Graham Stanton teaches youth ministry in the Diocese of Sydney and has an item on the Sydney Anglicans site that caught my eye. I don’t know the background to it fully but it seems that doing religious education in schools (something required by the government in the UK I know and perhaps in Australia as well) is under pressure from secular pluralists. A beautiful and thoughtful case is made for why it is important…
I’ve been reading a book recently by Tim Chester where he uses a story from Greek mythology as an illustration of how the gospel draws us toward godliness and away from sin:
In Greek mythology the Sirens would sing enchanting songs, drawing sailors irresistibly towards the rocks and certain shipwreck. Odysseus filled his crew’s ears with wax and had them tie him to the mast… Orpheus, on the other hand, played such beautiful music on his harp that his sailors ignored the seductions of the Siren Song.
It got me thinking about the SRE vs Ethics debate – we need to sing a more wonderful song.
Gillian Davis is a full time SRE teacher at Bulli High School in northern Wollongong. She’s been teaching Scripture in primary and secondary schools for the past fifteen years. Here are her ten verses of SRE’s more wonderful song:
1. For a biblically illiterate generation, SRE helps students understand the God of the Bible from the true source, and not the Simpsons, the Media or a disgruntled opponent.
2. Consequently students who attend SRE can become more tolerant and understanding of people of any faith, and less prejudiced and hostile.
3. Through understanding the ethical and moral foundations in the Bible, SRE students are able to grasp the origin of our country’s laws, values and ethics.
4. SRE enables students to grasp the important reality that values always stem from a belief system. SRE then helps the students identify and critique their own belief systems.
5. Considering that the large majority of the world’s population adhere to a faith, SRE equips students for entering such a world with an understanding of faith that is fair, respectful and educationally informed.
Read the rest here
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