriculum. It would look at Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism and be taught by qualified teachers.

Last year Victoria switched from families opting out to opting into SRI, prompting student numbers in those classes to drop dramatically.

The NSW Department of Education is in the midst of a review of its Special Religious Education classes, noting that the review is not about whether the classes should be delivered but about improving their delivery.

Earlier this month the department banned three Christian books from use in SRE programs. 

Parent groups such as Freedom in Religions in Schools are building pressure on governments to drop religious education from public schools altogether.

Christians, on the other hand, are now anxious about the atmosphere and wary of discussing their volunteer work in schools for fear of vilification.

Many Christians have stopped volunteering as scripture teachers because of the barriers being put in place.

On May 6, NSW principals were informed that You: An Introduction by Michael Jensen, A Sneaking Suspicion by John Dickson and Teen Sex by the Book by Patricia Weerakoon were potentially in conflict with departmental policy and legislative requirements.

Principals were to contact SRE providers to find out if the books were being used. While the first two books are used for year nine programs, the third is not in use in NSW public schools at all. It had been developed for a Christian studies subject in independent schools.

The ban prompted questions over the department’s role in authorising curriculum for SRE.

Last Tuesday, the NSW Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli lifted the ban on the first two books. The third remains off limits.

In a letter to the archbishop of Sydney regarding the ban, Mr Piccoli said the ban was put in place out of concern for a “potential risk to students in the delivery of this material, if not taught sensitively and in an age appropriate manner”.

“I was pleased to hear of your assurance that sensitive, age appropriate delivery of SRE is an integral part of the training of SRE teachers in the Diocese of Sydney,” he wrote.

“The NSW government is supportive of and committed to SRE, as is the Anglican Church, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with you on delivering best practice SRE.”

Principals at Albury public high schools received the memorandum regarding the ban but were informed that it was not relevant to their situations.

Special religious education is delivered only to year sevens at Albury, James Fallon and Murray high schools at present.

A number of Albury churches have joined together to form the Albury Christian Education Association in order to employ an SRE teacher to deliver classes in Albury high schools.

Luke Bartholomew was employed 10 weeks ago to work three days a week at the three schools.

“It’s just year seven at the moment but the aim is to build that up to all years of high school,” he says.

He uses a curriculum provided by Generate Ministries, an organisation that employs SRE teachers in NSW public schools.

The curriculum for year seven looks at who God is, the life of Jesus and the response to following Jesus.

“My students are really sick of me saying it — that I’m not trying to brainwash them; to force them to believe something they don’t want to believe,” Mr Bartholomew says.

“But I’m trying to show them this history of a group of people and a text that is evidence of something. 

“I try to help them understand it and then they make up their own minds whether they believe it or not.”

Mr Bartholomew says the day the principals were contacted about the book ban, he was teaching at Murray High School.

He says he was able to assure the principal and those at Albury and James Fallon that he didn’t use those books because they were not for use in year seven classes.

“I will say with surety that I won’t be using those books because they’re not for year seven,” he says.

“They were never going to be an issue in Albury.”

Mr Bartholomew says, however, that the book banning did prompt him to think about how people interact with the idea of what is offensive and how someone might be offended.

“There’s a difference between something offending me and something being offensive,” he says.

“So my thoughts on it are that the books have been causing offense to some people but that doesn’t mean they are offensive.”

He says he thinks the books should be critically examined, as should be the case for any text taught in public schools. 

“I disagree with what they’re trying to do but I value their idea of being able to examine the books and say we disagree with this idea, we don’t disagree with that,” he says.

“It is possibly an overreaction to say that because we disagree with something in this book that nobody should be able to use it. 

“And it’s kind of stifling free speech. 

“I don’t want to stop their free speech in saying they disagree with the book but they should also be able to see my right to free speech in saying that these books are right.”

Mr Bartholomew is referring to a group called Fairness in Religion in Schools (RIRIS), a parent and lobby group that campaigned for the banning of the three books.

FIRIS spokesman David Zyngier is a senior lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy at Monash University.

While FIRIS welcomed the banning of the three books the group had raised concerns about, and was then disappointed with the ban being lifted, Dr Zyngier indicates that the issue is much broader.

“Government public schools are not the place for religious instruction,” he says.

