Hey, so I’m on uni break at the moment, thought I’d take the time to catch up on my blog.
Today I wanted to post a feature article I wrote for my Journalism course. So essentially killing to birds with one stone.
It’s about society’s ignorance towards religion, faith pluralism and the idea of teaching diverse religions in schools. Sound familiar? If you read one of my previous blogs you’d know I’ve already written something similar and that’s because this feature story stemmed from that post and many of its elements were inspired in writing the article. In other words, as my tutor went around the room asking all the students what they were writing their article on I freaked out as I obviously hadn’t thought that far ahead so I used my blog as my pretend idea. To my surprise she fell in love with the concept and told me to continue on that angle. So I did. Enjoy!
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Australia’s lack of Religious Awareness
I once attended my weekly school chapel service in year 10 (four years ago) where the chaplain stated, “If you believe in a religion other than Christianity and you do not believe in God you are going to go to hell”. As an atheist I was offended, but not very affected by this inconsiderate comment. The Muslim boy next to me however folded his arms across his face and began to cry. I sat there in shocked as he was escorted out of the gymnasium. How did a well- educated man of such authority and influence believe it was okay to inform an audience of children that many of them will be spending an eternity in hell? And how did this happen only a few years ago in a time often referred to as a “modern society of multiculturalism”?
Our society has seen a lot of issues in recent times as a result of religious ignorance. Issues as small as narrow minded, disrespectful Facebook posts, to the extreme racism causing events such as the infamous Cronulla riots. Respect, tolerance, understanding and acceptance. It might sound obvious to some but somehow much of society just can’t grasp this idea. Atheism, Catholicism and Anglicanism reign our current “secular” society it terms of religious adherents. A member of one of these beliefs may have its disagreements with the other but ultimately will feel safe to practice and share their beliefs within the bounds of our country. Other religions however may not be as lucky to find this comfort.
On Sunday, 11 December 2005 approximately 5,000 people gathered at Cronulla beach. The protest turned violent when over 270,000 individual textmessages were sent throughout Sydney “This Sunday, every Aussie in the Shire get down to North Cronulla to support the Leb and Wog bashing day.” Alan Jones, a well-known Australian radio presenter encouraged this social tension with on air comments such as “What kind of grubs? Well I’ll tell you what kind of grubs this lot were. This lot were middle eastern grubs.” By the end of the day 26 people were treated for injuries though the reputation of Australia was and still is injured to this day due the inconceivable events that took place on that day and the ignorant ideologies behind it.
For another example, the more recent anti-Semitic attacks in Bondi during October 2013 where four men and a woman were assaulted walking home from the synagogue. An article from the ABC quoted a hospital spokesmen from the incident “You certainly don’t come to Bondi and expect that,” he said.
“Maybe in Germany in the 1930s and Russia in the 1970s but certainly in Sydney, Australia, Bondi you just don’t expect an unprovoked attack.”
The religious tension in Australia is clearly still prevalent and must stop. Not only is faith pluralism imperative for basic human rights reasons but is necessary as Australia has become highly multi- cultural and multi-religious over the past few decades. The Australian Bureau of Statistics report found that the numbers of those included in the “Other Religion” category, meaning a religion other than Christianity including Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism, were on the rise.Increasing by 34.6% between 1996 and 2001 alone and this number will only continue to rise.
Australia is a secular country and is one of the least religious nations in the developed world. More specifically, Australia’s youths, where they ranked as the least religious worldwide. I recently spoke to social commentator and blogger Fatima Meashamwhere she allowed me to quote an article she had written on the topic “the biggest obstacle for young believers today is not temptation or excess but “the mockery and contempt from non-believers. It seems that you can be more easily forgiven for being a drunken lout, than for calling for prayer for victims of disaster.”
Nathan Tuckwell, a high school Anglican minister from Glenmore Park Anglican Church has been providing scripture teaching to Glenmore Park High School students. Students can attend these meetings during lunchtime where they can practice their faith in a safe environment. However, this may be due to the Anglican faith being the second largest religion in Australia after Catholicism (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011). In many Australian schools, students are given the option to participate in weekly scripture where they focus on one religion. The issue here is narrowing the information to a single religion instead of teaching a diverse range of multi-religions. I interviewed Nathan Tuckwell for a personal view from an evangelical Christian’s perspective. He claims “It’s important for students to be widely educated about the many religions that exist in our society and world, so that they learn to be truly tolerant.” “They would learn about the different belief systems and so learn to live peacefully in such a multi religious society and world.” It’s not about hoping to convert or influence a child’s faith; it’s about creating social cohesion by encouraging the use of open-mindedness.
Had the proud Cronulla residents been exposed to these diverse cultures through education of multi-culture and multi-religion could these events have been prevented? Could future similar acts of discrimination be stopped by simply providing our next generation with knowledge and awareness? Perhaps the Muslim boy from year 10 could grow up and send his children to a school that won’t discourage their religion but in fact encourage their practices and beliefs.
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