Tag Archives: chaplaincy program

It's on! Williams to return to the High Court on Chaplaincy Issue

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Reblogged from Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear:

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Ron Williams and his solicitor, Claude Bilinsky, announced today that Williams will challenge the legislation recently enacted to 'work around' the High Court's decision in Williams vs the Commonwealth and Others, otherwise known as the 'chaplaincy challenge'.

I don't think most people realise the seriousness of the action taken by our parliamentary representatives in their haste to throw yet more tax payers' money at the likes of Scripture Union and Access Ministries.

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Ron Williams needs $300,000 to cover the cost of the challenge. That would be $75 for each of the 4000 atheists who attended the Global Atheist Convention. So that's how much I donated. If you dug deep and paid out for the GAC, you should dig just as deep for this! It's important. You can donate at http://www.highcourtchallenge.com

Constitutionally Invalid

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We’ve had a win for the separation of church and state: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-20/high-court-upholds-chaplaincy-challenge/4081456

It makes no sense at all to have religious counselors in a public school. How can a chaplain of one religion effectively counsel children who may be of completely different faiths or beliefs? How is a chaplain of the homophobic brand of Christianity (or Islam for that matter) going to help out a teenager struggling with the troubles of homosexuality? How are they going to help a troubled atheist child without being tempted to tell them that they have to find god and pray and that’ll fix everything?

They can’t.

There should only be trained, professional, secular counselors in public schools.

It’s not a comprehensive victory though. As I understand it, the ruling was that the program could not be federally funded, not that the program couldn’t continue. So it might continue, if the individual states choose to fund it themselves, or if they find some other loophole for the funding.