“It is the domain of the family — if they don’t feel up to the task of bringing their children up in the faith then they can turn to the local church, mosque, temple or synagogue and get all the help that they need.”

Dr Zyngier is concerned that parents of children at NSW public schools are not giving informed consent regarding their children’s participation in SRE classes.

“Most parents are completely unaware of what takes place in the SRE classroom,” he says.

“They’re not given any information about the program by the SRE volunteers, they think it’s some kind of innocuous general religious education program when in fact it’s a fundamentalist evangelical proselytising program in order to bring children to Christ.”

When asked if he is suggesting parents don’t understand that the program is about Christianity, Dr Zyngier says parents do know it’s a Christian program but that they “believe it is part of some sort of general religious education program where the children are being taught a comparative religious program where Christianity is talked about in the context of world religions”. 

“Here in Victoria where parents were given much more information about the SRI program, parents voted with their feet and there was a 50 per cent reduction in one year in schools here in Victoria once parents were adequately informed.”

Last July, Victoria changed from op-out to opt-in, hence the drop in student numbers. Parents received two forms within six months about their children participating in SRI, the second requiring parents to have their children “opt-in”.

If they didn’t return the form, their children weren’t able to attend.

In NSW, however, the program is still opt-out so all students are involved in SRE unless their parents choose for them not to be involved.

While Christians often raise the concern that it is a minority with a loud voice that has been putting pressure on governments to withdraw religious education, Dr Zyngier has the opposite view. 

“The minority are those with faith in this country and that’s brought out by census data,” he says.

“Children should be taught about world religions. I don’t think SRE has any place in our public schools.”

The NSW Education Act states that all NSW public schools are to “enable authorised representatives of approved religious organisations to provide Special Religious Education classes where there is a demand from parents wishing to send their children to those SRE classes”.

Those approved religious organisations come from a variety of denominations: from the Serbian Orthodox to evangelical churches; from Brethren to Baptist. 

It also takes in a variety of religions — Islam to Buddhist, Baha’i to Sikh.

Lavington East Public School has recently been able to offer Islamic classes for its Muslim students.

A NSW Department of Education spokesman, who would not speak about the Lavington situation specifically, says the Education Act allows for any approved religion to provide classes in public schools if there is a demand.

“Wherever there are approved providers and a demand that is met by local volunteers, the schools can make that available,” he says.

Albury Presbyterian Church’s Hazel Hawkins and Sam Royal co-ordinate scripture classes for the Albury Christian Ministry Fellowship, a combined churches group.

They provide teachers for Albury, Albury North, Albury West, Glenroy, Jindera, Lavington, Lavington East, Springdale Heights, Thurgoona, Table Top and Wewak Street schools. 

They are unable to provide classes at Hume Public School at the moment because they don’t have enough teachers.

Miss Hawkins, a retired teacher and former assistant principal at Albury Public School, says the provision of Islamic classes at Lavington East is perfectly legal and right.

“It’s no reflection on any religion, it’s just part of our democratic society and they have every right to do that,” she says.

“What we do is Christian religious education but it’s open to any group that can be approved by the Department of Education.”

Miss Hawkins has taught “scripture”, as it is known, for 21 years.

“Some people say, ‘Oh have you still got it? I thought they’d got rid of that’,” she says.

“But the majority are still doing it and the children are enjoying it.”

Miss Hawkins did acknowledge that the introduction of parents being able to opt-out of SRE had prompted a drop in numbers.

“It does reflect people’s attitudes,” she says.

Miss Hawkins says another myth is that the volunteers are all little old ladies.

She co-ordinates 38 teachers who range in age from mid-20s to mid-70s and mostly with a professional background.

“All the scripture teachers have to be authorised by their own church, they have to do initial training, commit to doing ongoing training, have a working with children check, do safe working with children training and keep to an approved curriculum,” she says.

“It’s not just, ‘I’d like to teach, let’s go in next week’. 

“The bar has been lifted so it is very professional now.”

Miss Hawkins says the value of SRE lies in how it teaches children about the basis of Australian culture, how society and many Australian laws are based on the Ten Commandments and biblical values.

“The curriculum explores the Christian values of faith, humility, generosity, forgiveness and love,” she says.

“The Bible stories examine how the teachings of Jesus call us to make good life choices.”