The Real Education Divide (It's Not Public Or Private)

A slightly off topic post today.

Post Gonski report I've seen a lot written about the "educational divide" in Australia. Almost all of these articles, I think, falsely put this divide between public schools and private schools. There is a divide but it is not here.

From 2003-2009 one of the roles I had in my job was to give seminars in high schools. The topic (drugs and alcohol) was pretty universal so it meant I got to visit and interact with students and teachers from the most elite private schools through to students in the most notorious public schools.

At the time I had very young children so I was often thinking would I send my child to this school? Having been educated in a public school I always thought that this is exactly what I would do with my own children. That was until I came across the education divide.

There is an education divide and it is not across the private and public divide but purely across the socio-economic divide. Really there are three tiers. Tier 1: Elite private schools: these are the ones with high fees, each kid has to bring their own laptop and the year 11 excursion will be somewhere in. Tier 2: Public schools in affluent areas and low fee private schools. Tier 3: Public schools in poorer areas.

In my job it got to the point where I was pretty confident I could be helicoptered in and could tell which tier a school fell into. I've seen 2nd tier public schools with architecturally designed facades, landscaped gardens, excellent IT resources and even a gym (one good enough to charge the public to use). Above all these schools (public and private) had experienced teachers and students who have grown up in a family where education was valued, it was seen as highly important that students do well and students were asked to think about what university course they will do.

On the other hand I've seen schools in the third tier where there was a 10cm floor to ceiling gap a the staff room. A staff room where the broken fridge was used as a cupboard and the microwave was used to boil water because the kettle was broken too. I've been told not to use words on a  power point presentation for year 11 students because "they don't read" (yes that is a quote). The teachers were a mixture of new teachers (you can't just get a job at a school in an affluent area), not particularly good burnt out older teachers, and experienced older teachers who choose to stay at a school in a poorer area. These teachers often have low expectations for their students trying earnestly to funnel them in to a trade. They are often exasperated, teaching students who come from families who do not feel that they benefited much from their own education and don't believe their children will benefit much from theirs.

This divide becomes even more pronounced with proliferation of low fee private schools. Many parents like me have chosen to put our kids in to a lower fee private school (a school chosen in part because it achieved similar Naplan results to the public primary school I went to as a child). This means that where there might have been 15 kids in a class who's parents have high expectations on what their child might achieve at school, there might be only 5. I believe this profoundly shifts the culture of a school. The greater the percentage of students who don't have a strong motivation to learn from home teachers either lower expectations or burn themselves out trying to motivate a whole class to do better. These burnt out teachers will eventually move to a school where this motivation is instilled in a higher majority of students - that is, usually a school in a more affluent area. As these things happen the reputation of a school falls and parents avoid sending their kids to the school. It's a spiralling ever widening divide.

Personally I am currently looking at moving out of the area I live in. Schooling is a big factor in the decision and when buying a new house I'll be adding the cost of two private school educations on top of the cost of any house outside the boundary a 2nd tier public school.

Scripture Classes and Chaplains in High Schools

If you are one of my friends who sends me save our chaplains or scripture classes you may be disappointed by this post so maybe just stop reading now. Also, this was supposed to be a short pithy post but it's not, Sorry.

When I went to high school we didn't have a chaplain and we hardly ever had scripture classes. Twenty years ago, as far as I knew It was only private Xn schools who had chaplains. Public high schools were supposed to dedicate one period a week to scripture classes. The school I attended finished one period early every Friday because a previous principal had just got rid of scripture altogether. By the time i was attended the school scripture happened once every six weeks or so much to the annoyance of the teacher who's class scripture cut into. Most people did not turn up to scripture and I always sighed a small sigh of relief every time my non Xn friends wagged scripture because at a time when being cool was really important nothing made Xy seem more uncool than scripture.

