The release of the Productivity Commission’s report on philanthropy was always going to be a test for the Albanese government on whether it would be willing to upset religious organisations. Following the report’s release yesterday, the early signs are not good.

The minister responsible for the charities sector Andrew Leigh has already ruled out adopting the recommendation for removal of Deductible Gift Recipient status for school building funds.

On the matter of Basic Religious Charities and their exemptions, the Productivity Commission’s report says there is no justification for retaining the special category. We’re calling on the government to support this recommendation to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the charities system.

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19 July: The Rationalist Society of Australia is urging the Albanese government to support the Productivity Commission’s call for the removal of ‘Basic Religious Charities’ (BRCs) from the charities system. The Productivity Commission has stared down pressure from religious groups and the Liberal-National opposition to recommend the removal of BRCs in order to “enhance regulatory consistency and public transparency”. Read the full article

19 July: The Albanese government has buckled to a private school backlash by ruling out plans to axe tax breaks for donations to more than 5000 schools within five years. The Productivity Commission on Thursday unveiled radical tax reform proposals that were condemned as a “direct attack’’ on ­religious schools. But Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, immediately ruled out changes to school donations. Read the full article

19 July: A plan to stop private schools collecting tax-deductible donations for major building programs has been killed off by the federal government despite the Productivity Commission declaring the nation’s charitable giving system was no longer “fit for purpose”. Among 19 proposals from the commission to boost charitable giving, the $2 threshold to make a tax-deductible donation would be abolished, enabling any donation to be used to offset a person’s annual income tax. Read the full article

19 July: The National Catholic Education Commission says the Productivity Commission has blatantly ignored the concerns and needs of school and faith communities in its final philanthropy report, released yesterday. National Catholic Education executive director Jacinta Collins said school and faith groups had raised serious objections to the draft report, which lacked a thorough analysis and engagement with concerned groups by the Productivity Commission. Read the full article

18 July: A Toowoomba woman accused of killing her eight-year-old diabetic daughter previously told a jury she was not responsible for the child's life being "endangered" and that the sickness was "given by God". Elizabeth Struhs suffered diabetic ketoacidosis and died in her Rangeville home, west of Brisbane, in January 2022 after her father Jason Struhs stopped her insulin injections. Read the full article

17 July: The Royal Australian Navy is requiring that applicants for its secular wellbeing roles have a “strong spiritual connection” and demonstrate how their spirituality informs their life. An advertisement on the Australian Defence Force Careers website asks applicants for the position of Wellbeing Officer to “articulate and illustrate…how they attend to and nurture their own spirituality” and “articulate how their spirituality informs their own life, such as through choices and values.” Read the full article

17 July: An ABC Investigation has uncovered how the group is using its "court" to justify the kidnap of children involved in Family Court matters. Many sovereign citizens espouse unfounded beliefs that the country's legal institutions are facilitating child trafficking. Read the full article

16 July: The Coalition has called on Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to end a stalemate over Labor’s draft religious discrimination laws and to redraft the legislation with feedback from faith groups. Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash has written to Mr Dreyfus saying “the ball is entirely in the Government’s court”, after he demanded a line-by-line response from the Coalition at the National Press Club last week in order for the reforms to progress. Read the full article

16 July: Labor MP and Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick is set to appear alongside controversial religious figures at an event promoting the influence of conservative Christianity throughout Australia and the world. The ROAR24 Leaders Summit, running in Brisbane across multiple days in early September, will aim to help attendees effect “immediate change and transformation in your family, church, business and society”, with Dick listed as a keynote speaker. Read the full article

16 July: Students at the network of schools linked to the fundamentalist Exclusive Brethren sect are given access only to learning materials that have been approved internally as conforming to the church’s “ethos”, multiple former teachers have claimed. Guardian Australia has spoken to former students and staff members who say the restrictions on teaching material are challenging for staff and make for a limited educational environment for students. Read the full article

16 July: New legislation set to be introduced to the South Australian Parliament would ensure religious schools cannot knock back job applications from prospective teachers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Greens MLC Robert Simms will in August introduce the legislation, which would remove current exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. Read the full article

15 July: Milton Dick, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, will appear as a guest speaker at an event promoting the Seven Mountains Mandate ideology that calls for Christians to conquer the key spheres of influence in society. Mr Dick appears in promotional materials for the ROAR Leaders Summit, which will discuss topics including “what God is doing in various spheres of influence” and the “importance of kingdom leadership”. Read the full article

Stephen Woodford, of Rationality Rules, provides an explainer on the rise of what he calls 'Cuckoo Christianity' – a faithless Christianity in which adherents "hide under the Christian label and gain their cultural support without believing in Christian doctrines". What do you think? Email your comments to: editor@rationalist.com.au.

Jonathan Meddings: Much has and will be said in the fallout of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump this weekend, but I am more concerned with what won’t be said because of it. The Trump campaign was quick to blame Biden’s rhetoric as a motivator for the assassination attempt, and the media has eaten this up hook, line and sinker. Read the full article

Mark Willacy and Amy Donaldson: The director of a network of conservative groups, Paul Dans, has told Four Corners his organisation Project 2025 has prepared a detailed “battle plan” and has the people trained and ready to execute it. It would see the president’s power expanded like never before and allow him to target the so-called “deep state” — in Trump’s telling, the ruling class of faceless civil servants that thwarted his first term agenda. Read the full article

Zachary Albert: Heritage stands out from all of the groups I investigated. It is much more conservative and more closely aligned with former President Donald Trump’s style of Republicanism. Heritage is also more aggressive in its advocacy for conservative ideas, pairing campaign spending with lobbying and large-scale grassroots mobilization. Read the full article

The failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump has not only turbo-charged his supporters, it's led many to believe that God spared his life so he could retake power. It’s fuelled a belief among US white evangelicals, in particular, that Trump is a divinely ordained saviour, despite his many personal faults. Listen to the interview

Alex O'Connor: It wasn’t the first time Jeremy Corbyn had been accused of violating the sanctity of the House of Commons, but this time it was for more than just refusing to put on a fancy suit. Last week, after securing the Islington North seat as an independent candidate, he was in line to be sworn in as an MP, and was picked up by a microphone quietly speaking with a candour rarely heard in parliament. “This is such a load of nonsense,” he whispered to Labour MP Marie Rimmer. Read the full article

Nicholas E. Meyer: If pressed to name a philosopher who stands for sensible, resolutely non-mystical while deeply probing thinking, Karl Popper comes eminently to the fore. If, in addition, the search is for a thinker who confronts and makes advances in concrete issues, not just in philosophy but in society and in politics; and further, if someone is sought who made it a point to produce writing that is sturdily clear, Popper keeps, well, popping up. Read the full article

Julianne Schultz: Australia is one of the most irreligious countries in the world. At the last census 10 million people said they had no religion, within this decade those of no faith are likely to be the majority. Managing the religious diversity that comes with mass migration, is again presenting a political challenge for Australian governments. A secular democracy demands conscientiously even-handed political leadership. Read the full article

Jeff Kildea: In recent weeks there has been talk of the prospect of a Muslim party being formed to contest the next federal election. The prime minister has responded by saying he did not want Australia to go down the road of faith-based political parties. Since then, several commentators have mentioned that Australia has been down that road before, with some pointing to the Democratic Labor Party formed in the 1950s. But as others have rightly pointed out the DLP despite the support of many Catholics was never a faith-based party. Read the full article