ACCESS Ministries, the Australian state-funded fundie group that was forced to withdraw an offensive comic strip, then offered a grovelling apology for any ”damage or emotional distress” that it might have caused, is now at the centre of a fresh row.
This tacky little Christian outfit, which has been given responsibility for religious education in Victorian government schools, now stands accused of breaching government guidelines by using its time in schools to convert kids to Christianity.
Smug Access Ministries duo Evonne Paddison and Bishop Stephen Hale
An investigation into its proselytising tactics began after it came to light that Access Ministries chief executive Evonne Paddison told the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion national conference in Melbourne:
In Australia, we have a God-given open door to children and young people with the Gospel. Our federal and state governments allow us to take the Christian faith into our schools and share it. We need to go and make disciples.
But Access Ministries chair Bishop Stephen Hale denies that AM is a proselytising organisation:
We’re not actually seeking to convert [children] and she may have given that impression but I don’t think that’s what we actually do in reality.
Bishop Hale described teaching children Christian stories and values without pressuring them to adopt Christianity as:
A pretty tricky exercise. We are extremely respectful of the balancing act that’s involved.
He said teachers remained in classrooms during religious instruction and if guidelines were being breached there would be more complaints.
The Victorian branch president of the Australian Education Union, Mary Bluett, said most Access volunteers appeared to adhere to the guidelines but there had been some shocking examples. She said:
Comments such as, ‘Buddha is Satan’s friend’ … and things like that clearly breach the guidelines.
Ms Bluett said religious instruction should be offered outside of school hours, and Schools Minister Peter Garrett said he would look closely at Dr Paddison’s remarks after being provided with a recording from the conference.
He will ask his department for advice on any action that might need to be taken.
The guidelines for the National School Chaplaincy Program are very clear; any breach of those guidelines will be investigated. If there is any evidence of a breach it should be referred to the department for investigation.
Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon said the Victorian government:
Did not in any way, shape or form condone proselytising. We will be talking to Access Ministries and seeking an assurance from them that their instructors abide by this requirement.
Access Ministries provides chaplains to 281 Victorian schools and its volunteers teach 96 per cent of special religious instruction in Victorian schools.
The Victorian government announced an extra $200,000 a year to Access Ministries in this month’s budget to fund 196 chaplains. This brings the total state government contribution to $500,000 a year for four years.
The national school chaplaincy program, introduced by the Howard government, also received a $222 million boost in this week’s federal budget, to fund chaplains for up to 3700 schools by 2014.
The code of conduct for the school chaplaincy program states:
A chaplain should not take advantage of his or her privileged position to proselytise for that denomination or religious belief.
Meanwhile, it is reported here that former NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr said that school chaplaincy programs should be immediately scrapped to prevent religious influence on state schools:
Bob Carr
It is indefensible that all taxpayers are required to support a program that is gradually becoming church evangelism.
Carr attacked the Gillard Government for extending the scheme, saying it compromised the separation between church and state.
Critics of the scheme have suggested Julia Gillard is trying to use the program to win back support from religious voters upset by her atheism.
Mr Carr said the money would be better spent on increasing teacher positions. He added:
There is enough feedback now to show that quite understandably chaplains cannot confine their activism. Evangelical work is their lifeblood and it’s naïve to expect them not to pursue it around young people. They can’t because of their training. They can’t approach these matters from any other perspective. As a result we have got breaches of what should be a very thick wall between church and state.
Hat tip: Bill Murray
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
May 13th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Why not just put all christians on the sex offenders register. That way they wont be allowed anywhere near kiddies.
Simples.
May 13th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Come on Oz, get your act together & get rid of school chaplains.
May 13th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Until someone takes up Remigius’s suggestion, and while the Deluded Herd keep harping on about their ‘right’ to advertise their delusions at work, there’s an obvious alternative.
Just tell your kids the government makes mad and dangerous people wear big crosses round their neck, like lepers had bells in the Middle Ages, so small children know they have to stay away from them
May 13th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
As a long time subscriber and fan of this site, I appreciate the coverage you have been giving Access Ministries.
There is a small, dedicated group of people working to remove Federally funded chaplains (mostly evangelical Christians) from public schools, and reform the Religious Education syllabus. If you are interested in helping the cause, I humbly refer you to my web site for more information:
http://bit.ly/stopnscp
May 13th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
What the FUCK is happening to Australia. It’s the same as taking a trip to Mississippi, and that is not good.
May 13th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
@ Andrew Skegg
I just had a quick look at your site and found this quote you included from Tim Mander, Chief Executive of Scripture Union:
“To have a full-time Christian presence in government schools in this ever-increasing secular world is an unbelievable privilege. Here is the church’s opportunity to make a connection with the one place through which every young person must attend: our schools.â€
It’s nauseating – you can almost hear the loon rubbing his hands (and anything else he could get hold of) with glee as he typed! I’ll wager the thought of fundies being granted access to millions of impressionable young minds will have had him salivating for days. I really hope you can do something about this, Andrew as these idiots won’t miss a single opportunity to abuse their position and indoctrinate every last child they can.
May 13th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Access Ministries?? The last thing a child needs to hear is that he/she is a miserable sinner, whose only chance of happiness, is through religion. The organisation appears to be very amateur, having access to complex issues, but not demonstrating any effective strategies to deal with them.
May 13th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
He seems to be saying that God = federal and state governments.
May 13th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
How stupid of the Oz government to let Evangelical Christians into their schools while saying in effect, ‘you won’t go acting like Evangelical Christians now will you?’ and then acting surprised when they do.
