In her panic at the veiled threats threats by the right-wing lunatics at the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), we were outraged to hear that Julia sold off our children’s welfare by dedicating $212 MILLION to the National Schools Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) rather than to qualified secular counsellors who work hard to protect our children’s mental health. Now begins the fight back.

A Queensland father who believes in progressive values and freedom from religion rather than insidious evangelism with a smiley face, has hired high quality lawyers, and lodged the initial papers to launch a High Court challenge against the constitutionality of the state formally establishing a religion by paying to bring Christian Evangelists into our schools. And he’s doing it all off his own back! We encourage everybody to climb on board and donate & support this effort!

Don’t think of these chaplains as being the elderly gentlemen that might first come to mind when thinking of the Oxford chaplain on the village green, many of them in other states have been shown to be young evangelical lunatics. They actively despise science and it’s role in squeezing out their Young-Earth (6000 year old Earth) Creationist “God of the Gaps”. They pit science as a direct affront to their childish Biblical literalism. For example:

  • The Scripture Union believes and expects its chaplains to believe that “… the Old and New Testament Scriptures are God-breathed, since their writers spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; hence are fully trustworthy in all that they affirm; and are our highest authority for faith and life.” (Scripture Union – Aims & Beliefs.)

Everyone knows that these people are in the business of “recruiting for Jesus”, no matter what they might say publicly. All evidence from the organisations (Scripture Union, Access Ministries etc) that provide these religious chaplains gives their tactics away.  For example:

  • In the forward to a book on school chaplains, Scripture Union’s CEO, Tim Mander admits “To have a full-time Christian presence in government schools in this ever-increasing secular world is an unbelievable privilege. Here is the church’s opportunity to make a connection with the one place through which every young person must attend: our schools.”

They’re literally rubbing their hands in glee in an era when church attendance is dwindling to a few remaining retirees, and while the Baby Boomers can’t get away fast enough! The fear in the established church is palpable and its the next generation they have in their sights to fix the problem. Your kids.

You’ve got to be wondering how a Government can possibly fund a program that is staffed by fundamentalists who honestly believe your child is going to hell if they can’t be converted to their medieval belief system. Religion has mysteriously quickly become a major political force in Australia. But with the speed and strength of their lobbying growing by the day, one has to ask “Where are they getting their funding?”  Many of these religious bodies are international organisations, with explicit mandates to recruit young impressionable minds. For example:

  • A directive from a Scripture Union International says “We believe that our mandate is to bring children and young people into the life of established churches by programs that serve them in environments in which they feel comfortable.” And
  • “We believe that, in the case of families that are not Christian, the evangelism of the whole family rather than of children in isolation is still our objective. However, if this cannot immediately be realised, we believe that God still calls us to evangelise children themselves.” (Scripture Union International, 2005, p5 (PDF 130KB))

In Australia, NSCP guidelines disallow proselytising on school grounds and disallow dealing with mental health issues, so what’s an evangelist chaplain to do? What’s their job? The Scripture Union encourages their chaplains to get kids into out-of-school activities (faith camp anyone?), where they are removed from teacher or parental scrutiny. For example:

  • “The good news is that God is doing some incredible work through the ministries of SU Queensland. School chaplaincy, camps and missions are exposing thousands of young people and children to the good news of Jesus every year.” (SU News, June 2006);
  • “We intentionally make opportunities to present life-giving messages that invite children to respond positively to Jesus. Our approach is urgent because children will, by their nature and because of the world in which they live, turn away from God unless they are evangelised and nurtured.” (Scripture Union International, 2005);
  • “Last year alone, over 2500 kids went on SU Queensland camps where many committed their lives to Jesus for the first time.” (2006 Scripture Union newsletter).

If you want to see how bad these can get just have a look at this Jesus Camp!

Most chaplains are not qualified for much of the counselling work they do either. In their submission to the Review of the NSCP, the Australian Psychological Society expresses severe concern (PDF 330KB) about this: “When chaplains work outside this role [of spiritual and religious guidance], the risks to both students and schools are immense and will ultimately result in significant costs both financial and human.”

The Society also says there is “clear evidence schools chaplains are engaging in duties for which they are not qualified … that church organisations and ministries are supporting school chaplains in their boundary violations … and that the government is complicit in encouraging dangerous professional behaviour by funding school chaplains independently of other services carried out by professionals who are both qualified and registered.”

This can get serious when they deal with kids at risk of self harm. For example, one chaplain reports:

  • “in the last week I’ve got two grade 5 kids on suicide watch (ACCESS Ministries, 2009)

Perhaps the most vulnerable group is teenagers wondering about their sexuality. In a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee regarding the Marriage Equality Bill 2009, GenR8 Schools Ministries says they “utterly reject and repudiate” the assumption that homosexuality should be regarded as “acceptable sexual behaviour” while promoting Abstinence (not condoms) as the only path to be “safe”. These programs are clearly demonstrated to be a failure and result in higher teenage pregnancies. One can only wonder what sort of counselling chaplains provided by this organisation would provide.

As parents we can’t afford to be naïve about these moves by a well organised, well funded, international organisations to get to the hearts and minds of our kids. Individual chaplains may be well meaning themselves but the movement is contrary to a progressive values such as tolerance, separation of church and state, and commitment to reason and evidence rather than the superstition and bigotry of a bygone era.

It’s time to take a stand against the creeping social divisiveness that organisations like these are seeking to bring into our country. Back the High Court Challenge!

Note: This post is adapted from the seminal letter from Dr Meredith Doig to Education Minister Simon Crean.