RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Good morning ,

Maeve Mcgregor has written a fantastic rant about the state of school funding in this country. Deserves to be shared far and wide. How did we get to the point where we have the most segregated schooling 'system' (in reality, three systems) in the Western world and even then, it's failing? Answer: the power and political influence of the Catholic and Anglican churches. Nationalise the lot of them, I say!

Lead stories

One of the best rants about the state of school funding in this country I've ever read: "one of the most segregated education systems in the Western world .. a series of blighted needs-blind, sector-based political settlements .. by pathologising the public school system as a whole, it summons a future in which the responsibility for schooling lies increasingly with the private sector, with public schools reduced to little more than a crude safety net for the poor .. every attack on public education is more than a national disgrace. It’s an attack on our democracy and it’s an attack on our country." 

On your behalf, we've raised with defence ministers the appropriateness of army chaplains wearing insignia on their official uniforms that say, "In this Sign Conquer" over a Maltese Cross. Cognitive dissonance: religious chaplains blessing those whose job it is to go off to other countries and kill people.

Whaatt? Under a proposal to reform the Israeli legal system, rabbinic courts would be granted the power to officiate on civil issues, giving them equal status to the secular justice system! Which is more of a theocracy, Israel or Saudi Arabia?

Other stories of interest

Kindergarten will be free in Queensland from next year

One small step...

Germany and its churches wrangle over Napoleon's asset grab 

Fascinating: the current German govt wants to pay a final one-off compensation to the Catholic and Protestant churches, compulsorily appropriated by Napolean at the beginning of the 19th century!

Germany launches €200 culture ticket for 18-year-olds

Competitive, neo-liberalism is not the only way!

Got a comment on any of these stories? 

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au

PS: Please let others know about the RSA and RSA Daily. 

Send them this issue and suggest they subscribe ...

View this email as a webpage