Let’s Finish Off Christian Schools

The Andrews Government perpetual war on Christianity:

Let me offer a little thought experiment here: If you had the power to destroy something you really disliked, say the Labor party in Victoria, how might you go about it? Sure, you could ban it altogether, but the PR on that might be a bit much, and it might appear to be rather heavy-handed.

You would want to find a way to do it that makes it look like you are doing something good, something positive, and something fully acceptable. So you would throw around jargon such as “discrimination,” “equal rights,” “inclusion” and “tolerance.” Those terms always go down so very well.

So then you simply can say that in order to achieve all these things, you will pass a law which states that the Labor Party has no right whatsoever to fire anyone from their organisation. Indeed, it MUST hire anyone as well. So the Labor party would now be FORCED to hire those with diametrically opposed values, policies and beliefs.

They would have to hire those from the Liberal Party or from One Nation. And if such staff were already working in the Labor Party, they could NOT be fired. To kick out those with quite opposing views would be seen as discrimination and bigotry.

Well, that should do the trick. That should quickly bring about the complete end of the Labor Party. Of course this is all just the stuff of imagination. It will never happen. But something nearly identical IS about to happen in the Peoples’ Republik of Victoria – the most hardcore secular left state in Australia, and in much of the world.

Andrews the Arch-Christophobe is introducing legislation which will make it illegal for Christian schools to fire or not hire those with beliefs, values and lifestyles completely at odds with basic biblical teachings. Biblical Christianity has always taught about the vital importance of heterosexual marriage and family, sexual purity, and the sins of things like adultery, fornication, and homosexuality.

But all that will soon be swept away with this diabolical new bit of legislation that is being pushed by Labor. One media report on this begins as follows:

Religious schools in Victoria will be prohibited from sacking or refusing to employ teachers because of their sexuality or gender identity under sweeping social reforms proposed by the Andrews government. Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said legislation would be introduced later this year to close an “unfair, hurtful” gap in anti-discrimination laws that allow faith-based organisations to discriminate on the basis of sexuality, gender and marital status.

 

“People shouldn’t have to hide who they are to keep their job,” Ms Symes said. Lobby group Christian Schools Australia said it would oppose the legislation, with public policy director Mark Spencer saying it was “alarming”. “Once again it seems that people of faith in Victoria are being told what they can and can’t believe, that religious schools can only hold and act on beliefs that the government determines are acceptable,” he said. Some religious organisations strongly opposed the Victorian government’s legislation earlier this year to criminalise gay conversion practices.

 

“Is the next step for the announced changes to ‘anti-vilification’ laws to limit what can be taught in religious schools or preached in a church, mosque or temple?” Mr Spencer asked. But LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said Victoria’s current laws were “out of step with 21st century community expectations”.

 

“Unless a person’s religion is actually relevant to their role or their needs, faith-based organisations should treat all their employees and the people who rely on their services fairly and without discrimination”, Ms Brown said. “Everyone deserves to live, work and study with dignity and respect, no matter who they are or whom they love.” https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/religious-schools-in-victoria-to-lose-the-right-to-sack-lgbtq-staff-20210915-p58rx5.html

Last month Spencer, along with Vanessa Cheng, the executive officer of Australian Association of Christian Schools, wrote a piece arguing that “Religious belief deserves protection”. They said in part:

We know there are different views about a range of matters within the Christian faith. But we do not believe that an individual teacher should expect to impose their changed beliefs about an important theological matter onto a Christian school that has been entirely consistent about their beliefs from the start.

 

In saying this, we acknowledge there is much pain and broken relationships when making these tough decisions. Our schools want to care for and support people with humility and love. It is our deep hope that people can find a community where they feel supported in their commonly held beliefs. The school holds to the orthodox Biblical belief that sexual activity outside marriage between a man and woman is not acceptable conduct for a Christian teacher.

They concluded:

Education is far more than merely the transmission of curriculum content. Research has shown that the community and relationships built around shared beliefs is a vital part of the educational process. It truly does “take a village to raise a child” and all staff in Christian schools have a vital role to play in that process – and need to share a common set of beliefs.

 

The Australian Association of Christian Schools and Christian Schools Australia, the peak bodies for Christian schools, look forward to the Morrison government following through on its election commitment to introduce a religious discrimination bill that will affirm that it is lawful for Christian schools to continue providing authentic faith-based education by employing staff who support and model the beliefs of the school.

 

We also look forward to the opposition’s support for such a Bill, reflecting their National Platform which recognises the need to protect religious freedom. https://www.theage.com.au/national/religious-belief-deserves-protection-20210816-p58j09.html

I have also argued before that there are no jobs or roles in a Christian school that just any person can fill. From the principal to the janitor, a Christian school rightly expects everyone to hold to the same beliefs and values. As I wrote in one piece:

Talk of discrimination is just plain ludicrous anyway. Everyone discriminates all the time, and for good reasons. To have a decidedly Christian janitor, math’s teacher, receptionist and administrator would all be part of the rationale and basis for a Christian school.