Without scripture and a chaplain Xy thrived at our school. At one point 10% of the school attended the weekly lunchtime meeting for ISCF (Inter School Christian Fellowship) a student led Christian meeting that was overseen by just one teacher. As great as Mr Bradley was the real key to the large number of Xns at my school was, I think, the strength of the local churches. My church for example had a weekly high school youth group with 24 volunteer leaders (split over 2 groups) who would faithfully turn up every week. This was not a mega church but a medium sized parish church. With that kind of role modeling by the time it was my turn as 16 year old to be one of the ISCF leaders it didn't seem daunting at all.

If you had asked me if I wanted scripture to be taught every week I would have said “no”, asked me if i wanted a chaplain at the school I would have said “no” too.

For me the beauty of the Friday lunchtime ISCF meeting was that it was "opt in", purely the students own choice. Scripture on the other hand was "opt out" (if you could convince your parent to write a note) otherwise it was compulsory.

Fast forward 20 years to now and the same well-meaning daggy scripture teachers are doing their best to jump the generation gap (for those 23 and over) or the credibility gap (for those 23 and under) and I'm still unsure if it's the best thing people could be doing, especially without a really well people resourced youth ministry at the local church.

Perhaps another fact of the current debate that I struggle with is that pro scripture / chaplaincy people often talk as if either program is a constituted right and not an absolute privilege. Anyone who knows me knows that I've done quite a lot of Xn stuff in schools but I have always done those things with an absolute sense of privilege to be invited onto school grounds.

Chaplains, is another fascinating and different issue. As soon as the policy was introduced I was sure it wouldn't last longer than one election cycle. I was wrong. The Dictionary definition of a chaplain: A member of the clergy who conducts religious services for an institution, such as a prison or hospital. The Government definition of a school chaplain: is a basically a youth worker who will not engage in religious activities. General public definition of a chaplain: Well that'll depend on who you speak to... It'll be some combination of the above.

Personally I'm off the opinion that mixing Xy and government is like mixing ice-cream with dog poo. The dog poo (government) stays pretty much the same but the ice-cream (Xy) gets ruined.

At the moment we have someone chosen to do a job on religious grounds (although recent legislation has been passed to change this) and then instructed to do nothing religious. The political idea is that church wins because it gets to feel like it's doing something by having a "Xn presence" in every high school and the government hopes that non-Xn voters don’t mind as the chaplains are not allowed to do anything religious.

If were to rename chaplains "under paid Christians happy to help out an under resourced over stretched education system" I'd have no problem with that. The problem is that we are calling these workers chaplains and misrepresenting what they are actually doing.

The point of the chaplaincy program is to buy votes and the Xn community is buying up big because we can see how disconnected young people are from Xy and from church. We think that sticking chaplains in schools or keeping scripture compulsory will get kids back in church. Of far more value would be 24 adults willing to commit to meeting weekly with a group of high school aged young people once a week every week of the school term. This is highly unlikely as we (voting Xn adults) are so committed to other things. This is what I think really needs to change.

After 9 11 We Need An Angry God - Some Thoughts 10 Years On

The usual wisdom is that it was belief in an angry god is what caused a handful of people to get into planes and crash into skyscrapers and then caused a much larger group of people to get into many more planes and drop bombs on to people who lived in countries which were kind of close to the country where most of the first handful of people came from.

Furthermore, an often remarked criticism of the Bible is that in the God of the Old Testament is full of anger but the god of the new testament is full of love. This criticism is supposed to be a debate clinching argument because we, as a society, believe that you can't be both full of anger and full of love and that anger is an altogether bad emotion. If you were to hear someone say "my child has anger issues" no one will turn around and say "that's great you must be so proud". Instead there might be a bit of consoling about similar issues in their own children and how that anger might have been subdued through a combination of therapy and medication.

Our ideal citizen does not have "anger issues", our ideal citizen swims with the tide of the way the world is and learns to accept things as they are. Less than ideal citizens would include Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero and Jesus. All angry. Angry about the way their people had been treated by the ruling authorities. All full of anger and full of love. Key of course is that that they were angry and non-violent. And it is non-violence that is key to understanding the gospel.

