The Australian Christian Lobby has called on Queensland Education Minister Kate Jones to clarify what they characterise as “confusion caused by departmental bureaucrats banning children from talking about Jesus in the playground”.
Ms Jones said in a statement on Thursday that there had been no changes to religious instruction policy in Queensland and that “No one is telling a child what they can and can’t say in the playground.” Her comments followed reports that education officials in the state had moved to ban references to Jesus in the primary school yard.
The ACL welcomed the statement from Ms Jones but said that departmental directives telling principals to crack down on kids talking about Jesus have not been rescinded.
“It seems that bureaucrats have over-reached and I am glad the minister has recognised this,” said Wendy Francis, the organisation’s Queensland director. “But parents, children and principals need clarity over the status of department reviews which take a hostile approach to Christianity.”
Ms Francis said it was “hard to understand” what unelected bureaucrats feared from children “talking about Jesus, exchanging Christmas cards with nativity scenes and with Christmas decorations featuring angels”.
“Whether people are Christian or not, most Australians would be surprised that governments are cracking down on Christianity in this heavy-handed way.”
