Bishop enters battle against secular ethics classes

From Australia-

THE Bishop of North Sydney has urged Anglican priests to collect information from principals of public schools to stop the spread of the secular ethics classes the Sydney Anglicans believe may threaten religious education.

In an email seen by the Herald, Bishop Glenn Davies urged ministers to contact the principals of public schools in their parishes to ascertain the exact numbers of children enrolled in religious education. This was even though most schools were not involved in the trial, which is being piloted at just 10 schools under the guidance of the St James Ethics Centre.

''The St James Ethics Centre claims that there are large numbers of students not enrolled in SRE [special religious education],'' the email from Bishop Davies read. ''We need to gather some accurate information to challenge this claim.''

Bishop Davies added that ''there is an urgency to this request'' and asked for results by the following week.

The Herald has learnt that even rectors whose local schools are not involved in the trial have turned up at P&C meetings to protest about the secular ethics classes.

Groups of religious education teachers including Anglicans have also lobbied the principals of schools where the trial will occur, to make sure the trial did not affect their class numbers.

The NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens' Associations and the St James Ethics Centre yesterday renewed their invitation to the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, to meet to discuss the trial.

''There is absolutely no desire or intention to weaken religion or eliminate scripture from schools and to suggest otherwise is misleading,'' the centre's head, Simon Longstaff, said. ''The reality is that, prior to this trial being mounted, in some schools, 50 to 80 per cent of students were electing not to go to scripture.''

More here-

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/bishop-enters-battle-against-secular-ethics-classes-20100413-s7pp.html