May 13th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Scripture Union have been allowed to run a lunchtime club at my daughter’s primary school, and others in the area.
Knowing there are certifiable loons involved I was worried until my girl put me at ease.
Seems the kids were so underwhelmed SU had to start offering sweets to get them through the door.
This led to a great new playground game -’Grab the Snickers and Run’.
May 13th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
@Stuart H.
There is a pervert round our way who likes to play a similar game. He is now banned from the laundrette.
May 13th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
@Stonyground – I find that baffling as well. At least I would if I believed for a second that the government was not entirely aware of the AM schemes and just wanted some vague platitude to hide behind. It is so transparent as to be insulting. These evangelicals are trying to camouflage themselves by hiding against a window. Who do they think they are kidding, saying they are respectful of their remit and will not try to ‘convert’ children? Evangelism is their job, conversion is their goal, and when they quite openly and proudly prey on children and express their glee at having a captive audience of ‘young people’, they betray their foreknowledge that these children will be easier to manipulate than adults. Conversion is their admitted plan, even when they try to deny it they admit it.
They are preying on the trust children put in adults and taking advantages of the circumstance and environment of schools. This whole thing has a genuinely sinister tone. I am not suggesting that evangelicals all plan to sexually abuse children, but these bodies like the Access Ministries (who apparently claim to NOT do what it says on the tin) make no bones about wanting to abuse their minds.
May 13th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
Find out which politicians approved the tax payers dollars to these people and vote them out of office. They are showing favoritism or else they would have made funds available to ALL religions in the country…
May 13th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I should add that I am not having a go specifically at the Oz government for being stupid, the UK government is just as bad. Our PM was blathering about the difficulty in getting ethnic communities to integrate while still supporting segregated schools.
May 13th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Yeah, Cameron seemed quite annoyed at certain people (Muslims) refusing to integrate into mainstream society then decided that segregating children based on the professed faith of their parents was a capital idea. A typical case of a politician trying to have their cake and eat it.
May 13th, 2011 at 8:53 pm
@JMW
Quite agree. Do you remember Baron Norman Beresford Tebbit, one of Maggie’s loathsome lackeys, asking the ‘which cricket team would you support?’ question?
If they voted Tory, it really didn’t matter one jot, of course.
May 13th, 2011 at 10:49 pm
For me, the evangelical movement is like a red rag to a bull. I think it could be due to them coming to my door and passing instant judgement on the state of my soul.
About a decade ago there was a particularly annoying family that lived 50yds from my house, and every week they were out passing leaflets / going to doors / small excerpts from the bible stuck on lamposts. I got sick of it and decided to wind them up. With the aid of my computer I made up a fake satanist newletter, along with my contact details, and stated I was looking for members to start up a local coven. I never got a reply.
To give a bit of credit, I’ve never had Sikh, Jews or Hindu’s bang on my door.
May 14th, 2011 at 2:07 am
While I am totally opposed to the idea,my kids have told me that if anything taught them the lunacy of religion it was listening to these guys at school.
Even at 8 years old my son told me “do you know these idiots think the world is only 4000 years old”
Please dont think that this is just being accepted here either,many people are really up in arms about this.
May 14th, 2011 at 3:16 am
The woman from Access Ministries quoted as saying they had a “god given opportunity” is supposedly a Doctor of some kind. I bet you she’s a doctor of theology. Why oh why are doctors of theology allowed to call themselves doctors? The woman has spent four years at a university somewhere “studying” the bible. She may as well have spent four years studying Phantom comics, or Fantastic Four movies. It’s about as useful and meaningful. The term doctor gives these obviously silly and deluded people a credibility they do not deserve. Let’s keep ‘doctor’ for doctors, people that study and excell in medicine with the purpose of healing people of disease or similar. Kids today are exposed to so much media from an early age that, like in the comment above, can usually recognise nonsense and steer clear of it. It’s still a worry that kids, with governmental conscent, are being exposed to something as dangerous, limiting and silly as bronze age religious nonsense. We need another election NOW!
May 14th, 2011 at 10:20 am
Robster, don’t knock it, one of the topics that The University of Hull is currently offering a chance to do a PhD in is Disney Studies.
http://www.findaphd.com/search.....38;LID=621
May 14th, 2011 at 11:15 pm
Meanwhile they’re always calling gay people child predators. That’s called “projection”.
May 15th, 2011 at 11:24 am
That’s $222 million wasted on these creeps that could have gone to medical research. Ordinary Australian taxpayers should wake up to the real rorts and pay no further attention to the stupid distractions they have been following recently.
May 15th, 2011 at 11:29 am
“Just tell your kids the government makes mad and dangerous people wear big crosses round their neck, like lepers had bells in the Middle Ages, so small children know they have to stay away from them”
Good idea Stuart.
May 15th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
god-given?
Its like table prayers: you apply for a job, you get the job, you work the hours, you earn the money, you use the money to buy food that you select, you prepare the food…..and then you thank god for the food? eh?
people have jobs, they pay their taxes, the government gives taxes out to state funded organisations, the state funded schools hire teachers, the teachers teach the children….god given? surely not?
May 16th, 2011 at 8:25 am
@Buffy said “Meanwhile they’re always calling gay people child predators. That’s called “projectionâ€.”
I call the chaplains and SRE teachers “religious predators”. They groom kids for conversion, try to fiddle with their minds when other adults aren’t looking and generally take advantage of their position to push the religion they are obsessed with.
May 20th, 2011 at 12:37 am
See:
http://www.secularnewsdaily.co.....n-schools/