More than a question of right and wrong

Oblivious to the culture war … Michelia Yu, 10, and Lillian Lockett, 10, in the ethics class at Leichhardt Primary School, which is one of the 10 schools participating in the trial. Photo: Peter RaeWhile adults wrangle over ethics, the children know what's what, writes Jacqueline Maley. While discussing the subject of ''vice and virtue'', the students in the Leichhardt Primary ethics class compiled a list of things 10-year-olds consider wicked – stealing pencil cases, telling secrets and lying to secure the last piece of birthday cake.The litany of sins, carefully devoid of any reference to religious morality, was unintentionally sweet because while children furrow their brows over these issues, adults are clashing over their right to do so.The trial in 10 NSW schools of secular ethics classes, held as an alternative to special religious education (SRE), has sparked a culture war. It has pitted the faithful against the secular, church against state, and parent against parent. The debate has sparked allegations of lying and scare-mongering from both sides, and feeds into wider anxiety about the forces of militant atheism and the power of church lobby groups.''The public debate is becoming so polarised, right down to the local school community level,'' says Jeremy Halcrow, the editor of the Anglican newspaper Southern Cross and a commentator on Anglican issues.''For the sake of our children, we need to take the heat out of the issue. There are voices on both sides of the debate that are quite hysterical.''While faith groups have varying views on the trial, the Catholic and Anglican churches have led the opposition to it.Cardinal George Pell, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, has criticised the classes, and Peter Ingham, the Catholic Bishop of Wollongong, believes they should not be offered in direct competition with scripture classes. (A Herald reader panel published today shows 65 per cent of readers disagree with him. They believe students should be able to attend both classes. Only 3 per cent believe only scripture classes should be held.)The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, lobbied the Premier, Kristina Keneally, on the subject and the Reverend Zac Veron, the chief executive of the Anglican youth organisation YouthWorks, says to call the classes ''ethics'' is misleading, because they do not teach children right from wrong.He believes biblical literacy is important to ensure a tolerant and well-educated society.But many parents believe the churches' strong opposition boils down to fear that they will lose influence over young hearts and minds. The Sydney Anglican Church in particular has a strong evangelistic mission and some commentators believe it sees scripture classes as a ripe recruitment ground.''I think the church groups are used to that guaranteed clientele and support base and are worried about how the future will go without it,'' says Ophelia Cowell, a mother and ethics teacher at Darlinghurst Primary.One comment on the Facebook page supporting the trial puts it more strongly: ''The churches' arguments are weak for a very simple reason: they can't publicly admit the real reason for their opposition to the ethics program,'' writes Liza Poppert, a videographer and atheist.''The churches would be well aware that there are many children currently participating in SRE because their parents either don't want them doing nothing, or don't want them to feel left out … as soon as an alternative is viable, they will lose access to these children forever.''The importance of young souls is acknowledged, at least obliquely, on the website created by Youthworks in response to the trial. It quotes research showing that 74 per cent of Christians become so before the age of 20. ''SRE provides valuable space for young people to ask questions that matter to them and to engage in a search for answers and meaning in the context of a Christian world view,'' it states.Veron agrees that scripture classes are an important part of the church's evangelistic mission. ''As is any opportunity the Christians have to tell others about the good news contained in the Bible,'' he says. He believes the ethics classes have been unfairly promoted as superior to Scripture classes and says that while the Education Department agreed they would be offered only to children who had already opted out of scripture classes, they were offered to everyone.As a result, the Anglicans say they have seen children move from scripture classes to the secular alternative. They have lost 47 per cent of students from Anglican scripture in the schools participating in the trial.''All the parents of the year 5 and 6 students in those schools were invited to have their children attend the courses,'' Veron says. ''A local Anglican minister or Muslim cleric does not have that same right, to invite all the students individually.''Veron does not accept the ''twiddling of thumbs'' argument that many parents have advanced as the justification for the ethics class – that children in non-scripture are left to watch videos or pick up rubbish, wasting time when they could be learning something.''Twiddling of thumbs is not acceptable [but] it's a management issue. We would encourage supervision or library time,'' he says.Would he be happy with any form of non-religious instruction during scripture time?''Physical education is important. Mathematics is important. Would you put them in the same time slot?'' he says in response.''No, because there's something about physical education that's important, so you need to set aside time for it. The same principle applies to SRE.''Halcrow says the issue is red hot among Christians, with many worried that the government is seeking to marginalise scripture. Others worry about the moral relativism of the ethics course, where nothing is wrong and nothing is right.''Some church leaders are far more comfortable with the idea of an overtly humanist course in the SRE timeslot,'' he says.At the end of this term, in three weeks, the department will review the trial and present its findings to the Education Minister, Verity Firth. She will decide whether the classes will become permanent.Both sides will no doubt continue to joust over the trial, and accuse each other of unethical – and even immoral – behaviour.Perhaps it is an issue for the pupils of Leichhardt Primary.