Hurray! Yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government’s school management reforms are constitutional. That means that all schools are required by 2012 to set up their own incorporated management committees comprising 40% elected representatives of parents, teachers and alumni, with the remaining 60% appointed by sponsoring bodies.

Now of course the Catholic Church -one of the major sponsors of local schools- is furious. They reason that the reforms will jeopardize their control over the schools they paid good cash for to run (read: the reforms will jeopardize their absolute authority to hire the Christian brain-washers who force our kids to believe that Jesus rode a Velociraptor to Jerusalem 6.000 years ago).

I’ve written in the Pub about the first ruling and that these reforms are about better governance. After all, the church will still retain 60% control of the management committee and that is a majority. The other 40% of the committee are not “outsiders” at all, contrary to what the Catholic Church claims. They’ll be elected from parents, teachers and alumni. I’d be pretty upset if my Alma mater tells me that I’m an outsider.

The lawyers representing the Church came up with a defense that is so shitty that even a Neanderthal could punch holes in it. They claimed that the reforms are inconsistent with the Basic Law, as it stipulates “freedom of religion, and the freedom of religious organizations to conduct their affairs unfettered by government interference.” It makes us proud: finally the Church is stripped of some of its long held privileges.

They’re not giving up though. It’s God’s will that the Catholics will take it to the Court of Final Appeal and lose once more. In the meantime, tell your children to forget about those chorals and teach them to sing along with this catchy tune instead.

Henry has a weekly guest post on The Dark Side and is one of the founders of the Libertines Pub.