Church lessons for school kids: God will punish ‘godless’ homosexuals
The school approved a textbook teaching students that homosexuality is “a result of the failure to worship God.” (Stock photo)
A church has removed materials for school children from its website that claimed God will punish ‘godless’ gay people, and that sinners are worthy of death.
All state schools in New South Wales are required to set aside time for ‘special religious education,’ typically through church-run scripture classes that have long been condemned by secularists.
The Sydney Morning Herald this week exposed the extreme materials on the website of the Fellowship Baptist Church of Blacktown, which was approved to deliver scripture lessons in local schools.
The church’s ‘Firm Foundations’ materials included lesson plans on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah designed for pupils in Year Three and Year Four, who would be aged eight to ten.
The materials state: “This passage of Scripture is particularly timely for us because of the kind of sin prevalent in these cities.
“Homosexuality (and every other kind of sexual sin) is flourishing in our day, but many excuse their sin as a ‘chosen lifestyle’. Godless lifestyles have become popular and socially acceptable.
“But God has not changed. God never has and never will accept immoral behaviour.
“Many people in our society like to think that a ‘loving God’ would never punish anyone… [but] God is to be feared. God does punish sin.”
The teaching notes add: “You may be hesitant to mention to children the immoral behaviour… [but] Children need to hear the biblical perspective on an issue that is already being presented to them through the wordly media. They need to know that God sees and punishes sin.”
Elsewhere the material states that “sin must be paid for by human life being given” and that sinners “deserved death.”
Crayons (Stock image via Pexels)
The school has since been instructed to pull the material, which education officials described as neither “age appropriate or suitable”.
The NSW Department of Education told the Herald: “The department has contacted the Fellowship Baptist Church in Blacktown to raise its concerns and they have advised the department that they do not use the material and will remove the reference from their website.”
The church told the Herald that the material was introduced by someone who is “not teaching for us” and that it was only included as a “possiblity.”
Campaigners say there is little oversight of what is taught in scripture lessons.