 

The government might as well argue that rabid Carlton, Richmond and St. Kilda supporters be allowed to hold positions in the Geelong Football Club. Sorry, the Club wants people who support everything about Geelong to be on board, from lowly positions to higher up ones.

 

A Christian school (or charity, or business, or whatever) wants among other things, a complete unity of purpose, vision, aim and ethos. Having a homosexual physical education teacher, or a Muslim history teacher, or a Wiccan chemistry teacher would instantly render impossible that sort of unity.

 

A Christian school would of course also expect the highest moral standards of those who work for it. To say it must be forced to hire an adulterous gardener, or an alcoholic secretary, or a dope-smoking janitor (because what they are doing is only ‘peripheral’ to the purpose of the school) would in effect be suicide for that institution. The school could not function at all under such circumstances.

 

The Christian faith, in other words, permeates every aspect of life, and a Christian business or charity or educational institution expects to see Christian beliefs and values held to by everyone employed there, whether a principal or a floor sweeper. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2009/09/28/social-engineers-continue-their-crusade/

All that is entirely sensible. And to prove it, let’s return to my scenario about the Labor Party. Does anyone seriously believe that they would happily agree to being forced to hire people – or not fire people – whose political views are entirely opposed to what Labor believes? Of course not.

Would anyone dream of applying the foolish line of Brown to the Labor Party: “Everyone deserves to live, work and study with dignity and respect, no matter who they are or whom they love”? Um no. Love smove. Labor Party officials would argue that they must only be allowed to have those who share fully in their political views to work there.

Otherwise it would be the end of the Labor Party. They know it would be. And it is the same here. To demand that Christian schools allow anyone with any belief system and moral code into their organisation would spell the end of Christian schools.

And that of course is EXACTLY what Andrews and his misotheist buddies fully want to bring about.

Oh, and by the way, good luck to the secular left militants who are running Victoria in getting this to go down well in Islamic schools!

[1420 words]

25 Replies to “Let’s Finish Off Christian Schools”

  1. Thanks Bill. I honestly believe it is time for “us” to get out of running schools and hospitals for all and regroup and provide for believers at the local level Churches with the attached schools and smaller equipped medical centres. We have mostly elitist Anglican schools providing education to mostly non believers and hospitals providing services but Jesus is no longer in the equation. We thankfully have many Catholic schools that provide low fee or no fee education and we have community based schools whom the Govt are constantly trying to place conditions. We run services but no longer in the name of Christ. We accepted money from Government and in many ways “sold our souls”. We are no longer in a “post Christian world” we are now in an actively “Christophobe” world. We all need to regroup and do what we are supposed to do best – spread the Gospel. Yes, 100 years ago we could do that through hospitals and schools but those days are gone.

  2. Thanks Carlos. Your view is a bit like Rod Dreher’s from his earlier book, The Benedict Option, in which he sort of argues that we should pull out, disengage, head for the hills, and put up the white flag of surrender. See my discussion here:
    https://billmuehlenberg.com/2017/06/11/strangers-strange-land-christianity-contemporary-culture/

    His newer book is a bit different: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/12/30/a-review-of-live-not-by-lies-by-rod-dreher/

    I am not all that keen on his earlier view. Yes, you are absolutely right that the West is now thoroughly anti-Christian. But that may be all the more reason why we should stay and fight, and not run and surrender. It was exactly because the early Christians in a similarly hostile, pagan environment stood and fought that they eventually won. They set up schools and hospitals and dealt with all sorts of social issues in the pagan culture they lived in. And that in good measure is what attracted so many pagans to Christ and Christianity.

    So I for one am not yet ready to say let’s just ditch everything and hand everything over to the pagans – even more than we already have! Yes in the West it is a massive uphill battle, but so too was it 2000 years ago. But individual Christians will have to decide how they move forward. When it comes to education for example, some will send their kids to pagan schools, some to Christian schools, and some will homeschool. My wife – obviously a Christian – had a key role to play in the pagan state school that our kids went to. So God may well call different Christian to different emphases in this and other areas. But I hear what you are saying!

  3. Hi Bill, No I certainly didn’t mean to “run for the hills” or anything of the such. Our resouces are deminishing and we need to stop taking money from Govt otherwise their level of control will increase. Already Christian schools are required to give equal time to teaching Islam and other “faiths.” I’m an “anglican” and my family certainly can’t afford for our children to attend an Anglican school. We have been blessed to have our children in a local low fee Catholic school but last week several of my children stayed home while the school did the mandated govt sex education garbage. No, I believe we need to use the resources we have in a much better way than we are at present. I as a Christian can’t even possibly hope to attend a St John of God hospital and lets face it they don’t have trained nuns there anymore but in most cases non believing Nurses and Doctors. We’re closing consecrated Churches here there and everywhere but maintaing Schools that many can’t use and hospitals that are seen as for the rich by many believers and non believers. I must stand corrected though, we did once have a referral to St John of God hospital way over in Subiaco Perth. Our as yet to be born son had congenital heart problems. The Specialist spent a great deal of time trying to convince us to “terminate the pregnancy”. My boy is now 23 and doing very nicely. Anyway, the Lord has it sorted one way or the other. 🙂

  4. Thanks Carlos. Yes I agree, and have often written about, the need for Christian schools and groups and institutions to wean themselves off the government teat. We must learn to live by faith, and not by government (taxpayer) subsidies.

