Re: religion and the state down under

["Alan G. Isaac" <aisaac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 18 May 2001, Bill Mitchell wrote:
> Perhaps the religious issue doesn't appear in any regressions! But in
> Australia, there is a major shift in public spending away from public
> (secular) schools towards private schools (which include a range of
> religious schools) based on pure ideological preference of the conservative
> government. The claim is that this is just reflecting the preferences of
> the population towards a more diverse education (including religious
> diversity) and is a good thing, despite there being little evidence provided
> about the proportions. So I can see this as a potential smokescreen
> to be used by conservatives to obfuscate the issue - just how many
> people are in these supposed "chosen" religions that deserve public money?
> They will say the figures are misleading b/c of these rebels.

Hi Bill,
A question and a comment.
The question: does Australia have any effective restrictions on the
supply of public funds to religious institutions?  (The US does, but
the current administration is seeking ways around them.)
The comment: the history of government use of information about
individual religious affiliation is not a pretty one.
Cheers,
Alan