RSA Weekly For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia
Saturday 8 March 2025 Hi , If you thought the situation with the controversial Special Religious Education (SRE) program in New South Wales’ public schools couldn’t get any worse, hold your hat.
As we reported this week, Catholic SRE providers are taking teenagers out of Catholic schools during the day and sending them into public schools to lead the religious indoctrination classes. We have asked some questions of the minister. Being International Women’s Day, it’s a great time to announce that the RSA has recognised the contribution of our former president, Meredith
Doig, by bestowing upon her the honorary title of President Emerita. Check out the list of RSA's Patrons and honorary titleholders here. If you'd like to share your thoughts about
articles in the RSA Weekly, email me on sigladman@rationalist.com.au. Si Gladman Executive Director, Rationalist Society of Australia |
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| RSA Catholic teens leading scripture classes in New South Wales’
public schools7 Mar: Teenage missionaries are among the instructors taking over classrooms from professional teachers to deliver religious indoctrination classes in New South Wales’ public schools. The Rationalist Society of Australia has discovered that teens of around 15 and 16 years of age are providing scripture instruction under the state’s controversial Special Religious Education program. Read the full article |
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| RSA Victorian government considering “safe access zones” around
places of worship4 Mar: The Victorian government has acknowledged the Rationalist Society of Australia’s concerns about the need to ensure protections for legitimate protests outside places of worship. In a letter, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Community Safety said the government would consult with stakeholders over planned laws impacting protests outside places of worship. The spokesperson confirmed that the Allan
government was considering introducing “safe access zones” around places of worship. Read the full article |
| NEWS Christians react to ‘disgraceful’ Mardi Gras image: ‘Defund the event’ 5 Mar: The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has become embroiled in a similar
controversy to the one that derailed the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics. A controversial image of a prominent drag queen pointing a spear at a person appearing to be dressed up as Jesus has drawn a furious reaction from Christians across Australia. Read the full article |
| RIOT ACT Brindabella Christian College goes into administration 5 Mar: Brindabella Christian College has gone into voluntary administration as it faces
battles on a number of fronts, including the Tax Office pursuing an $8 million debt. Deloitte said in a statement that the key focus of the Administrators would be to ensure the College continued to operate on a business-as-usual basis and avoid any disruption to the student classes. Read the full article |
| DAILY MAIL (UK) Bungling doctor cuts off boy's penis in horrific surgery gone wrong 5 Mar: A newborn baby’s penis had to be fully amputated after a surgeon
botched his circumcision. The infant, from Somalia, was seven days old when he was given the procedure, which is very common in East Africa. Read the full article |
| SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Israel urges Dutton to recognise West Jerusalem as nation’s capital 4 Mar: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is facing calls from the
Netanyahu government and local Jewish groups to again recognise West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital if the Coalition wins the federal election. The Morrison government recognised West Jerusalem as the Israeli capital in 2018, before the Albanese government reversed the move three years later. Read the full article |
| ABC 16yo from WA arrested after online threat against south-west Sydney mosque sparks police investigation 4 Mar: A teenager in Western Australia has been
arrested, hours after NSW Police launched a "major" investigation into a violent online threat targeting a newly-opened Sydney mosque. The Australian Islamic House — Masjid Al-Bayt Al-Islami mosque at Edmondson Park reported the threat to police. Read the full article |
| ABC New South Wales public schools to get $5b boost in latest deal to end funding wars 3 Mar: Australia's toxic school funding wars are closer to peace
after New South Wales became the latest state to sign a new 10-year agreement in exchange for $4.8 billion in new funding. All states and territories except Queensland have now reached an agreement with the federal government to boost public school funding under what the government has dubbed the ‘Better and Fairer Schools Agreement’. Read the full article |
| ABC NT's CLP government confirms plans to scrap Labor's hate speech changes 2 Mar: The Northern Territory government has confirmed it is planning to scrap
a key clause in the territory's anti-discrimination laws, claiming it could lead to people being "attacked for telling a joke". The Country Liberal Party (CLP) government's changes will reverse controversial measures introduced by the former NT Labor government just three years ago. Read the full article |
