There is a very important issue ‘invading' our schools at the moment: The National School Chaplaincy Program. It is important because it borders the separation between Church and State. Every parent who has a child in school will certainly have heard, or will hear, of it. In this article, I am going to briefly introduce the nature of this program and mention some numbers to illustrate the type of investment that we, as tax payers, have provided to the program. Thereafter, we will discuss whether this Program should continue or not.

When I was thirteen years of age, my family migrated to Australia. I liked the fact that Australia was secular. Religion seemed to play little role in politics and in people's lives in general. In the years that followed, Australia continued to remain secular and as far as I was aware, religion did not play a major part in politics. I was always confident that other people's beliefs would never affect me, confident that religion will continue to remain separate from the laws of the land that ruled me and so many Australians. Now, I am no longer sure.

Overseas, there has been a worrying trend of religious institutions attempting to hijack governments and have laws changed to ones that suit their beliefs. This is made possible by providing simple-minded, outdated arguments to complex issues faced by societies. Unfortunately, these theocratic ideologies have arrived here in Australia.

(In Australian English)

The Vice-Chancellor of The Australian Catholic University wrote an article referring to atheists as part of a plague, an infestation. Marquez Comelab warns us against the dangers of religious groups having the tendency to dehumanise any group of people who contradict their religion.

On the 24^th of November 2008, the U.N. passed a draft resolution against blasphemy. On Thursday, 26^th of March, it was passed as a ?non-binding? resolution: a step closer to being a binding resolution. In this article, Marquez Comelab, author of The Tyranny Of God, asks who really needs protection from whom? This is not about protecting people from other people. This is about taking away our right to think for ourselves and to speak our minds.

Article was published in the International Humanist News (UK), May 2009 Edition.

Following the release of the film: The Passion Of The Christ, we should take this opportunity to remember what it was that Jesus Christ may have died for. Perhaps we can re-think and re-learn the message He had been trying to tell us two thousand years ago.