As I look around at the litany of injustices in the world I am angry and I am sure God must feel the same. I contend that God did not just pour out Gods anger on Jesus making God satisfied and unmoved by the events of our world. Maybe instead God has channelled God's anger into an act of non-violence. The act of becoming a man and laying down his life for others in the crucifixion. An act that would be a window into a new paradigm a paradigm where violence loses and love wins because the grave could not hold Jesus.

God is still angry and God is calling us to follow the Jesus path of non-violence. Our anger is to fuel loving acts of non-violent action.

Like the terrorists on 9/11 I sense that something is unfair in the world and I want that to change. We both believe that God is angry about these injustices. The difference between us is that the anger of my God causes God to humble God's self to the form of a man who would act out love and not violence even if that meant death on a cross.

Ten years on if you are angry about 911 or about the west's response or that the 911 anniversary will receive more attention than starving millions in the horn of Africa, then join God and follow Jesus on the path of non-violent action in a new paradigm where violence loses and love wins.

Refugees

I've written to both Liberal and Labor candidates in my electorate telling them I'm disappointed with their policies on refugees and I haven't heard a thing back from either of them. Frustrating. I could post statistics about the issue but two funny guys works just as well.

Jesus All About What?

Last month The Spirit of Things discussed the Jesus All About Life campaign. It's something I have to admit I've completely missed. Apart from a few friends who changed their logo on Facebook to a logo I could only just read if I squinted I haven't seen anything. None the less I got to hear all about it on this interview. What really struck me in the interview was this passage.

Rachael Kohn: Daniel, to be serious though, I mean isn't it a Christian imperative to change the world for the better? That is, being there for the people who live in very degraded circumstances?

Daniel Willis: Sure. And the thing about that is that in order to present that, or to go down that track, people actually need to be in a relationship with Jesus. So if they aren't already in a relationship with Jesus, then how are they going to bring that Christian value, that Christian ethic, that Christian morality to bear on the situations in another country? Just this morning, I was listening to a news broadcast about adoption, where they're adopting children from foreign countries, from Third World countries, and the devastation that that is causing, the wrong way that that's being approached.

Unless we have an understanding of who Jesus is, what he said, and how we should deal with one another, then we can't send people from our country out to deal with situations like that adoption issue because they might go out and do exactly what the other country was doing in exploiting that situation.

So this means that the only people who have a problem with Westerners ripping cute African kids out of their adopted families are Xns? I don't think so.

I find it hard to believe that Xn people are still stuck in a believe then act paradigm. It got me thinking does this person actually know any non Xn people? Personally most non Xn people I know well have strong ethical ideas. What they might not have is a spiritual framework to put those ethics in.

Maybe rather than ads thanking Jesus for V-neck guitars and sleep ins, an add like this might be more appropriate.

I want a cleaner planet,
I want to house the homeless,
I want to stop war,
I want to end injustice.
Jesus prayed "Your Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven"
Get on board with what God is doing and be part of changing the
world.

Sympathy for The Devil

I have never been a fan of Kyle Sandilands. But, I can’t help but feeling that in the furor over the incident on his breakfast show that some key things were missed. What was most shocking for me in the whole incident was not Sandilands reaction but...

1. That a 12 year old had been raped.
2. That a 14 year old was put under a lie detector test and asked questions about her sex life.
3. The question about her sex life was being asked by her mother who the daughter had already told about the incident.

I assume that after the revelation that she had been raped the "is that your only experience" question he asked was probably a way of trying to affirm that she was not sexually active teenager, which is what the mother's question was trying to find out. The incident was unquestionably badly handled but, in the heat of live comedy radio I think many might have done the same. I have some sympathy for Sandliands who is being crucified while all the other issues are being ignored.

I think the media can do better than concentrate on just one element of this story.

Watchmen and Trying to Solve the World’s Problems

Recently a friend and I went to see the Watchmen and have a coffee where we planned to solve the world problems (that’s kind of what we always talk about doing).

