Julie Szego sacking; Scripture as an elective; Catholic Church going broke??

Published: Mon, 06/12/23

RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Rationale, the magazine of the Rationalist Society of Australia

Good morning ,

Julie Szego has been a columnist for The Age for 20 years. One of the few journalists who can write with insight and sensitivity about difficult social issues (IMO, Waleed Aly can do this too, as can Guy Rundle at Crikey at times), she was commissioned by The Age's recently retired editor, Gay Alcorn, to write a feature-length article about the trans debate.

However, The Age's new editor, Patrick Elligett, refused to publish the article, apparently saying "it would damage the reputation of the masthead."

Read Julie's article for yourself and make up your own mind. While you're at it, read the comments to the article too.

Oh, and if you are as outraged as I am at Julie's sacking, write to The Age (letters@theage.com.au) and let Elligett know how you feel.

Lead stories

The Age sacks star over trans article furore

Click below to read what editor Patrick Elligett refused to publish, and decide for yourself whether it is a fair and balanced piece of writing:

Read "A Question of Transition"

Principals call for option to move RI outside class hours in QLD public schools | Rationalist Society of Australia

In Queensland, principals (and Labor party members, and parents, and some Labor MPs) are calling for Scripture classes to be treated just like any other elective: held out of school hours, on an'opt-in' basis rather than 'opt out'. But Qld education minister Grace Grace refuses to budge, stating there is not even a review planned. We'll keep up the pressure.

This article is paywalled but you can read the text in our attached pdf.

".. the costs of dealing with historic sexual abuse claims are increasing and threaten to break the back of the church financially." This, despite the Australian Catholic Church being worth around $500 billion, with $23 billion in annual revenue. "They have the financial capacity to do this [deal with sexual abuse claims] .. the reality is that we don't have in Australia the poor church Francis wants .. what we have is one part of the church rapidly going broke and another very rich."

Other stories of interest

How Canada's wildfires really started

As usual, there's a lot of mis- and disinformation about bushfires. Here, Deutsche Welle debunks the myths.

'Not a rare case': Kathleen Folbigg pardon sparks calls for new body to review possible wrongful convictions

"A victory for science and especially for truth." RSA patron Michael Kirby urges the creation of a new and independent Criminal Cases Review Commission: "What is so superior about the Australian criminal justice system that we don’t need it?"

Why are the Canadian wildfires so bad this year?

According to Nature, "this year, most of the fires in the western provinces and on the east coast came earlier in the year than lightning is typically reported and were probably caused by human activity."

Silvio Berlusconi: Flashy media mogul and political populist

"The answer to the question of why so many Italians counted on him can be found in the realm where politics stop being rational." Sorry, but good riddance.

Got a comment on any of these stories?

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au