Anti-SRE billboard provokes interest

#1112 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 16 August 2015.

You might have seen or heard talk about a controversial Sydney billboard sponsored by the lobby group Fairness in Religions in Schools, with the provocative quote, “God says you are stuck in your sin and need to be rescued from his judgement.”

Apart from the fundamental truth of the statement, and that it was taken from a book by my colleague, the Reverend Dr Michael Jensen, it’s rather ironic that a group apparently devoted to getting rid of religion in schools has promoted a basic teaching of Christianity for all to see, and generated publicity worth millions of dollars.

Let’s be clear: Special Religious Education should be neither excluded nor imposed; but it should be offered in NSW state schools. It’s not about recruiting students to a particular faith, but educating children in the basic teachings and narratives of particular religious communities.

There’s something dangerously wrong with people who oppose such enlightened thinking.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.