Australian School religion classes probed

An investigation has been promised into Access Ministries, which provides religious education in government schools in the state of Victoria. A recording of a speech made by its CEO in 2008 reveals that, in contravention of guidelines that forbid proselytising in schools, Access Ministries is in the business of converting school kids to christianity.

Her speech includes the following statement:

'In Australia, we have a God-given open door to children and young people with the Gospel, our federal and state governments allow us to take the Christian faith into our schools and share it. We need to go and make disciples,'' she told the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion national conference in Melbourne. ''What really matters is seizing the God-given opportunity we have to reach kids in schools.''

 Probably more shocking is the fact that these ministries are financially supported by both the state and federal governments:

The Victorian government announced an extra $200,000 a year to Access Ministries in this month's budget to fund 196 chaplains. This brings the total state government contribution to $500,000 a year for four years.

The national school chaplaincy program, introduced by the Howard government, also received a $222 million boost in this week's federal budget, to fund chaplains for up to 3700 schools by 2014.