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Christians, their schools, and the threat to public education

By Alan Matheson - posted Friday, 30 March 2007


The Gospels are either the quaint, whimsical yarns of a bald headed first century builder, or the call to a radical and revolutionary faith. Some 20 years ago, the editor of St Mark’s Review, warned, “the scandalous image of a church that caters for only those who can afford to pay, (for education) mocks the poor to whom the Gospel was first preached”. (December 1984)

A recent discussion paper by the Uniting Church of Australia has no doubts. After noting that there “are 3,000 verses on the poor in the Bible”, it concluded, “when the rights of the privileged and the poor conflict, the biblical witness is unambiguous about which side God is on”.

It’s a stark choice for the multi million dollar Christian school. It’s either the Gospel of the market and the good news of parental choice, or the Gospel of Matthew and “the preferential option for the poor”.

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If it’s the Gospel of the market, the threat to the inclusive government school is real, and Australia is headed for one exclusive education system for the rich and the privileged, and the other, an inclusive, poorly, resourced and funded, government system.

If it’s the Gospel of Matthew, will parents still send their children to Christian schools? I wonder?

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About the Author

Alan Matheson is a retired Churches of Christ minister who worked in a migration centre in Melbourne, then the human rights program of the World Council of Churches, before returning to take responsibility for the international program of the ACTU.

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