Unless you have sent a child to a public school in New South Wales, you won't have come face-to-face with the madness that is known as 'non-scripture'.
For one hour each week, usually first thing in the morning during prime learning time, every public primary school in the state must divide its students into different faiths to receive 'special religious education' (SRE) from a wide assortment of adults, known collectively as 'scripture teachers'.
If a parent wants their child to opt out of SRE, that child is not entitled, under existing education policy, to any instruction during this period. The policy specifically states that learning in the areas of 'ethics, values, civics or general religious education' must not occur.
These non-scripture children are supervised in classrooms, school halls, and corridors. In many schools, even access to the library is prevented in order to ensure these children don't learn anything that their SRE counterparts might miss out on.
The policy relating to scripture classes dates back to a century-old agreement between the churches and the state of NSW. When the state made a bid to assume the primary responsibility for education, the churches agreed, on the condition that one hour each week be reserved exclusively for scripture education.
While there is little doubt that this agreement would have reflected community sentiment at the time, it is not relevant today in NSW where an estimated 25 per cent of students sit idle each week. In some schools, the opt out rate is as high as 80 per cent and teachers must stop their classes while just a few students leave to attend scripture.
In Australia's 2001 Census of Population and Housing, 20.7 per cent of people described their religious affiliation as Anglican, 26.6 per cent as Catholic, 20.7 per cent as other Christian, 4.9 per cent as other religions, 15.5 per cent as having no religion and 11.7 per cent as not stated or inadequately described.
Schools that have very high opt out rates usually have a parent body that is unhappy with the quality of religious instruction in their affiliated faiths or else there is no access to education from their own faiths.
In 2003, St James Ethics Centre in Sydney was approached by individual parents and the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations in NSW to create a secular, ethics-based course to serve as an alternative to scripture. Andrew Refshauge,