Christian School Quizzes Students on 'Sick Sin' of Being Gay

A Christian school in Australia prompted controversy when students were given a homework assignment that asked whether being gay was "the sickest sin" and sent students to purportedly anti-gay passages in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, MidDay.com reported in an Aug. 30 article.

Armadale Christian College, a religious school for levels K-12, put the anti-gay questions to students aged 14 and 15, the article reported, prompting concern from GLBT equality advocates and the government. The homework assignment in question also characterized coming out as openly gay as "openly sinning," the article noted.

The Education Minister has started an investigation into Armadale to see whether the school is "satisfying registration requirements," but religious schools are given greater flexibility in terms of introducing homophobic content in the classroom under the law's exemptions. Non-religious schools are not permitted to introduce anti-gay content in class, under regulations that ban discrimination against GLBTs.

Text at the school's website promises, "At Armadale Christian College we offer our students the continuity & stability of a Christian education that ensures they are given the best opportunity to build foundations, which will enable them to face life positively & effectively."

No specific mention is made of GLBT youth in the school's statements on its vision and philosophy, but one passage in the online text reads, "While we have a strong focus on academic excellence, this is balanced by a careful emphasis on relationships and Biblical values that will guide our students through life and help them to reach their God-given potential by making good, ethical choices."

Text on the school's "Vision" tells readers that students are valued as "individuals[s] with intrinsic worth."

"As Christian educators we believe children should be guided and nurtured to young adulthood in a way that recognizes their worth as individuals. This is behind our commitment to work alongside parents in the task of educating their children. It means our definition of success moves beyond the parameters of academic excellence, and aims to ensure that each student recognizes they are a unique individual with intrinsic worth."

Text on the school's "Curriculum" also contains several suggestive passages.

"We attempt to work with all curriculum matters from a biblical perspective that encompasses a Christian world view," the text states. "We acknowledge that this might not always be the popular or media perspective on events or curriculum. At ACC we will try to provide a balanced biblical perspective. Where debate arises we will look to ground our opinion in the bible.

"We also acknowledge that there are times where the course requirements as set by external authorities are not aligned with what might be considered a Christian viewpoint," the text adds. "In these situations we have a commitment to ensuring that the needs of the students are adequately met while often presenting a bible based alternative."

The questions on the homework assignment were not the only examples of homophobic material, reported Australian newspaper The Sunday Times in an Aug. 27 article.

The assignment also stated that homosexuality was a 'compromise for the need to be loved and accepted,' resulting for many from 'low self-esteem (and) gender emptiness,' " the Sunday Times reported.

At another juncture the assignment read, "Many people say that homosexuality is an inborn trait. Is a person born greedy, jealous, malicious, gossiper, slanderer, thief, child abuser, serial killer?"

The assignment also bore a Biblical quote with a questionable translation that declared that "Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites'' would be permitted to go to Heaven.

Dani Wright of the Freedom Center told the media that stricter regulations regarding homophobic classroom content should be adopted across the board.

James Notman, a relative of one Armadale Christian College denounced the assignment as "extremist," and worried that the school's youthful charges could be "seriously damage[d]" by such pointedly anti-gay lessons.

"I also went to a Christian private school, but what we were taught about homosexuality was that we should all love and accept everyone as the same, because it doesn't matter whether you're gay, straight, male, female, we're all humans and we're all equal," Notman told The Sunday Times.

Attention to the homework assignment drew a response from the Swan Christian Education Association, the article said. The CEO of the group, Stephen Lee, promised that the Association would "review the use of this material" as well as looking into what other SCEA schools present their students.

Lee also said that the homophobic material had been intended to "facilitate discussion on Christian views," the article said. Lee also pointed out that the assignment considered homosexuality in terms of pathology, choice, and innate trait.

Anti-gay activists in the United States have complained about anti-bullying curricula and fact-based sex ed, material that they say works to "inculcate" or even "recruit" children into a "homosexual lifestyle."

Anti-gay activists also call for schools in the U.S. to refrain teaching anything except the "three Rs" of reading, writing, and arithmetic, though some also suggest a fourth "R" should be added: religion. However, the brand of religion that is generally meant in such proposals is evangelical Christianity. Some proponents also call for mandatory prayer in public schools.

No credible data exists to suggest that gays "choose" their sexual orientation.