The emergence of a movement called The Muslim Vote has sparked debate over religious-based political parties. This has, of course, coincided with the defection of Fatima Payman – a Muslim Senator – from the Labor Party after she broke party rules by crossing the floor for a vote on Palestine in the Senate.

Today, we've taken joint action with a number of pro-secular organisations to call on members of the Victorian Parliament to replace daily Christian prayers with something more appropriate. In recent weeks, religious lobbyists have stepped up pressure on the Allan government to retain prayers.

If you see an article or video online that should be included in our next edition of the RSA Weekly, please send it to editor@rationalist.com.au. If you wish to comment on articles that appear in our RSA Weekly, feel free to share your views via the same email address.

5 July: The Rationalist Society of Australia has joined with a number of pro-secular organisations today in sending a letter to all members of the Victorian Parliament to urge them to support replacing daily Christian prayers with a practice that is secular and better reflective of the diversity of the Victorian community. Read the full article

5 July: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says faith-based political parties would undermine social cohesion in Australia, after revelations this week that The Muslim Vote movement was planning to target federal seats at the next election, including in western Sydney. Political parties including the Australian Christians have long-existed, but Mr Albanese's comments came after the Muslim movement told the ABC it wanted to empower Muslim Australians to win seats from Labor following community anger the government had not been tougher on Israel throughout the war in Gaza. Read the full article

5 July: Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has accused Peter Dutton of “fuelling Islamophobia”, after the opposition leader said he was concerned about a future minority Labor government relying on crossbench support including “Muslim candidates from western Sydney”. Read the full article

5 July: An unlikely alliance of faith groups, equality advocates, the Coalition and the Greens is demanding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese either intervene to save his religious discrimination bill or tell them the reforms are dead in this Parliament’s term. The Anglican Church, Christian schools, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and Equality Australia joined the political parties in urging Mr Albanese to make clear the status of the reforms, which they say are crucial to the Australians they represent and should be pursued. Read the full article

5 July: Rosalind Croucher, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, addressed the National Press Club of Australia this week calling for the creation of a national human rights act. Croucher said that she had become increasingly convinced of the need for the act in recent years, arguing it would lead parliament to "consider more directly how their lawmaking affects people's freedoms and rights". Read the full article

4 July: Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson says he thinks it would be a “retrograde step” if Australia were to start having “religiously based” political parties. “This is not our history in Australia. If there are political parties for the Muslim community then why wouldn’t there also be political parties for Hindus, or Jews, or Catholics or Anglicans.” Read the full article

4 July: The Miles government is continuing to ignore the demands of Labor voters, Labor MPs and public education sector stakeholders by not committing to reform the Religious Instruction (RI) program. In responses to inquiries this year, the Queensland government has reiterated that it has no plans to reform RI by requiring the classes be held outside normal learning hours. Read the full article

2 July: A new “grassroots” political movement called the Muslim Vote says it will back at least three independent candidates aiming to topple Labor ministers and the government whip in western Sydney at the next federal election. The Muslim Vote – established in response to community anger at Labor’s handling of the war in Gaza – plans to back candidates in Watson, Blaxland and Werriwa, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Read the full article

30 June: The Australian War Memorial (AWM) says it will consider complaints about the religious dominance of its Anzac Day Dawn Service when it comes to planning for next year’s event. However, the head of the AWM, Matt Anderson, has told the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) that “traditions move slowly”. In early May, the RSA wrote to Mr Anderson to express the RSA’s disappointment that this year’s Dawn Service was again dominated by the traditions of one religion – Christianity. Read the full article

30 June: A NSW government report on voluntary assisted dying (VAD) has found 131 deaths have been linked with the service since its introduction. Supporters of VAD rights say these figures reflect the procedure's popularity, but that more needs to be to ensure state-wide access. Read the full article

Tom Garrish: In regard to the Queensland government’s decision to not remove exemptions to anti-discrimination laws in religious schools, the issue should not be just whether gay teachers have a right to a job in a “religious” school. The question should be: “What are religious schools still doing in Australia or any modern society?” This is especially so given that taxpayers’ money is used to support them. Read the full Letters column

Steven K. Green: As a scholar of American legal and religious history, I have written extensively about the development of religious freedom in the US, and the origins of the separation of church and state. Two of the Founding Fathers shaped American views on these topics more than any other: Jefferson and James Madison. Yet their views have also become lightning rods for controversy as the “wall” between church and state comes under scrutiny. Read the full article

Adam Wakeling: While the defenders of political Christianity inevitably praise Western liberal, secular, and Enlightenment values, the Christian right remains a threat to those values, particularly in the United States. There are continued efforts to introduce the teaching of Creationism in schools—and no one would countenance this idea if the Book of Genesis did not claim that God created the world in a week. Read the full article

Matt Johnson: In a recent essay for the New York Times, David Brooks lamented what he sees as the deficiencies of liberalism. Unlike religion, which Brooks believes has long satisfied the need for meaning and purpose in human life, liberalism has proven incapable of filling the “hole in people’s souls.” Brooks joins a growing list of public intellectuals who maintain that the principles and institutions of liberalism—democracy, freedom of speech and conscience, individual rights, and the rule of law—aren’t sufficient for societies to flourish. Read the full article

Sheila Ngọc Phạm: Being part of a public school community, in which people hold a range of different beliefs and values, has been enriching in ways I did not anticipate. Our family has been given an incredible opportunity for cultural exchange and friendship, which I do not take for granted. Read the full article

Andrew Leigh MP: To expand the number of randomised policy trials, the Australian government last year created the Australian Centre for Evaluation. The Australian Centre for Evaluation was established to help put evaluation evidence at the heart of policy design and decision-making. We seek to improve the volume, quality, and use of evaluation evidence to support better policies and programs that improve the lives of Australians. Read the full article