RSA Weekly For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia
Saturday 7 December 2024 Hi , We are disappointed that the Returned & Services League’s ACT branch has withdrawn from participating in a conciliation process regarding our discrimination complaint about the
Christian dominance of the Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial. In positive news, an independent tribunal has recognised that the secular pastoral care/wellbeing support roles in Navy are providing a “complementary non-religious alternative” and meeting the mental health and wellbeing needs of personnel. Now, all eyes are on Army and Air Force to see if they will introduce
frontline secular support. If you'd like to share something you've seen online or share your thoughts about articles in the RSA Weekly, feel free to email me on editor@rationalist.com.au. Si Gladman Executive Director, Rationalist Society of Australia |
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| RSA Independent tribunal finds “strong demand” for Navy’s
“complementary” non-religious pastoral care alternative7 Dec: The introduction of secular wellbeing support workers into the Royal Australian Navy has delivered a “complementary non-religious alternative” helping to meet the mental health and wellbeing needs of personnel, says the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal. Read the full article |
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| CENSUS21 Premier’s department supports changing religion
question4 Dec: The Victorian Premier’s own department believes the proposed changes to the Census religion question will have a positive impact in fostering greater inclusion of non-religious people. As part of phase 2 of the Australia Bureau of Statistics’ 2026 Census topic consultation, the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet identified the “assumption of religiosity” as a problem in the existing question. Read the full article |
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| RSA RSA calls for War Memorial to take full control of Dawn Service
after closure of complaint case4 Dec: The Rationalist Society of Australia is urging the nation’s war memorial to take full control of commemoration services after a veterans organisation that hosts the Anzac Day service withdrew from a resolution process regarding a religious discrimination complaint. In June, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman submitted a complaint to the Australian Capital Territory Human Rights Commission on the grounds
that Christian dominance of the Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial discriminated against non-Christians. Read the full article |
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| RSA Queensland council now faces question of whether to include
non-Christians in prayer ritual2 Dec: The Rationalist Society of Australia has asked a Queensland council whether it will now invite non-Christian leaders to recite prayers in its meetings after an influential councillor declared he is open to the idea. Meanwhile, the RSA has also thanked a Victorian council for replacing an opening prayer ritual with a secular pledge. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Netanyahu claims Melbourne synagogue attack linked to Albanese government’s ‘anti-Israel position’ 7 Dec: The Australian government’s support
for a UN resolution calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of Gaza is to blame for a widely condemned arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, the Jewish state’s prime minister says. The Adass Israel synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne’s south-east had two of its three buildings gutted. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Call to outlaw ‘coercive’ cults, stop financial secrecy for extreme churches5 Dec: A widening of coercive control laws to cover groups such as cults and changes to the tax
breaks afforded to religious organisations are among reforms proposed after the exposure of extreme teachings at a secretive Australian church. Former members of the hardline Geelong Revival Centre want criminal coercive control laws expanded to include extreme religious sects and high-demand groups. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Secret recordings reveal the bizarre teachings of one of Australia’s most extreme churches5 Dec: The new leader of a secretive Australian church described Adolf Hitler as a
“brilliant thinker” and expelled a long-term member weeks before his death from cancer. Brian Griggs became the head pastor of the Geelong Revival Centre and its network of churches across Australia in April, after the death of founder Noel Hollins. Read the full
article |
| THE GUARDIAN Satanic Temple to offer religious program for elementary school students in Ohio4 Dec: The Satanic Temple will begin offering a religious program at an Ohio elementary
school in response to parent requests for an alternative to a Christian “release” program. At the Edgewood elementary school in Marysville, Ohio, where the Temple will start a program, the evangelical LifeWise program removes students for 55 minutes each week. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Twenty private schools with wealthiest parents received $130m total in Australian public funds in 20234 Dec: The 20 private schools with the wealthiest parent cohorts in
the country received a combined total of $130m in government funding last year, reveals new data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. Read the full article |
| SMH ‘Shameless’: Peak Jewish group says Labor betrayed Israel at UN4 Dec: Labor’s relationship with Israel has sunk to new lows, with the nation’s peak Jewish group declaring
Australia’s longstanding bipartisan support for Israel has essentially vanished after the Albanese government ditched a two-decades-old stance on the two-state solution. Read the full article |
| SMH Dodgy science in crosshairs as fraud audit censures Australia’s top research agency4 Dec: Australia’s top research agency has been savaged by government auditors over its lax
approach to scientific misconduct and fraud in an audit that lays the groundwork for a shake-up of the way bad science is policed. The Australian National Audit Office found a litany of problems at the National Health and Medical Research Council, which hands out about $1.5 billion in taxpayer grants each year. Read the full article |
| THE AGE The abortion speech, the student walkout – and the Catholic civil war3 Dec: High-profile conservative Catholic lawyers have warned the Australian Catholic University it faces
