School Chaplaincy

[Rhys]

Originally Posted by gord

Saw this vacancy [tweeted by Ron Williams] on seek.com.au advertising for "Student Welfare Worker" for "Young life Australia"

link : http://www.seek.com.au/Job/student-w...coast/22468366

Very clever of them to only put "committed Christian faith" under the "Highly desirable" category as opposed to the "required skills".

Qualifications in youth work

good

counselling

good

teaching

good or

theology

ah .

A diploma of theology and you're ready to start working with children in schools as a Welfare Worker. Wonderful .

[Justtristo]

As I see it evangelism has no place in the public schools, that is basically what a lot of school "chaplaincy" along with "scripture education" is.

Instead I would like to see both replaced with the following;

Firstly, truly objective religious education, which teach students to critically evaluate the various different religions.

Secondly, school chaplains to be replaced with psychologists, counselors and social workers.

Also it would be nice for the government to stop subsiding schools run by religious bodies.

[stevebrooks]

Originally Posted by Rhys

Very clever of them to only put "committed Christian faith" under the "Highly desirable" category as opposed to the "required skills".

Does seem a bit strange when they direct you to their mission ststement and it says;

Researching and developing innovative approaches to the evangelisation of young people so that the unreached, uninterested or uncommitted youth of the world shall continue to be reached.

So being a commited christian is only deserable when thats part of the jobs requirements?

[ozeb]

From "The COURIER Mail.com.au
A QUEENSLAND dad has won an historic court case that has overruled federal government funding for chaplains in schools.

In a case described as an attempt to "sue God", Toowoomba father Ronald Williams argued the school chaplaincy program was unconstitutional.

Mr Williams objected to the chaplaincy program at his children's school, Toowoomba's Darling Heights State School.

After a long-running legal battle, the High Court this morning backed Mr Williams' claims that the program is invalid under the Constitution.

The case could have huge implications for federal funding of other programs and organisations, including councils.

The majority of the court also ruled that payments the Commonwealth made to Scripture Union Queensland were not supported by section 61 of the constitution, which defines executive power.

Section 61 says the Commonwealth's executive power "extends to the execution and maintenance of this constitution and of the laws of the Commonwealth".

The court ruled that this did not empower the federal government to enter the funding agreement to make the payments.

In particular, it said the power did not include the parliament authorising the executive, or ministers, to enter agreements or contracts, a summary of the judgement said.

As well as arguing payments for the program were invalid, Mr Williams also challenged it on the grounds of the constitution banning religious tests for Commonwealth officers.

The court unanimously dismissed that part of the challenge, saying chaplains employed by Scripture Union Queensland did not hold office under the Commonwealth.

Attorney General Nicola Roxon said the government was considering whether it needed to change funding for other programs.

"The Government is committed to maintaining funding for important community programs," Ms Roxon said in a statement.

"The Government is carefully reviewing the reasoning of the High Court to determine what, if any, wider implications the decision may hold."

[youngmoigle]

Originally Posted by gord

Saw this vacancy [tweeted by Ron Williams] on seek.com.au advertising for "Student Welfare Worker" for "Young life Australia"

link : http://www.seek.com.au/Job/student-w...coast/22468366

My letter to them :

--------------8<----------------

I believe your vacancy position description above discriminates on the basis of religion. Your position description clearly states "Committed Christian faith" as a selection criteria.

If a well qualified atheist (or muslim or buddhist or hindi) youth worker applied for this position, they would be excluded purely on the basis of their religious beliefs. This is morally reprehensible and quite probably illegal.

As an atheist with a young child I object to indoctrinating young children with religion in public schools. I also object to putting counselors in schools who do not have proper training in education. Let us not forget the many cases in which church pastors have abused young children for whom they had a duty of care.

Here's the advert as it appeared before gord's letter:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...ient=firefox-a



And here's the doctored advert with the offending requirement deleted:

http://www.seek.com.au/Job/student-w...coast/22468366

[askegg]

Thank you @gord. I want to have your babies.

[Centauri]

Well done gord, I applaud you.

[bruce1937]

Well done, but we all know that the original conditions are the ones that will be applied to any applicants in reality, but now they need to look like they are open to anyone who meets the new requirements.
I note however you have to agree with their agenda to be considered anyway.

