I’ve never been comfortable with the title “atheist”. I don’t really know why. I suspect it is because I hate labels that I don’t really care much about and I’ve come to let go of any notion of faith.
It hasn’t always been like that. Even in my mid 20’s I had prayed in difficult times – of which there were a few. By this time, I think I had lost my faith, but not my hope for some supernatural help.
In fact, my faith took it’s deepest cut back in Sunday school of all places. I’ll never forget that lesson.
I was shown an image of a path with a fork. To the left, the path went up a rock road into the hills. It looked grueling. To the right the path remained flat and smooth over meadows. Which, I was asked, is the path of God?
I chose wrong, as I guess all children do. I learnt that the Creator of everything – an entity I was told loved me, personally, more than anyone else ever could – wanted me to suffer throughout my life for some higher purpose. While the universe was built in a week and women from a single rib, God couldn’t make a gentle path.
From then, my faith began to bleed out. It was a slow death.
Chaplains in public schools
Admittedly, I was slow to cotton on to this story, which John Howard brought in back in 2006 and was continued by the subsequent Rudd-Gillard governments.
It has returned to the public eye with the High Court ruling against the Federal funding of Chaplains in public schools. Prime Minster Tony Abbott has assured the public that he is committed to the program and that it will continue.
This story has since reminded me of my old Sunday school days. I have my own thoughts on Chaplains providing advice to my own children, but I know that those thoughts reside with me alone.
But it got me wondering. Our current administration talk a lot of “mandate”…
Let’s find out if the Australian government has a mandate for funding Chaplains in public schools.
To answer this question, I’ve developed a quick survey.
It has a mere two pages with few questions on each; 1) basic demographics, 2) views on federal funded Chaplains in public schools.
It takes less than a minute to fill out and is completely anonymous.
It will be kept open for the next week – until the end of Friday next week (27th of June). Over the following weekend, I’ll collect all the data and report on it by Monday (30th of June).
The value in this survey will only come from your help.
Of course, honesty is the best policy, but most importantly we need numbers; share, share, share! Share this page or the survey directly. We need as many Aussies, from across the political and religious spectrum.
Thanks for your help!
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