Reviews for the Watchmen seem to be either 1 star and below or 4 stars and above. I can see why the film splits people. It looks and sounds amazing and is very faithful to the original text, which has rave reviews itself. However the watchmen universe is a hard one to get your head around and immerse yourself in.

The film ends with an event that galvanizes enemies together to achieve a common goal. Over coffee my friend and I wondered why is it that we can't get along or work together without some galvanizing event. Why is it we are full of compassion for people who are homeless because of the recent bushfires in Australia but probably don’t think twice about people homeless in our own city. Or why is it that when you go on a camp or similar that a disparate group of people can get along like best friends yet when you take away the camp yet when they leave that camp they'll get on as badly as everyone else. It’s as if we are able to put differences aside in some circumstances but prepared to come to blows over them in others. Why aren’t global warming and poverty similar galvanizing events that make us forget our petty differences?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Next time you think you hear someone say "reduce, reuse, recycle" listen carefully to see if "reduce" is actually there. The last couple of times I have heard a corporate entity use "reduce, reuse, recycle" they've replaced "reduce" with "renew" or some other synonym for "reuse" or "recycle". Why? because "reduce" means "buy less stuff" which no corporate entity wants to tell you to do. What's more if you "reduce" there's no need to ''reuse or recycle". ''Reduce" is surely the most important as it is about the way we live. "Reuse" and "recycle" are just about what we do with our junk. I'm all for buying less and living with less.

What's Wrong With Me? - Alcohol

What does it take for a complete stranger to ask what's "wrong with you?" Chastising your kids in public, nearly causing a car accident? No, alcohol.

I was at a wedding recently in tropical Queensland, the day was swelteringly hot and it was the break between the wedding and reception. After having a beer with some other guest I got myself a water only to be distainfully asked "wrong with you?" by a fellow guest who was holding a beer. What was wrong with me was that I was not just drinking alcohol but I was drinking water as well.

Working in a drug and alcohol agency I get to see a lot of negatives of alcohol. No drug does more damage than alcohol, perhaps if we viewed using it as a privilege, like native Americans with peyote, we might have more respect for it, both the pleasure it can give and the damage it can do.

Jump! You...

In the current economic climate of gloom and doom there are occasional things that just make me laugh. This photo taken on Wall Street was is one of them. I found it on the Facebook group the "Society for the Appreciation of Pictures of Stockbrokers In Visible Pain"

Happy Yobbo Day

It's that time day of the year where national pride swells people wear Australian flags as capes, drink as much alcohol as they possibly can in sweltering heat, polish up the f*** off we're full sticker on the back of the car and find a recent migrant to pick a fight with. I am so thankful that I get to live in Australia but it seems that Australia day brings out the worst of people. At least it does in Perth along the foreshore that lines the Swan river.

Next year I'll attach a one world flag to my car and put a "come in we're not as full as everywhere else" sticker on the back.

The Annual Vomit Pilgrimage

I’ve recently come back from my annual pilgrimage to leavers (schoolies) celebrations. I organise people to look after those who are heavily intoxicated. apart from the usual vomit and regretful behaviour two things really stood out to me this year. (1) What 17 year olds thought were a normal amount to drink. (2) What some girls wrote on themselves or their clothing. Drinking amounts included: 4 litres cask wine for one person and 1 bottle of bourbon, 1 bottle of vodka and some cask wine for another. This second person started their description of what they have had with "I’ve only had...". Then there was the things girls had written (ironically I presume) on their clothing or their bodies. this included "fuk me I’m hot" (their spelling) and "can you help me find my g-spot?".

As a society we may have given up a "just don’t do it" attitude to sex and drugs and embraced a more liberal attitude. The problem I have with our current liberal attitude is that it is also an ignorant attitude. An attitude that is unhealthy if not out right dangerous. The lack of awareness about the possible consequences of their actions demonstrates to me that these are issues are not being discussed with our young people in a mature a sensible way.

