The open secret of religious instruction in state schools

Additionally, the letter from Miezis states the department is perfectly happy for SRE volunteers to inform students of local church run activities.

How about asking your parents if you could come along to kids club or kids church. (This would be a good time to hand out flyers.) (Connect Upper Primary, B2, Lesson 17, p. 181).

Hand out the flyers for local church services if you have them (Connect Upper Primary, C1, Lesson 10, p. 100).

But, in contrast, the recent Queensland education department reviewfound the above were examples of possible proselytising.

Disturbingly however, it found no legal obstacle to proselytising.

…legal advice provided by faith groups has indicated the view there is no legislative basis for prohibition of proselytising in the EDPA or EDPR [the relevant Education Acts]. The Department's Legal and Administrative Law Branch supports this view. (Page 6)

And nothing further has been done about it. While Education Minister Kate Jones has taken commendable steps forward in addressing age inappropriate and outdated materials in faith classes, the failure to address proselytising is curious.

Even more curious is the way the advocates of bible classes claim proselytising doesn't occur, before rushing off to obtain favourable legal opinions to safeguard it.

Educator's find themselves entangled in a Gordian knot. Scripture classes are by their nature evangelical. Making disciples is the unambiguous mission of evangelical Christians. For example, Connect's own youthworks website says making disciples is why they exist.

When challenged, they will point out SRE is "preaching the gospel". And so, reviewer's must either tell evangelists not to evangelise, or allow faith classes to proceed on the basis of soliciting children to Christianity. In a nutshell, evangelising is allowed. Thus, parents should be aware that, as in NSW, consent to SRE is viewed by government as a license to convert their child to Christianity.

The Queensland review muddles the issue further by attempting to distinguish evangelising from proselytising. The Oxford online dictionary defines evangelise as: "convert of seek to convert someone to Christianity", or "Preach the gospel". To proselytise is to "convert of attempt to convert someone from one religion, belief or opinion to another".

The following examples from the lesson materials illustrate how this is a distinction without a difference. Following allegations of proselytising, the authors of Connect preface the concluding prayer as follows: