Don't vote Greens, say Catholic bishops
Leesha McKenny and Anna Patty
SMH
March 18, 2011
CATHOLIC bishops have warned the faithful against voting for the Greens in the state election, saying their policies were
of ''grave concern''.
Yesterday the NSW Greens outlined a plan which would transfer government funding from wealthy private schools to
public schools.
A two-page document entitled The Green Agenda is being circulated by Catholic agencies and through schools. It states
the party's human rights and social policy areas are in direct conflict ''with the beliefs and values of virtually all religious
people, and the beliefs of many other people as well''.
''Greens who are elected will bring a whole set of policies. You cannot pick and choose. They are not only concerned for
the environment,'' it reads.
It also warns against voting for candidates who might share similar views, pointing out that some MPs in the main
parties had voted for ''bad legislation'' such as same-sex adoption.
The document was signed by 10 NSW bishops including the Sydney Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell. The Bishop of
Bathurst, Michael McKenna, and the Bishop of Broken Bay, David Walker, did not sign the statement.
But the Greens said the document was at times ''profoundly misleading''.
''The bishops have misrepresented both our polices and the facts in order to attack the Greens,'' the MP John Kaye said.
The letter outlines eight areas of ''grave concern'', including the Greens' treatment of personal drug use as a health and
social issue ''and therefore acceptable'', and its efforts to legalise gay marriage.
''Changing the law on marriage would expose churches and schools to coercive pressures from the state to cease teaching
their beliefs about marriage and family,'' it reads.
Echoing the sentiment of a letter posted on the Christian Schools Australia website this week, it also criticised the party's
commitment to remove religious exemptions from the Anti-Discrimination Act, and warned funding cuts to
non-government schools would force fees to rise, ''possibly by as much as $1500 a year''.
But Mr Kaye rejected that the Greens would slash school funding by anything like the 85 per cent the bishops' letter
claimed.
The NSW Greens' education policy, launched yesterday, calls for the transfer of $780 million a year from state and federal
funding of non-government schools to public education. It argues the shift would not cause any Catholic or independent
school to need to raise its fees or close its doors.
Mr Kaye said non-government schools have enjoyed a decade of ''ever-increasing public funding''.
The Greens policy includes proposals to boost the number of public school teachers by 6000 (12 per cent) to reduce class
sizes and provide more time for professional development.
An extra 2100 teachers would be hired in 581 public schools that serve the most disadvantaged communities. Funding for
these extra teachers would come from stripping the 79 wealthiest private schools of government funding to raise $204
million a year.
The finance for the 6000 new teachers would be found by freezing state and federal funding of all other non-government
schools at their 2003 level plus inflation. This would raise $576 million.
I would love to say something here, but shit, how many times do you have to tell an organization,the Catholic Church, who’s foundation is based upon the belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of God was born , lived, died and was resurrected, that their Political Party of choice, ie the Australian Labor Party the LEFT, AND ALWAYS THE FRICKIN left, does not share their belief in Jesus Christ and GOD.
How many times do these, lets give them the benefit of the doubt, DOPEY IGNORANT Priests and Bishops, have to be told that the LEFT does NOT believe in OR WILL ALLOW GOD IN THEIR “WORLD”
WHY?????? Because they believe THEY are “GOD”,just ask any of the dumb ignorant pricks, they will tell you for FREE that they are the New age crystal gazing believers MESSIAHS.
