Authors of the report released yesterday – Sydney university academic Professor Emerita Suzanne Rutland and Professor Zehavit Gross from Bar Ilan University in Israel – found Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu students had all experienced being teased or being made fun of because of their faith.

Cases of vilification were higher in Sydney and Melbourne the researchers discovered, after conducting hundreds of interviews with students, teachers and families in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.

The report – titled ‘Exploring the Value of Special Religious Education in Australia’ – also showed that school principals and other leaders were often unaware of or reluctant to deal with religious bullying, and students and families often played down the abuse.

“This is a real phenomenon. Now the question we have to face is, are we going to ignore and deny it, or are we going to deal with it openly and professionally?” – Professor Zehavit Gross

“I was shocked,” Gross told Eternity about the extent of religious bullying they found in Australian government schools.

“This is a real phenomenon. Now the question we have to face is, are we going to ignore and deny it, or are we going to deal with it openly and professionally? I think that if we as adults fail to protect our children, we are not fulfilling our duty of care.”

Gross said she was also “shocked and surprised” about the “denial of this phenomenon.”

“We went to the principals. We went to parents. We went to SRE [Special Religious Education] teachers. And they all denied this phenomenon.

“We spoke to principals of the schools and we told them students are being bullied in your school on a religious basis. And they said, ‘No, it can’t happen. Not in my school.’

“… Then we interviewed parents. We told the parents, ‘You know, your child was bullied at school.’ And many parents said they told their children, ‘Please don’t make a fuss about it because then it will make it even worse.

“The same thing happened when we went to the SRE teachers,” Gross continued. “We told them, ‘The students in your class were bullied in the playground.’ And they said, ‘No, no, no.’ And then we said, ‘Yes, yes.’ So they said, ‘If we talk about it, it would make it even worse.’ So actually they were silencing the students instead of giving them their support.”

“What does it mean to live in a multicultural society when you have to hide your religion?” – Zehavit Gross

She noted that a “huge” group of students they interviewed were hiding their religious identity because they feared it would lead to bullying.

“That’s a real scandal. I thought that in a post-modern world, children have the right to pray if they want. What does it mean to be in a democratic country if you cannot choose democratically to pray or not to pray? What does it mean to live in a multicultural society when you have to hide your religion?”

The report – produced in collaboration with McCrindle Research – is based on a larger body of research by Gross and Rutland published in a new book, also launched last night, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society.

The researchers conducted 58 interviews with SRE providers, teachers, students
and parent groups in public schools across the eastern states (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania). Their interviewees represented six major faith groups: Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and the Baha’i faith.

The book’s research was commissioned by Better Balanced Futures, an organisation representing the major faith groups involved in public school religious education. It builds on previous research by Gross and Rutland on religious education in Jewish day schools from 2008 to 2014.

“So basically this research spans over 13 years. It’s really a longitudinal study with literally hundreds of interviewees during that period of time,” Rutland told Eternity.

33 per cent of Gen Z and Gen Y surveyed had experienced religious vilificiation.

McCrindle undertook supplementary research this year to validate Gross and Rutland’s findings, including an online survey of 1000 Australians, two focus groups with people from different faiths and ten interviews with faith leaders involved in religious education in schools from NSW and VIC.

McCrindle discovered that one in four Australians (26 per cent) have experienced discrimination because of their religion or religious views. Younger generations are far more likely to face discrimination because of their religious views, with 33 per cent of Gen Z and Gen Y experiencing this, compared to 18 per cent of Gen X and 13 per cent of Baby Boomers.

In launching the report and the book, Gross and Rutland called for UN recognition of the issue of religious bullying and for more resources from our state and federal governments to address the causes. They also called for professional development for teachers to help address religious bullying in schools.

“We were given examples where the staff [teachers] also made fun of religion.” – Professor Emerita Suzanne Rutland

“We are facing serious denial that religious bullying exists in schools,” said Rutland. “We’ve done our best to address this from an academic perspective. We now need all of you to stress to government how important professional development is for all of the stakeholders.

“We have a situation with religious bullying which is different from the bullying of individual students. It’s not only the students that make fun of religion but, from our interviews, we were given examples where the staff [teachers] also made fun of religion.”

Rutland notes that this professional development must include – and indeed start with – school principals.

“What’s happening at the moment, certainly here in New South Wales, is that some principals are supportive, but some are very anti. And this causes huge problems, for example with SRE. We heard throughout our interviews that if the principal is supportive within the school, there’s a positive attitude towards religion. If the principal is not supportive and there’s a negative attitude to religion, then obviously, that impacts the kids.

“Kids are going to bully, but when the staff don’t provide an example and the support, then we have huge problems.”

She adds that the failure to “validate the religious identity of children” or undermining of that religion is now considered by researchers to be a “form of microaggression”.

General Religious Education (GRE) and SRE play a key role in fostering acceptance towards people from different faiths, Gross and Rutland argue. Their book asserts that religious education strengthens multiculturalism in the school community and reduces religious discrimination, as well as enhancing students’ sense of identity and their health and wellbeing – particularly for teenagers.

The authors advocate for a dual system of both GRE and SRE in public schools: “SRE for those families who choose SRE classes, where students will be immersed in their own religious and cultural heritage and values”, while GRE – which covers all major religions – teaches students to have “respect for all other faiths and cultures.”

“We don’t advocate for indoctrination,” Gross stressed. “We advocate for reflective religious education.

“Then the students are provided with broad knowledge, which is a very important thing these days because they are exposed to fake news through the mass media. It’s very important that they are exposed systematically to official knowledge that is provided though the schools …

“Secondly, it reinforces your identity. [Students] can learn that there are many choices you can make. So it can validate your beliefs – it actually strengthens the freedom of choice. This is an important asset in the post-modern world, in a democratic world, and it’s important to social cohesion.”

“People are still looking for meaning in this world. I don’t want to provide them with indoctrination, but I would like to expose them to the canonical text of all religions.” – Suzanne Rutland

To those who may argue that religion should be taught by parents rather than in public schools, Gross responds, “People are still looking for meaning in this world. I don’t want to provide them with indoctrination, but I would like to expose them to the canonical text of all religions, to the whole variety of options. And in this way, it enables them to explore and to choose, independently, whatever they want. I think that this is much better done in schools rather than relying on parents to do this at home.”

Gross and Rutland made several other recommendations for “bringing SRE/ Religious Instruction (RI) into the 21st Century” at the conclusion of the report. These include:

• Introducing a national accreditation framework recognised by the Departments of Education for all SRE/RI teachers;
• Developing a national approach for SRE/RI teaching;
• Creating a national approach to address religious vilification and bullying in government schools; and
• Establishing a mixed-faith evaluation committee for GRE to ensure the materials taught offer a broad and inclusive perspective that encourages the students’ autonomy in their religious beliefs.