Oh no he’s said too much, he hasn’t said enough

The ABC is loosing it’s Religion Report. The Religion Report is one of the few podcasts that I download every single week and it is consistently high quality and covers material I don’t see or hear any where else. It’s host Stephen Crittenden has always been fabulous. Some of the ABC’s religious segments can get a bit sentimental and schmaltzy but never the religion report. To quote Stephen Crittenden himself. “That such a decision has been taken in an era when religion vies with economics as a determinant of everything that's going on in the world almost beggars belief.” Come on ABC get your act together! For better or worse religion plays a big part in our world and the small half hour that the Religion Report takes up serves this role so well. For being outspoken Stephen Crittenden was stood down I almost laughed out loud when the following weeks show was half and hour dedicated too… Blasphemy

Click here to read and see the media watch story

If you're not happy about this why not email the ABC Board board@your.abc.net.au copied to the ABC Advisory Council abcac@your.abc.net.au

The Emperor Has No Clothes

Stock prices have fallen, house prices will fall and a recession looms. When a U.S republican government steps in to the market place you know we are living in strange times. The free market no long reigns supreme (well at least not for a little while). Our emperor has no clothes.

Make White Bands History

I stopped wearing my Make Poverty History wrist band some time ago. It's not that I don't believe in the cause it's just I'm not sure how helpful it is to wear a fashion accessory is. In a recent Counterpoint interview Sarah Moore (Ribbon Culture: Charity,Compassion and Public Awareness) talked about someone who had a gold Make Poverty History wrist band and did not see the irony in it at all. She suggests that it's more about identifying yourself with for a cause rather than raising awareness. Instead I've taken one of my old bands turned it inside out and written Make Affluence History on it with permanent marker instead. It was an idea I got from the Make Affluence History site. I think there is a connection between one persons poverty and another persons affluence and for me this band makes that explicit. Most people smile politely and agree with the "Make Poverty History" sentiment. I'm keen to see what kind of reaction I get to this wrist band.

Something I think is similar is the new Radiohead film clip done in conjunction with MTV's exit campaign. A great clip and again a great cause but I'd rather hear that all MTV Merchandise or Radiohead Merchandise will be sweat shop free. If they are it doesn't mention it on their respective websites.

The Religous Right is Dead

Jim Wallis certainly deserves to be the first to say it and what better platform than The Daily Show.

It will be interesting to how what is happening in the United States reverberates amongst Australia's religious right.

Jesus is not my boyfriend but maybe Larry Norman or Sinead O’Connor could be

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Larry Norman last week. Only Visiting this planet is probably the only overtly Christian rock album that I enjoyed listening to growing up. I still listen to it today It’s great. The first copy I had in high school was taped from a friend who has it on vinyl (I don’t think I could listen to it without expecting a jump in the needle on track four). My friend is non longer a Xn but still likes and listens to the album such is it’s quality.

I’ve recently discovered Sinead O’Connor’s Theology album lately which mostly consists of psalms, laments and other bits of the bible set to music. The difference between her songs and many modern day Xn songs is striking Her songs are much more likely to be a lament of someone suffering oppression than a pseudo love song. Take a listen to Aviad Cohen for a giggle and an idea of what this album is not.

The only thing that comes close to a "Jesus my boyfriend" song is "I don't know how to love him" and the point of that song is Jesus cant be loved like a man or boyfriend. The psalms and other parts of bible like song of songs and Job O’Connor sings from are not so much about the joy of knowing god but rather the pain of being human.

Samples of the lyrics include

"Out of the depths I cry to you oh lord
Don't let my cries for mercy be ignored”

or

“And he looks for justice but beholds oppression
And he hopes for equality but hears a cry
Jerusalem and Judah
This is God's reply

Sadness will come
To those who build house to house
And lay field to field 'til there's room
For none but you to dwell in the land
Oh in the land

And sadness will come
To those who call evil good
And good evil who present
Darkness as light
And light as darkness
Who present as sweetness
Only the things which are bitterness

For the vineyard of
The Lord of Hosts
Is the house of Israel
And the men of Judah his pleasant plant
Oh oh his pleasant plant

