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23 Aug: The Australian War Memorial (AWM) has raised our concerns about the Christian dominance of Anzac Day Dawn Services with the veterans group that runs the event. In a letter last week, the AMW’s director, Matt Anderson, told the Rationalist Society of Australia that the topic was discussed at the formal debrief meeting with the ACT sub-branch of the Returned Services League (RSL) in May. Read the full article

23 Aug: Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has committed to personally reviewing the visa application of far-right, anti-Semitic speaker Candice Owens, who is scheduled to come to Australia in November for a speaking tour. Mr Burke, who has discretionary ministerial powers to block or refuse a visa, said it appeared Owens had yet to make an application three months out from the shows. Read the full article

22 Aug: The Archdiocese of Hobart has raised concerns that a parliamentary inquiry on discrimination and bullying in Tasmanian schools will leave faith-based schools open to unfair attacks on its right to articulate Christian principles. Read the full article

20 Aug: The Rationalist Society of Australia has asked the Miles government to explain its position on whether the recital of Christian prayers in Queensland local government meetings is a breach of anti-discrimination and human rights laws. RSA Executive Director Si Gladman wrote to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath after another elected representative raised questions about the human rights implications of imposing prayer rituals in government meetings. Read the full article

20 Aug: Ralph Babet, the United Australia party senator, sought to move an urgency motion on “the need for the Senate to recognise that at least one baby is born alive every seven days following a failed abortion and left to die, and that Australia’s health care system is enabling these inhumane deaths; and for the Senate to condemn this practice, noting that babies born alive as a result of a failed abortion deserve care”. Read the full article

Stephen Woodford, of Rationality Rules, provides a crash course on theoretical approaches to epistemology – foundationalism, coherentism, reliabilism, evidentialism, and scepticism. What do you think? Email your comments to: editor@rationalist.com.au

Soazig Le Bihan: For most of the 20th century, philosophers of science like me maintained somewhat idealistic claims about what good science looks like. Over the past few decades, however, many of us have revised our views to better mirror actual scientific practice. An update on what to expect from actual science is overdue. I often worry that when the public holds science to unrealistic standards, any scientific claim failing to live up to them arouses suspicion. Read the full article

Mark  Fowler: With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirming he will not follow through on his election commitment to introduce a religious discrimination bill, is the reform effort to die with a whimper? The deep societal shifts driving the fractious religious freedom debate remain unrelenting. They are likely to press both major parties to declare commitments in the lead-up to the next election. What form should those commitments take? Read the full article

Angela Priestley: Opposition leader Peter Dutton wants to win back the six seats the Liberal party lost to independent women at the past two Federal Elections. He’s planning to ramp up fundraising efforts, bring remaining preselections forward and likely position deputy leader Sussan Ley to support, given she’s already visited six seats held by teals 31 times since 2022. Read the full article

Essam Al-Ghalib: Since Voluntary Assisted Dying (known as VAD) was legalised in Australia, over 2,400 terminally ill people have chosen to end their lives this way. Dr Bu O'Brien is one of the few Voluntary Assisted Dying practitioners. I asked her about why she has chosen this path. Listen to the episode

Jack Jenkins: Sitting for an interview at the Republican National Convention in July, Caroline Sunshine, a communications staffer with former President Donald Trump’s campaign, laid plain what she thinks about Democrats and faith. “I think the left is godless,” Sunshine told Fox News. But that claim was hard to square with what happened Monday night, when the Democratic National Convention kicked off in Chicago. Read the full article

Ryan Summers: Over the past few decades, conservative or religious groups that object to including the theory of evolution in science classes have tried a different approach. Now, they argue, if the “scientific” theory of evolution is taught, other views, such as “intelligent design” – a stand-in for creationism – should also be taught. The approach is not limited to evolution. Read the full article

Michael A. Di Giovine:The Italian teenager Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 of a rare form of leukemia at age 15, will soon become the Catholic Church’s first “millennial saint.” Acutis was a computer programmer who created virtual exhibitions and databases on Eucharistic miracles – when the bread and wine are believed to change into the physical body and blood of Jesus – and the reported sightings of the Virgin Mary. Read the full article

Felicity Loughlin: On the morning of Saturday 3 June 1843, the Edinburgh police made their way past Calton Hill to the tenements of Haddington Place. Their target was the residence of Thomas Finlay, a former cabinetmaker who was suspected of running an ‘infidel’ library on the premises. Described by his sympathisers as a ‘respectable and venerable old man’, he had never previously attracted unwanted attention from the authorities. Yet Finlay had fallen foul of Scots blasphemy law, which banned the publication, sale or circulation of any work that denied or ridiculed Christianity or the divine inspiration of the scriptures. Read the full article

Noel Yaxley: During periods of significant social and political upheaval, freedom is put to the test. Sir Keir Starmer has taken a tough stance against the criminal and hard-right elements that ransacked cities, set fire to buildings housing asylum seekers, and threw bricks at mosques and police in the wake of the horrific stabbing of three young girls in Southport at the end of July, which sparked riots across England. The actions of a small number of violent and bigoted people have become a lightning rod for restricting the liberties of the majority. Read the full article