In Victoria, Australia, the Uniting Church has called for an end to all secular eduction. According to the Uniting Church, intolerance and disrespect are the consequences of children's education not being religious.

The Age reports:

The question of whether the secular nature of government schools should be affirmed in legislation is part of the State Government's wide-ranging review of education and training laws. The Uniting Church's submission, prepared by its Commission for Mission, is in contrast to those by other Christian bodies, which say the secular principle of the government school system should remain.

The 1958 Education Act provides that "no teacher . . . shall give any instruction other than secular instruction in any state school building".

Secular education doesn't make one intolerant; quite often, it is religious education that makes one intolerant because it teaches that one religion is superior to all others. Secular education, by contrast, doesn't take sides and creates the possibility for a common basis of education and public policy. People of different religions can meet and work together with secular standards that are common between them.

I think that it is good if secular schools teach about religion, but that can't be the only thing the Uniting Church seeks because simply teaching about religion doesn't mean that a school isn't secular. For a school not to be secular, it must promote religion and have religion as a basis for its mission. Secular schools are themselves the basis for a secular society and a secular government; for the Uniting Church to oppose them makes them seem as though they also seek an end to a secular Australia.

Read More:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Church and State News
• Secularism 101