[ptah]

Originally Posted by youngmoigle

Here's the advert as it appeared before gord's letter:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...ient=firefox-a



And here's the doctored advert with the offending requirement deleted:

http://www.seek.com.au/Job/student-w...coast/22468366

I found this fascinating. I ran the ads through a text difference program.

They'd re-arrange a couple of paragraphs so I corrected for that. The attached image shows the differences. On the left is the old and on the right is the new version. The changed text is red on gray.

In particular, "compassion and care" are revealed to be code for "Jesus Christ"! But at the same time they're careful to drop overtly religious references.

[FSM]

Originally Posted by ptah

In particular, "compassion and care" are revealed to be code for "Jesus Christ"! But at the same time they're careful to drop overtly religious references.

But they still directly link to requirements:

To be successful in the role you will need to be confident in working with young people, be aligned to Young Life’s values and statement of mission purpose (www.younglife.org.au/our_values.php),

And from that supplied link:

Young Life is a mission community of Christ-centred people committed to reaching adolescent youth with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe that we, as a community of adult Christians who belong to a broad diversity of church traditions, have been called and gifted by God to carry out this ministry. We do this by building personal relationships with young people, by sharing our lives and participating with them in a variety of experiences through which the gospel can be heard and experienced.

We carry out our mission under the authority of Scripture and in accordance with our understanding of incarnational witness, seeking to en-flesh the gospel in our lives and relationships, and therefore,

We are committed to:

• The welfare and spiritual health of those who do this ministry, that they may do it out of a consistent and growing relationship with Christ and His Church.

• Submit to and communicate effectively the whole Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, as best we understand that Gospel.

• Researching and developing innovative approaches to the evangelisation of young people so that the unreached, uninterested or uncommitted youth of the world shall continue to be reached.

• All young people wherever they may live in the world, or whatever may be their social, economic, ethnic, cultural, or racial environment.

• Seek out and welcome all those whom God directs to our ministry, male and female of all races, salaried and volunteer, with a diversity of Christian traditions linked in our common purpose, and to honour their calling and encourage the fullest expression of their gifts.

• Obey our Lord's mandate that all His people should be one, and therefore to work cooperatively within the Church of Jesus Christ around the world, so that more young people may be reached.

• The highest standards of ethical stewardship of all resources placed in our trust.



Young Life Australia Statement of Faith

Opening
All those who participate in the ongoing work and witness of the mission shall be in agreement with its central purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to qualify for office, members of the Board of Directors, members of staff, and volunteers, shall subscribe to the following articles of faith.

Article I
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments being given by divine inspiration, is the word of God, the final and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

Article II
In the Scriptures God reveals Himself as the living and true God, Creator of all things. Perfect in love and righteous in all His ways this one God exists eternally as a Trinity of persons: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Article III
God made man in His image that he might have fellowship with Him. Being estranged from God by his disobedience, sinful man is incapable of a right relationship to God apart from divine grace.

Article IV
The only Mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ our Lord, God's eternal Son, who as man fully shared and fulfilled our humanity in a life of perfect obedience.

Article V
By His death in our place, Jesus revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having risen bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, He rules as Lord over all and intercedes for us as our great high priest.

Article VI
The Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the gospel, renews our hearts, persuading us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit we are led to trust in divine mercy, whereby we are forgiven all our sins, justified by faith through the merit of Christ our Saviour, adopted into God's family as His children and enabled so to live in the world that men may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

Article VII
God by His word and Spirit calls sinful men into the fellowship of Christ's body. Thus He creates the one holy, catholic and apostolic church, united in the bonds of love, endowed with the gifts of the Spirit and summoned by Christ to preach the gospel and to administer the sacraments, to relieve human need and to strive for social justice.

Article VIII
God's redemptive purpose will be consummated by the return of Christ to raise the dead, judge all men and establish His glorious kingdom. Those who are apart from Christ shall be eternally separated from God's presence, but the righteous shall live and reign with Him forever.

Wow, these guys are hard core:

Article I
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments being given by divine inspiration, is the word of God, the final and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

Does that means that all children under their care MUST be taught in the way of the old testament? *shudder*

And this is a position at a state taxpayer funded school!
https://ntharmss.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx

Are you shitting me??

Dave.