WE do not need more religion in our secular state schools. The Federal Government should resist all calls for the national curriculum to include more teaching about Christianity and God.

I am alarmed to hear that independent schools’ lobby group Christian Schools Australia wants the national curriculum to be underpinned by Australia’s Western heritage and Judaeo-Christian influences.

In its submission to the national curriculum review — which is currently under way — they call for “continued recognition of the ‘Western/Judaeo-Christian’ influences on our society”.

There are already three threads underpinning the curriculum: Asia, indigenous culture and sustainability. They’re not separate subjects, but are embedded in the curriculum as principles driving the learning. Each makes sense and reflects our geography, science and culture. We do not need Christianity to be a fourth.

While I have no problem with religious teachings in independent schools, it should not be rammed down the throats of public school children. If parents want their children to be educated in a certain faith, there are many non-state schools for them to choose from.

There is much in our society that is already underpinned by our Judaeo-Christian roots: we pray at the opening of Parliament, we swear on the Bible in court, the preamble to our Constitution mentions God and our head of state is a Christian queen.

So we don’t need to further entrench the Christian ethos in our supposedly non-religious schools.

It’s relevant that this push for more Christianity in classrooms comes at a time when weekly special religious education lessons are under threat. The lessons are supposed to be made available during class time if an appropriate teacher is available. But changes to the rules now mean parents must opt into the classes rather than out. As a result, attendances have fallen by one-third over the past two years. Now there are only 92,000 students receiving such instruction in Victoria compared with 130,000 in 2011.

With increased publicity, I’d expect those numbers to erode even further. It’s a move I welcome given that students are not taught educationally balanced religious studies, but an extreme form of evangelical preaching. I’ve seen footage of students watching a puppet play starring Satan as part of the classes. I think most parents would agree that’s not the best use of valuable curriculum time.

A balanced, educationally sound comparative religion course would benefit students’ understanding of both history and the current affairs. But the dross that’s being taught at the moment is far from that.

There is a difference between having students learn about all religions and having one philosophy — Judaeo-Christian — underpinning the curriculum or being taught in one class. Also relevant to the renewed push to embed Christianity in the curriculum is the decline of the school chaplaincy program. In many schools chaplains are being replaced by secular counsellors, another move I welcome.

Of course, the broader issue is why we need a national curriculum review at all. The current curriculum was finalised in 2011 and has yet to be even implemented in some states.

The answer, no doubt, has much to do with the Coalition putting its conservative stamp on our children’s learning.

Interestingly, the national curriculum review is being led by University of Queensland Professor Ken Wiltshire and educational expert Kevin Donnelly. Both men have the educational background to justify such important roles, but they are hardly impartial. Dr Donnelly is a former Liberal staffer and Professor Wiltshire has also shown clear support for the conservative side of politics.

DR Donnelly has already called for greater religious presence in schools. He has also spoken out against the promotion of “alternative sexuality and gender lifestyles”.

In 2010 he warned that voting for the Greens will mean “government and other faith-based schools will also be made to teach a curriculum that positively discriminates in favour of gays, lesbians, transgender and intersex persons”.

Ultimately, we should remember that we now live in a society where one in five of us said they had “no religion” in the latest Census. Only one in four people are Catholic and 17 per cent are Anglican.

On present trends, “no religion” will be the most popular response by the next Census.

For those that are religious, there is already a perfect institution set up to educate children. It’s run by churches and it’s called Sunday school.

If you want your children to learn more about Judaeo-Christian beliefs, that is the school you should turn to rather than secular state schools.

The national curriculum review will report midyear. Just wait for the fireworks to start.

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