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9 Oct: The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is going ahead with testing the newly formulated religion question for the 2026 Census, it has been confirmed. In a letter to the ‘Census21 – Not Religious?’ coalition, the ABS said a mixture of testing methods would now be adopted, along with stakeholder consultation, before finalising the text of the religion question. Read the full article

9 Oct: Former Labor senator Fatima Payman has launched a new political movement, saying the Labor party has “lost its way”. Some in Labor had speculated whether Payman…would launch her own party with a focus on Muslim voters and others unhappy with the government’s response to the Gaza war. Payman described her party as being “for the disenfranchised, the unheard and those yearning for real change”. Read the full article

9 Oct: The Australian Human Rights Commission has warned that Labor’s proposed laws to combat online misinformation do not “strike the appropriate balance” between protecting free speech and moderating content. The commission cautions that the labels can be “opportunistically” applied to content to undermine alternative views and stymie public debate. Read the full article

9 Oct: In his meeting with his brother Jesuits in Belgium, Pope Francis call secularization a “complex phenomenon” and noted sometimes the Church must “confront forms of paganism.” The pope also spoke about the difficulty of giving women a more just and adequate place in the Church. Read the full article

8 Oct: LNP leader David Crisafulli is expected to face more questioning today over his party's stance on Queensland's abortion laws. Mr Crisafulli has previously said there would be "no change" to abortion laws if an LNP government is elected on October 26, but has declined to explain how he would guarantee that. Read the full article

8 Oct: A former cabinet colleague of David Crisafulli fears Queensland’s Liberal National Party will overturn abortion and voluntary assisted dying laws if elected on October 26. Jann Stuckey, who served in cabinet during the Newman government and quit the party in 2022, said there were "growing concerns" her old party would amend would amend VAD and abortion laws if elected. Read the full article

7 Oct: The Western Australia branch of the Cancer Council has been nominated for the 2024 Bent Spoon award for the promotion of pseudoscience, in this case offering therapies based on the pseudoscience of reiki and reflexology. Read the full article

3 Oct: More than half of New Zealand’s population now has no religion which one expert says is being driven by a shift in young people. Statistics New Zealand released the second tranche of Census 2023 data this morning. The proportion of people with “no religion” has increased from 48.2% of the population in 2018 to 51.6% or 2,576,049 people in 2023. Read the full article

One to watch

In the West Australian Parliament recently, upper house member Dr Brian Walker again questioned the appropriateness of imposing daily Christian prayers in parliament. What do you think? Email your comments to: editor@rationalist.com.au

Opinion / Analysis

Matthew Sharpe: Political operatives on the far right have long spoken about their ambition to shift the “Overton window”. The aim is to “mainstream” ideas long considered unthinkable, through gradual, step-by-step radicalisation and repetition – especially on hot-button issues such as immigration, sexuality, race and identity. If challenged, commentators respond by appealing to “free speech”, accusing their critics of denying this basic liberal right. Read the full article

Christopher Blake: Dying coral reefs, rainforests transforming into savannas, grasslands turning into deserts – these are ecosystem “tipping points”, boundary lines we’re desperate not to cross. In dynamic systems filled with life, these critical thresholds aren’t set in stone. Since organisms can evolve, the tipping points within these ecosystems might evolve too. Read the full article

Emma Wood: “My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” This recent post from Donald Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social, has sparked division within the American pro-life movement. Influential American pro-life leaders are now revisiting the question as to whether ongoing support for Donald Trump is truly consistent with pro-life principles. Read the full article

Samuel McKee: When I finally get a moment to introduce myself as the person who has organized the debate, Alex is apologetic for his illness and polite as expected. He comes across as humble and self-deprecating. He candidly remarks on his surprise at the excitement for this sort of event in a school environment. I tell him that he is now the face of unbelief for Generation Z; young sceptics are no longer looking to Richard Dawkins, but to him. Read the full article

Samuel McKee: Stephen ‘Rationality Rules’ Woodford is the second-largest atheist YouTuber in the UK. With almost 400,000 subscribers to his channel Rationality Rules and various sub-channels, his reach across social media is immense. Read the full article

Michael Sainsbury: In elevating Bychok — appointed only four years after having moved to Australia when named bishop — Pope Francis has overtly passed over senior Australian bishops appointed and promoted since Pell’s elevation to cardinal in 2003. For many years, several bishops have been lobbying (in ways familiar to anyone who works in a large multinational) for a “red hat”. Read the full article

Nigel Davis: The Australian Census Commission recently decided to drop the list of boxes for identifying your religion, to be replaced with the question, “Are you religious? The goal of the change would appear to be to undermine any realistic measurement of faith. The decision appears to continue a concerted effort by the “progressive left” to declare faith obsolete and irrelevant to government decision-making. Read the full article