Murray Norman is on a mission from God.
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A mission worth $3.1 million and eight weeks of world travel, after he was awarded the prestigious Churchill Fellowship for his work in the special religious education (SRE) around NSW.
Formerly of Illabo, Mr Norman received notification of his scholarly success three weeks ago and said it will represent an enormous step towards having his work recognised on a national scale.
"It's very helpful, it unlocks a lot of doors and means there will be recognised by the government," Mr Norman said.
"I'm already known in NSW, I'm already working with the NSW Department of Education, but outside the state I'm unknown.
"This is nationally recognised as something that is important to the whole of Australia, and it allows me to talk to the people and politicians outside my normal environment.
"This proves it's bigger than just me."
Now beginning his travel plans for next May, Mr Norman is preparing to jet-set to eight countries in eight weeks.
Hosted by a UNESCO delegate, he will spend a week in Finland, Germany, America, United Kingdom, India and Israel, observing religious education classrooms in each country.
"I'm looking at the different way the countries do religious education. What does it look like globally, and what might it look like here," he asked.
"I haven't actually travelled to these countries before, so it's a totally new adventure for me.
"I'm very interested to go to Israel [because] that's where Jesus lived and I have a lot of good Jewish friends who are keen to show me around, so I'm personally excited to go there."
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After traversing the globe in pursuit of knowledge, Mr Norman hopes to return to Australia to implement strategies aimed at creating a thriving future.
"In Australia, we're struggling with what multiculturalism looks like for us. How do we respect beliefs in our society and deal with different views," Mr Norman asked.
"Catholics, protestants, Jewish, Buddhists, how can we all do well in Australian society, and how does that intersect with the classroom?"
In his role with the public education system, Mr Norman believes creating a stronger multicultural society comes through nurturing the youngest students.
"We start teaching them from kindergarten, using age-appropriate ways to talk about faith," he said.
"The questions get harder as you get older and you can explore for answers more for yourself. That level of complexity increases, your values basis forms, you're able to wrestle with life's questions more for yourself.
"But it starts when you're young, and you grow into it."