This week, two radio programs addressing the increasingly vexed question of whether secular government schools should allow the teaching of “Scripture” – ie, indoctrination in the doctrine of particular religions.

Perhaps stung by the previous week’s Earshot program on the topic (see below), Natasha Mitchell addressed the issue on her Life Matters program on Friday 6 Feb.

Should there be Scripture classes in government schools?

This included gems like[list type=”check”]

• child asks “How did God get his powers?” Scripture volunteer answer: “Well, really, because God is God. And because God is the name of the person who made everything … He is the one with all power … and, yes, God invented words.”
• and a caller tells how a Scripture volunteer who is also a Chaplain has been handing out “virginity contracts” to children as young as 6 (I kid you not) – listen at minute 38.15.
• and another caller says how he had to stop a Scripture volunteer getting kids to chant “Turn or Burn” – which meant “turn to God or burn in Hell”.

[/list]

This came just days after Kylie Gray did another program, on the new Radio National flagship program “Earshot”, called “Does God belong in schools? – a program clearly sympathetic to the idea.

You can also peruse the Facebook discussion here.