  5. Thank you Bill for your timely and excellent article. (but none-the-less depressing, or should I say challenging), Daniel Andrews and his cohort are determined to eradicate all things Christian in this state. His push is relentless, it seems one Bill passes there is not even time to regroup and he is pushing another diabolical ungodly Bill.
    I agree it sounds so good to be able to retreat, build our own christian community off the grid out bush somewhere away from the evil purveyors that surround us. I know some who are and some who dream. However I believe like you we must push back, in whatever civil way we can, both individually and in a unified body of believers, pray without ceasing and rise up against this tide of Marxist anti-God rhetoric.
    Australia has a profound Christian heritage and the only country to my knowledge that was prophesied over, without being sighted, as the southern land of the Holy Spirit. (encompassing NZ and Pacific Islands)

    We must stand our ground as lover of Jesus Christ and believe we Aussies have a destiny and a future.

  6. They could gain some credibility and respect if they applied this to Madrasas but they won’t. Muslims don’t stand for this Shtick. They aren’t pacifists. Not saying we should fight like them but we should fight our way not see who can have the reddest cheeks from turning them all the time. “I’m the most submissive and thus the most Christ like.”

  7. If that happens, and the parents find out about it, may I suggest that they name and shame the teacher(s) involved. Make it clear that their children and the other teachers are to give them no respect.

  8. Using Andrew’s logic, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir should not be allowed to refuse to include me in their choir.

    I’m deaf, I can’t sing, but I’d LOOOOOOVVVE to join the Choir!

  9. And still we wait for Scott Morrison to deliver on his promise for a religious freedom bill. Unfortunately, many in the Liberal Party are almost as bad as Andrews when it comes to religious freedoms. Realistically, the Senate is just as likely to reject it, if the bill had any teeth.

    These sort of laws will merely divide the country further and will more likely breed less tolerance for those it purports to defend.

  10. Yep ! … The biggest problem modern “christians” have today … is getting their hand out of their neighbour’s pockets … to fund their [not The Creators’s] program of salvation !!!!

    Just look at the “policies and platforms” of any of the “christian” political wannabes … and boggle !!!

    Secularists are not going to complain … they have more and more [red] rope to hang you with !!!

    For free reading online visit here…
    https://chalcedon.edu/resources/books/larceny-in-the-heart

  11. Why does Daniel Andrews hate Christianity? There is an abundance of evidence to show that he does, but why is it so? Could John 3:19 be relevant to this question?

  12. How it is that it is discriminating not to employ LGBTIQ + in Christian Schools while it is not discriminating when an employer can fired someone who is unvaccinated?

  13. Isn’t it ironic that our left wing governments try to promote “equality” and “diversity” at the same time”?
    They want everyone to believe the same, receive the same, be the same, but be different?
    How does that work?

  14. The problem with the Victorian government is that they are biblically illiterate and perhaps unconsciously hostile to the things of God. If they understood Christ they would know what Richard Baxter was talking about as follows:

    “Your study of physics and other sciences is not worth a rush, if it be not God that you seek after in them. To see and admire, to reverence and adore, to love and delight in God, as exhibited in his works – this is the true and only philosophy; the contrary is mere foolery, and is so called again and again by God himself. This is the sanctification of your studies, when they are devoted to God, and when he is the end, the object, and the life of them all. And, therefore, I shall presume to tell you, by the way, that it is a grand error, and of dangerous consequence in Christian academies, that they study the creature before the Redeemer, and set themselves to physics, and metaphysics, and mathematics, before they set themselves to theology; whereas, no man that hath not the vitals of theology, is capable of going beyond a fool in philosophy. Theology must lay the foundation, and lead the way of all our studies.”

    In missing or ignoring the who they can not fully gain a solid foundation.

  15. Thanks Troy. My take on Andrews and Co is that they are consciously, deliberately and determinedly hostile to the things of God! Good Baxter quote however!

  16. I am somewhat surprised that we are not claiming the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief (section 14) in the Victorian Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

    That right makes all the demands of Dictator Dan’s attempt to beat Christians and Christianity into submissions illegal.

  17. He looks like his cup overflows with joy in the artifical bosom of the trans community – everyone else gets scowls and growls. A commentator recently described him as a Roman Catholic- it’s either that or apostate. If people don’t like Christian schools, with Christianity now reduced to remnant status, then they can always go to any another school! What’s the problem?

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