Testing political candidates; choice in chaplaincy; more Catholic Church bad behaviour

Published: Tue, 08/08/23

RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Rationale, the magazine of the Rationalist Society of Australia

Good morning ,

My North American correspondent reports unusually challenging weather conditions in north-east US - and seasoned travellers are summering in Scandinavia rather than Sicily.

And yet science denialism continues to flourish. The next RSA webinar (Wed 23 August) will hear how research into "understanding audiences" can help counter mis- and disinformation when it comes to science denialism. Register here.

Lead stories

Psychopathic link to Climate Denial - The AIM Network

By Brian Morris State and federal politicians are generally quite bright - although we can all write…

Brian Morris endorses - and extends - the idea of testing political candidates: "The Rationalist Society, in their July 26 RSA Daily, suggest politicians should be psychologically tested, “to weed out the sociopaths and psychopaths .. what a brilliant idea! .. but why stop with a psych test? Surely it needs to be coupled with a basic science test .."

Providing schools choice of wellbeing officer a 'great improvement', says Labor MP | Rationalist Society of Australia

A federal Labor MP has labelled the decision to expand the school chaplaincy program to give schools…

Graham Perrett is the MP for Moreton in Queensland. In this article, watch him speak about the Labor govt's reform of the Chaplaincy Program to allow the funding of qualified student wellbeing officers who are not religious - pointing out that less than 8% of Australians are now regular church attendees. It's a welcome acknowledgement of changing demographics and the federal govt's provision of choice for parents and school communities. Please read this article and drop a note to Perrett, congratulating him on his speech. Our MPs need support when they do something sensible!

Click to congratulate Graham Perrett

Other stories of interest

How rain turns into destructive floods

All those pretty valleys and rivers in Europe make destructive floods more probable.

How Brendan Watkins claimed his birthright - ABC Radio

If you've never listened to Conversations with Richard Fidler, here's one to start. An adopted man searches for his birth parents .. and uncovers more cruelty and exploitation of the Catholic Church. Shame on them.

Got a comment on any of these stories?

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au