Oh that my eyes were a fountain of tears
That I might weep for my poor people

For every boot stamped with fierceness
For every cloak rolled in blood
Jerusalem and Judah
I'd cry if I could”

or

“Why did I not die at birth?
Expire as I came from the womb?
Why were there knees to receive me?
Or breasts to feed me?
Why was I not like babies
Who never saw the light?
Who lie with kings and counsellors
Who rebuild ruins for themselves”

These lyrics are unlikely to be found in the Koorong worship music catalogue but are in the bible. I wonder if Sinead has created an unsellable record that Xns and non Xns will avoid for different reasons.

When ever I think about Xn music and church music in particular I can’t help but think of an old theology lecturer who used to add the phrase "in between the sheets" after lyrics and song titles she would sing in church as a youngster. This is kind of fun to do next time your in church and singing…

How Great Thou art - in between the sheets
You are my King - in between the sheets
Softly and Tenderly Jesus is calling - in between the sheets
My God is so big - in between the sheets
What A Friend we Have in Jesus - in between the sheets
I could sing of Your love forever- in between the sheets

The other distraction that floods my mind when I hear most Xn music is my favourite south park episode “Faith plus one” when Cartman forms a Xn rock band. Here are some of my favourite lines from that show.

CARTMAN Think about it! It's the easiest crappiest music in the world, right? If we just play songs about how much we love Jesus, all the Christians will buy our crap!

CARTMAN All right, guys, this is gonna be so easy. All we have to do to make Christian songs is take regular old songs and add Jesus stuff to them. See? All we have to do is cross out words like "baby" and "Darling" and replace them with Jesus. All right, Butters, give me a beat. Okay, nice. Very nice. All right, Token, give me a smooth bass line.

Don't ever leave me, Jesus.
I couldn't stand to see you go.
My heart would simply snap, my Lord, if you walked on out that door.
I promise I'll be good to you, and keep you warm at night.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, why don't we just... shut off the lights. I love you, Jesus.

I want you to walk with me [the fans sway back and forth] I'll take good care of you baby. Call you my baby, baby! You died for my sins, and you know that I would die for you, right? What's the matter, baby? You tremble at Jesus, baby! Your love... is my life! You know when I’m without you, there's a black hole in my life! Oo-ohhh! I wanna believe. It's all right, 'cause I get lonely in the night and it's up to you to
Save me! Jee...sus...bay-by!

EXECUTIVE 1 We just have one question, though. We were looking over some of your lyrics, uh... "I want to walk hand-in-hand with Jesus on a private beach for two./I want him to nibble on my ear and say 'I'm here for you." Ih it seams you really love Christ.

CARTMAN Yes, we sure do.

EXECUTIVE 1 Well uh of course I do. I mean I just-

CARTMAN Well what's the difference?! You love Christ, you're in love with Christ, I mean, uh, what the heck is this??

EXECUTIVE 1 Eh no but ih it appears you are actually... in love with Christ.

CARTMAN Well what are you saying? That, that you don't really love Christ??

EXECUTIVE 1 Uh, we'd just like to make sure the bands we sign are in it for God, and not for the money.

CARTMAN I resent that, sir! I have never in my life done anything just for the money! If I'm lying may the Lord strike me down right now.

BUTTERS Uhm, oh.

EXECUTIVE 1 That's- all we needed to know. Just, sign here and we'll get your album sold.

So what to do? I’ve been toying with the idea of trying out some blues songs in a church service I love Blind Willie Johnson and many of the gospel and blues singers of the first half of the last centaury. I’d like to sing some of them along with Paul Gioia’s music and Dave Andrews' songs. Maybe I’d like to try this to see if it’s communal singing that I don’t like or if it’s just the songs that churches tend to communally sing. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll end with some great covers of Xn albums.

We Said Sorry

We said sorry, woo hoo! Thanks Kevin. Now all we need to do is get Brendon Nelson to say sorry for the way that he said sorry.

