As it stands, the power of the Government to veto any chaplain selected by schools is worrying, moreso than funding chaplains in the first place. It may be unconstitutional. That’s the subject of some disagreement - our constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and seperation of church and state is a tad weak; fortunately we haven’t seen it really tested.
As $20K doesn’t cover the cost of a full-time chaplain (maybe two days per week), I suspect that this will be primarily taken up by schools that already have some kind of religious pastoral support.
Howard writes that this is not an attempt to force feed religion and strictly speaking, that’s true. Instead, it is subsidising indoctrination. I don’t know why he thnks it’s necessary, doesn’t Hillsong do quite nicely without Government subsidies? Those who wish to indoctrinate the next generation should alter their tactics accordingly.
Personally I think that subsidising some professional school psychologists would do everything that Howard claims this program is trying to do, and more, but why would you want somebody with a level of professional objectivity in our schools?
As $20K doesn’t cover the cost of a full-time chaplain (maybe two days per week), I suspect that this will be primarily taken up by schools that already have some kind of religious pastoral support.
Howard writes that this is not an attempt to force feed religion and strictly speaking, that’s true. Instead, it is subsidising indoctrination. I don’t know why he thnks it’s necessary, doesn’t Hillsong do quite nicely without Government subsidies? Those who wish to indoctrinate the next generation should alter their tactics accordingly.
Personally I think that subsidising some professional school psychologists would do everything that Howard claims this program is trying to do, and more, but why would you want somebody with a level of professional objectivity in our schools?
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