Australian religious schools will no longer be allowed to hire only teachers of their own religion. By Joe Kelly.
An alliance of the nation’s most senior spiritual leaders is warning the future of religious education is under threat and that their schools will not be allowed to choose teachers who share the same faith under proposed anti-discrimination reforms.
The group — including more than 30 leaders from the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths — wrote a letter to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Monday sounding the alarm on a controversial reform proposal put forward in late January by the powerful Australian Law Reform Commission.
Under the ALRC plan, principals would be barred from preferencing the employment of teachers with the same beliefs and spiritual outlook as the educational institution. …
They said that, under the plan, schools would be forced to hire teachers who “may not share or support the religious beliefs of the organisation” and whose employment could only be terminated when they “actively undermine” the religious ethos of the school.
The ALRC consultation paper proposed that religious educators could only “continue to give preference to prospective staff on religious grounds where the teaching, observance, or practice of religion is, genuinely, a part of the role”. For all other teaching roles – including essential subjects such as maths, science, history and English – it would be unlawful for schools to preference the employment of teachers who shared or were willing to commit to supporting the religious beliefs of the school. …
The treatment of gay students and teachers by religious schools was the key point of contention which helped to kill off the Morrison government’s religious discrimination legislation in early 2022. During the debate, five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote against the government in support of greater protections for transgender students and Scott Morrison was forced to withdraw his legislation. ….
The faith leaders warned in their letter that the ALRC reform proposals could not be accepted in their current form and represented a “major blow to authentic faith-based education”.
The New Woke Religion seeks total control.
The wokies know that their influence is largely due to the control of the education system and indoctrinating our youth. They don’t want other religions to have that same crucial power.
Oh, let us teach your kids, say the wokies.
Freedom of assembly — another freedom being lost. Schools are an assembly. In a free country you could assemble with whom you want, without state control.
