The major churches of NSW have made submissions to the State Government's review of ethics classes, objecting to the extension of the trial to SRE students.
Presentations came from the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, the interdenominational SRE committee ICCOREIS, the Catholic Church and Presbyterian Youth.
The Anglican submission concludes that problems with the trial mean it cannot be used as a sound basis for the introduction of the classes in all schools.
Despite public statements from Education Minister Verity Firth that the ethics classes were simply an effort to occupy students who did not attend SRE, the trial went ahead including students who already attended Scripture.
The submission also argues public confusion was caused by labelling the lessons as "ethics', when the classes really focused on the process of philosophical inquiry.
There was no actual ethical or moral instruction given during the lessons.
However, the submission also suggests that if the Government is determined to push through a parallel program of non-religious lessons at primary level, a very carefully prepared further trial of "humanist philosophy" should be undertaken, involving a truly representative sample of schools across the state, before any Government decision is made.