The Future for Christianity in Australia (Synchroblog)

Yesterday I was supposed to be part of a snazzy syncroblog thing happening about Australian's and Xy. Instead of blogging I spent Australia day (and much of today) in the emergency ward (and then cardiology ward) at a hospital with a close friend with a heart condition. So doing a blog post on time was not a high priority.

If you have ever spent time in emergency you'll know it involves lots of nervous waiting. My friend had surgery on his throat the day before so he couldn't talk. This meant that instead of the two of us spending lots of time talking, I spent lots of time thinking. Every so often I tried to think about Xy in Australia.

If ever I did think about it I would tend to think of it in terms of my friend next to me, who is not a Xn. Which is kind of appropriate as when I do think about the future of Xy I tend to think about what non Xns think about Xy. The is because Xy is something that you opt into rather than opt out of so what non Xns think is important. My friend is a non Xn and today I was reflecting in on what he might think about Xy.

One of my favourite expressions of his is "bible thumper". As well as being a hilarious and accurate description of some Xns we both know, it also gives an idea of what his experience of Xy has been. I have said to some our mutual Xn friends that I think he gave up Xy for the right reasons. It seems like to me he gave up a Xy that made sense in Xn circles but just didn't cut it in the real world. Rather than spend a lot of time explaining this I’m going to recommend listening to this Dave Slusher's podcast. Not only is it great in it's own right, this "how I gave up Xy testimony" probably closely matches my friends own journey. I think all Xy offered him was a sheltered ghetto that just seemed ridiculous as soon as you stepped out of it.

My question is what does Xy have to offer people like my friend? Or, Why would any non Xn go to church? When I think of all the non Xn friends I’ve had, none have been the slightest bit attracted to Xy or church. They have often seen me as somewhat of an anomaly, an exception to the Xn norm. And they are definitely probably not ready to sign up to the cult of Chris. I don't think my experience is unique. There are plenty of people like me who just feel like they don't connect with regular church (be that mainline or larger evangelical churches).

I think the big question is "How do we outside the box Xns create a meaningful community?". To me this has to be more than a virtual community as I can't see a virtual community sustaining a new Xn. Maybe some kind of tech geek but not your average moderately tech savvy person. So, the future of Xy in Australia in my mind really hangs on the ability of Xns who don't fit into regular church to create meaningful communities. And not only in the crowded inner cities (where there are more of us) but also in small towns and suburbia. Figuring this out will be really important. Right now I'm feeling like I have no idea.

Happy invasion day.

This post is part of the Christianity In Australia synchroblog which a number of Australian Christians are participating in to celebrate Australia Day. For more on Christianity in Australia see:

• Matt Stone at Journeys In Between
• Ben Thurley at Ben’s Blog
• Rodney Olsen at RodneyOlsen.net
• Geoff Pengilly at The Healing Project
• Andy Porteous at Not Yet Finished
• Paul Robotham at A Christian’s Blog
• Chris Summerfield at A Churchless Faith
• Christina Aitken at Sojourn
• Heather at A Deconstructed Christian
• Geoff Matheson at Amateur Theology
• Andrew Hamilton at Backyard Missionary
• Deborah Taggart at The Bright Side
• Rob Hanks at Pump House
• Mike Carroll aka ‘Grendel’ at Sermons From An Atheist

Bible quoting Greens

Last week Stephen Crittenden (ABC's Religion report) interviewed Jim Wallace (Managing Director, Australian Christian Lobby), Christine Milne (Greens senator) and Rev. Fred Nile (Member of the NSW Legislative Council). Beyond the thinly disguised right wing rhetoric of family values from the Australian Christian Lobby it was interesting to note that the only one of the three interviewees quoted the Bible (and more than once). That was Greens senator Christine Milne. The other two interviewees seemed happy enough to say that Xy is about "family values" and then talk about those values. "Family values" has always struck me as strange term since everybody is part of a family. When I used to listen to Parliament (before the days of podcasting) I was always impressed with the way the Greens conducted themselves and their commitment to social justice as well as the environment.