losing its religious designation if it fails to defend the faith as church leaders split with university bosses in the fallout from an anti-abortion speech on campus. The warning follows a furious six-page letter from Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, who raised concerns about the ambivalence of the university’s commitment to its Catholic identity. Read the full article |
| THE AGE ‘Yes in God’s backyard’: Labor offers cash for church housing 3 Dec: Church groups are signing up for federal funds to build homes for people in need
and fill a gap in the broader housing market, prompting the government to offer them more cash if they are willing to release land that has been unused for decades. Read the full article |
| CBS Michigan GOP Rep. Josh Schriver says same-sex marriage should be "illegal again" 3 Dec: Michigan GOP Rep. Josh Schriver took to social media on Monday to
speak on same-sex marriage, saying, "Make gay marriage illegal again." In a post on X, the lawmaker from Oxford added, "This is not remotely controversial, nor extreme." Read the full article |
| MSN Vatican 'on the verge of bankruptcy' as world's smallest country struggles to pay pensions 2 Dec: The Vatican is on the brink of bankruptcy and may not
be able to meet its pension obligations after a collapse in revenues. The latest financial statements showed the Vatican ran an operating deficit of 83 million euros (£69m) in 2023, five million more than in 2022. Read the full article |
| NCR Australian ambassador: Clergy abuse an 'existential threat' for Catholic Church 2 Dec: Decades of clergy sex abuse scandals are an "existential threat"
to the Catholic Church and can only be remedied through transparency and prioritizing survivors, according to the outgoing Australian ambassador to the Vatican. Read the full article |
In this short clip from the latest episode of The Secular Agenda podcast, Clare Heath-McIvor talks about how many fundamentalist churches in Australia will feel emboldened following the election of Donald Trump and the continued rise of Christian Nationalism in the United States. What do you think? Email your comments to: editor@rationalist.com.au |
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| RATIONALE Letters to the Editor: The Jacaranda bloom-bust
parallels life Joseph Ting: The Jacaranda bloom-bust cycle, the flowering of life and its final withering. To live meaningfully is to die at our hour of calling. The waning of the Jacaranda blossom saddens me now. The kids’ and my father’s roles have been reversed. We assume the strong canopy that shades Dad’s withering bulk. The sturdy tree that was our protector and nurturer is no more. Read the full article |
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| RATIONALE The whole story of human evolution – from ancient
apes, to Lucy and us John Gowlett: In pursuit of knowledge, the evolution of humanity ranks with the origins of life and the universe. And yet, except when an exciting find hits the headlines, palaeoanthropology and its related fields have gained far less scientific support and funding – particularly for scientists and institutions based in the African countries where so many landmark discoveries have
occurred. Read the full article |
| NEW ZEALAND HERALD What I’ve learnt investigating the Mormon church Murray Jones: One month ago, the New Zealand Herald released the
first episodes of the podcast Heaven’s Helpline − my six-part investigation into the Mormon church in New Zealand, and its mishandling of reports of physical and sexual abuse within its membership. Since then, I’ve received more than 100 emails and responses from all over the world. The stories told in the series really seem to have struck a chord. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Who should have the last word on assisted dying in a secular Britain? Kenan Malik: Secularism is not a space from which religion
must be excluded but one in which the state neither affirms nor denies any religion, and so one in which no religion is granted privilege over any another, nor over any secular philosophy or ideology. A truly secular Britain would have no established church, no state-funded religious schools and no blasphemy laws. Read the full article |
| ABC Why more Australian Gen Z men are finding meaning in organised religion Shalailah Medhora: More Gen Z men are identifying as Christian than
their female peers for the first time since research began nearly 30 years ago, according to Australian data. The Australian Community Survey, operated by NCLS Research, found that 39 per cent of men in Gen Z (aged 28 and under) identified as Christian, compared to 28 per cent of women of the same age group. Read the full
article |
| ABC RADIO Newly revealed letters on The Satanic Verses controversy It was the novel that sparked a geopolitical crisis. In 1988, Iran's leader
Ayatollah Khomeini imposed a death sentence on Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses. Now, once-secret letters between the British and Malaysian prime ministers reveal the extent of tension between the West and Islamic world in the wake of the book's release. Listen to the episode |
| ABC The meaning of “spirituality” among Australian adults: Connections to self, community and beyond Andrew Singleton, Anna Halafoff and Rosie
Shorter: Some spiritual practices — such as astrology, sound healing and plant medicine — are experiencing a cultural resurgence, fuelled primarily by the power of social media and the influence of famous online figures who advocate for their benefits. Read the full article |
| PEARLS & IRRITATIONS Orban and Netanyahu: the transnational Right’s pervasive Islamophobia Lucy Hamilton: Viktor Orbán’s obsequious letter
to Benjamin Netanyahu offering him sanctuary from the International Criminal Court in Hungary is not a surprise. It is another red flag in the Islamophobic world of the transnational Right. Read the full article |
| THE CONVERSATION Noam Chomsky at 96: The linguist, educator, philosopher and public thinker has had a massive intellectual and moral influence Robert F. Barsky: Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s most famous and respected intellectuals, will be 96 years old on Dec. 7, 2024. For more than half a century, multitudes of people have read his works in a variety of languages, and many people have relied on his commentaries and interviews for insights about intellectual debates and current events. Read the full article |
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