Say No To Chaplains Campaign

The Say No To Chaplains Campaign is all about Aussies standing up for secular education.

Australia has a school program called the National School Chaplaincy Program.

This program, funded by the taxpayer, finances religious leaders (priests, chaplains, pastors, etc.) in the school system. While they aren't supposed to provide counseling, apparently and according the web site linked above, they have no qualms about breaking that rule and doing so openly.

My question is, If they aren't supposed to provide counseling, and I agree they shouldn't because they lack the qualifications, what are they doing there?

Religious education and guidance can and should be provided in the church, mosque, synagogue, temple, etc. Why do they need to be lurking in the hallways of our secular schools?

In the meantime, and according to the web site, the ratio of qualified counselors available to students in the Australian School system is suffering greatly.

Of course the intelligent, rational and reasonable thing to do, under the circumstances, is to transfer the funding from the NSCP and use it to fund more trained and qualified counselors.

It really isn't rocket science.

Religious instruction belongs in the associated religious institutions and the burden of the cost of this instruction belongs to the religious.

Making the taxpayer pay for religious instruction and guidance is nothing more than a fraudulent con job based on political expediency and the desire to buy votes.

And it's not something the taxpayer can afford to be subsidizing in this era of economic instability, nor should it ever be subsidized even if the taxpayer could afford it.

It's time the religious financed their own institutions and programs.

And it's time we tossed the special privilege card that we have given religion into the trash.