Sunday, July 11, 2010

This shouldn't be happening in Australia!

Imagine the howls of outrage from the secular non-believers if the Catholic Church argued that every school subject had to include a Catholic perspective and that understanding Christianity is a vital part of our state education system.

The introduction of this into our schools really does need to be nipped in the bud.

Read more here, where the quote from Kevin Donnelly was taken from.

12 comments:

1735099 said...

Speaking of the Catholic Church - this is from the Toowoomba Social Justice Commission (part of my parish activity) - http://www.tsjc.org/uploads/media/AJA_Myths_Facts.pdf
Makes me proud to be an Australian Catholic - pity Abbott and Gillard haven't read it.

Richard Sharpe said...

17etc, rather than pointing out unicorns, why not actually form an opinion on the material provided? Is it OK for a religious minority in this country to attempt to impose their narrative on the education system?

Minicapt said...

Apparently the Pope's prayers for his church are remaining unanswered in some places. Social justice, of course, being oxymoronic.

Cheers

1735099 said...

"pointing out unicorns"
Sorry Sharpe - wasted on me - I have no idea what that means.
I speak and write in English, not blogspeak. You're on the wrong side of the Pacific.
Perhaps if back in the fifties, Australian kids had been taught a little about Conficuanism and Buddhism we wouldn't have so blindly contributed to the disaster that was Vietnam.
Information has always been the best antidote for jingoism.

Anonymous said...

17-and-so-on: The article you link to has nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Islamic immigrants, regardless of how they got here, are attempting to destroy our way of life from within. Subverting our education system is just one of the many methods of soft jihad.

Any and all islamic publications for non-muslim consumption should carry a mandatory disclaimer pointing out the islamic doctrines of taqiyya, kitman and Tu-Quoque.

Sandi

1735099 said...

"has nothing to do with the subject at hand"
It has everything to do with it. I linked to a paper which debunks myths about asylum-seekers, many of which appear with monotonous regularity on the blogosphere. The program this posting criticises does exactly the same in reference to Islam. Read it. What's your problem with kids being given information? Does debunking the myths about Islam lay bare much of the dog-whistling?

bingbing said...

No worries. I'm sure the more Aussie kids discover about Islam, the more they'll like it.

/sarc

Patrick Carroll said...

What a bloody outrage!!!

Wand said...

This shouldn’t be happening in Australia

I totally agree. And from the linked article ... , the booklet argues that there is a “degree of prejudice and ignorance about Islam and Muslims” and Australian students must be taught to embrace difference and diversity.

Oh yes ... I don’t think so. Maybe, just maybe people are starting to catch on about the true meaning of Islam. If anyone is interested, Robert Spencer’s blog Jihad Watch is a good starting point.

In particular the videos of his speaking to the SwedishDemocratic Party about Islamisation in Europe and the West on 5 July is a good primer. I recommend watching all the videos for an accurate understanding of Islam and the very real threat it poses for us. Anyone who doesn’t take it seriously is deluding themselves.

The follow up video of a question by journalist is worth watching. Also how about this video set of interviews by Finnish TV with the Motoon cartoonists to see how they are getting on? If you watch this set, how about the greeting by the Imam of the female reporter! Is that the society we want? Again, I think not.

Finally there’s one thing about Islam and Islamists. They are quite clear in everything that they say or do and that is to dominate, destroy and rule the West. We ignore that threat at our peril.

Richard Sharpe said...

OK, I’ll bite and explain the concept. Pointing at unicorns refers to responding to a blog posting by introducing information that has little or nothing to do with the topic at hand, i.e. “Look over there, a unicorn!” For someone who runs more than one blog, I’m surprised to have to explain this to you. In this instance, the topic of discussion is an attempt by the Islamic lobby to impose revisionist view of Islam on the education system. It is not about asylum seekers. It is not about Tony Abbot’s Catholicism, or Julia Gillard’s (I’m sure she’d be surprised to be lumped in as a Catholic given her recent statements to the contrary, but hey, you’re telling the story). An attempt to distract attention from the topic at hand is an example of pointing at unicorns. You do it often and it is a weak line of argument.

As far as being on the wrong side of the Pacific, welcome to the joy of English! The language we speak today is unrecognisable from the English spoken prior to the Battle of Hastings because it continually evolves. It borrows words and phrases from all over the world. It is characteristically hypocritical of you to suggest that it is beneficial to expose ourselves to other cultures and then make snide comments about phrases borrowed from other cultures. There is even a school of thought that postulates that American English is more correct than British English, or at least more user-friendly and modern. In fact, this position led to the Australian Labour Party becoming the Australian Labor Party in 1912. There is a fascinating series by Melvyn Bragg called “The Adventure of English”. It talks about the evolution of English from the Angles to the present. A whole episode was devoted to the American contribution to the lexicon, which is quite considerable. I'd suggest giving it a watch, it is very informative. We have also borrowed from Arabic, including (oddly enough), alcohol. There is a list at Wikipedia if you’d like to take a browse. I am also surprised to have to explain this to a former Principal, but then I guess I shouldn’t expect too much of a teacher who can’t spell Confucianism, even one with a South East Asian obsession.

I attended an Anglican school in Queensland. As part of our Religious Education syllabus, we learned about the beliefs and practices of all of the world’s major religions, including Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Shinto, Judaism and Islam. We also leaned the differences in the doctrine of the Christian denominations. What we learned was based on an objective view of their beliefs and practices. What the article linked to does is to present an apologetic and fairly one-sided view of the religion, and goes further than Religious Education, and infiltrates into most subject areas.

Helpfully, the article is presented in a PDF format. This makes keyword search very easy. Al Qaeda only gets one reference, and then it is only in passing. Terror will get you a number of hits, although each instance is an attempt to downplay the role of Islam in modern terrorism.

The point that kae was making though, is not about the content of the brief, but the intent. Would it be acceptable for any other religious group to stipulate to the education system the content of the syllabus? Would it be OK for the Jewish lobby to present a brief to the government pointing out that the portrayal of Israel in Australia is biased and the content taught to children should include talking points presented by them? Would it be OK for the Catholic Church to do the same? What is your opinion, as an alleged educator, on the presentation of pressure group material to classes as this paper stipulates? If any of the above answers are no, it is time to address the hypocrisy of your position on this issue.

Merilyn said...

Just been reading about that same subject over at Bolta's blog with my jaw dropping. Enought of this nonsense, if the people want to come to Australia then they accept us as we are not try to change us to the very countries they are running away from.
Then to take this into schools and teach the young "fake" views is going to far, and the Premiers and PM should step in and say no-way.

1735099 said...

"Would it be acceptable for any other religious group to stipulate to the education system the content of the syllabus?"
Not only is it acceptable - it's common practice when it comes to curriculum content. Every pressure group from animal rights activists to the road safety lobby has input into the curriculum. The challenge these days is to keep it relevant.
There is nothing so relevant as reducing the potential for conflict, and it is quite simply common sense to do so.
In the interests of national security and communal harmony, we need to know as much about each other's belief systems and mores as possible. This doesn't mean we have to accept or condone them. This fine distinction seems lost on many conservatives, who seem horrified when they discover that there are people who don't share their world view.
To take the other approach - as espoused here - resembles standing on the edge of a schoolyard brawl shouting "fight". This is precisely what terrorists are seeking, and the "useful idiots" obsessed with anti-Islam paranoia are playing neatly into their hands.
Fortunately mainstream Australia generally sniffs out extremism where it exists, and it is swiftly dismissed - no matter which end of the political spectrum it inhabits.