The Australian High Court ruled in favour of a plaintiff seeking to find the establishment of a Commonwealth Government funded school chaplaincy program as being invalid in accordance with the Australian Constitution. Undoubtedly the "Empire" will strike back and try and reinstate it by weaselling in some kind of alternative funding arrangement. Australia court rejects gov't-funded chaplain work | Nation & World | The Seattle Times School chaplaincy program is 'constitutionally invalid': High Court
It's amazing to me that the program ever got off of the ground. Schools need to focus on academics. Spirituality belongs in the churches, not the schools and workplaces.
What is sauce for the goose.... School chaplains have been a feature of non government sectarian schools for a very long time, but the positions were funded by the sect sponsoring the school, from parental paid school fees, and of course donations by benefactors. The state funds infrastructure, teacher's salaries and some administrative costs.....that was until several years ago when a Christian conservative prime minister calculated that his Liberal/National parliamentary coalition could garner votes from Christian voters, so pork barreled Chaplains into schools, STATE and non government at the cost of some several hundred million AU$. In many cases the chaplains are hot to trot with bible knowledge, but often don't have any professional credentials in welfare work or youth work other than perhaps teaching sunday school or scripture class at school. Unfortunately the Australian centre-left Labor Party has continued the scheme onwards and doing their own pork barelling by extending the scheme to addiitional schools. There are many critics of the scheme, indicating that the scheme has had problems providing adequate supervision of the supposed "pastoral" duties, and that a number of chaplains are more interested in the proselytising of their faith. There is also evidence of chaplains offering advice well outside of their competency where referral to counsellors, psychologists, welfare workers would be more appropriate. My own view is that School chaplains have no place in State Schools, and that chaplains should not be funded by State Revenue. If non government schools wish to employ chaplains as part of their service...then that is their prerogative, provided that their salaries and on costs are not paid for by the State. If there is a need for pastoral care of students, then it should be by professionally trained youth workers with youth work / welfare qualifications. I think the Christian community would be outraged if the State only funded atheist and agnostic pastoral carers and gave atheist and secular humanist organisations a monopoly to recruit and act as employing authorities for a State Funded secular humanist chaplaincy service....or ....then again....perhaps chaplains recruited and employed by Wiccan and Satanist organisations....what is sauce for the goose.... http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3278499.htm http://www.stopthenscp.org/ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/school-chaplains-not-representative/story-fn59niix-1226004703831 http://www.religiouscriticism.com/christianity/man-1-god-0-in-school-chaplains-case/