| WA TODAY Controversial High Court ruling could be used against sex abuse victims like Greg 1 Mar: Greg Barclay lost his faith in Catholicism in 1970 when he
was sexually assaulted by a Marist brother, but he says the church “hit a new low” when it pursued a legal defence that would obstruct some compensation claims by survivors of institutional abuse. Many survivors of historical sexual abuse are now under pressure to accept reduced financial settlements, or proceed to trial, where they face significant legal hurdles. Read the full article |
| SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Sydney Muslim Vote backer attends Hamas anniversary rally 1 Mar: A keynote speaker at the launch of The Muslim Vote movement, which
aims to unseat western Sydney Labor MPs, attended a rally in Jordan in December celebrating the founding of Hamas, the designated terrorist organisation. Read the full article |
| ABC WA Liberals' Albany candidate Thomas Brough back in spotlight over abortion comments 1 Mar: WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam has ruled out a review of
abortion laws while distancing herself from comments made by Albany candidate Thomas Brough. When asked if WA's abortion laws should be reviewed, Dr Brough replied "yes" before saying: "Babies born alive should not be left to die." Read the full article MERCURY Heat on Catholic education leadership over same-sex hiring rule 28 Feb: The head of Catholic Education Tasmania and Archbishop Julian Porteous are under fire for
refusing to employ people in same-sex relationships to senior positions in Catholic schools. Catholic Education Tasmania’s admission that it refuses to recruit people in same-sex or de facto relationships to senior positions has drawn the ire of leading LGBTQIA+ advocate Rodney Croome. Read the full article |
| NEWSROOM (NZ)
Taxing charities’ business income would have ‘devastating’ impact on communities 16 Jan: An anticipated move to tax charities’ business operations would reduce charitable
activity and may cause businesses to leave New Zealand, a lawyer warns. In a push to find new sources of revenue the Government is looking at implementing a charity tax, which would see the business arm of companies such as Sanitarium lose their current tax-exempt status. Read the full article |
Last month, Councillor Heather Champion helped to block a proposal to reintroduce prayers into council meetings at Wingecarribee Shire Council in New South Wales. Speaking at the council meeting, she argued that meeting practices should be secular and representative of the whole community. What do you think? Email your comments to: sigladman@rationalist.com.au |
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| RATIONALE The quest to extend human
life Richard Gunderman: “Who wants to live forever?” Freddie Mercury mournfully asks in Queen’s 1986 song of the same name. The answer: quite a few people – so much so that life extension has long been a cottage industry. As a physician and scholar in the medical humanities, I’ve found the quest to expand the human lifespan both fascinating and fraught with moral peril. Read the full article |
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| RATIONALE Having secular government spaces helps us respect
religious differences Heather Champion: Our community should see themselves represented without bias towards particular groups or implying favour in our decisions. That’s why governments at all levels should be secular spaces – because this is how we respect religious difference. The decision to scrap the prayer previously was one that reflected our collective commitment to inclusivity. Read the full article |
| THE CONVERSATION NSW has finally struck a school funding deal. What does this mean for schools and students? Stewart Riddle: The federal and NSW
governments have billed their deal as a means to “fully and fairly fund New South Wales public schools”. Or, as Education Minister Jason Clare noted, “this is big”. But while the extra funding is welcome news for NSW public schools, the results of the agreed reforms will not be felt for some time. Underfunded schools will continue to be underfunded for years to come. Read the full article |
| SBS Max was circumcised as a baby. He wishes he could reverse it every day Caroline Riches: Max Roberts was born in the late 1950s and, like the
majority of Australian boys at the time, he was circumcised a few days later. Now 67, Max is still angry he was never given the choice about his own body. Read the full article |
| NEWS Man’s escape from cult-like church he says controlled every aspect of his life Shannon Molloy: Ryan Carey had no idea that his seemingly
normal upbringing in a sleepy suburb about an hour from Melbourne was anything but typical. His parents were members of a notorious and secretive Pentecostal cult-like church that preached doomsday prophecies and controlled every aspect of its followers’ lives. Read the full article |
| FREETHINKER Is Democracy Overrated? The Vacuity of Curtis Yarvin and His ‘Dark Elves’ Jonathan Church: Amid all the fanfare about the threat
that Trump’s political comeback poses to American democracy, however, more attention needs to be paid to the emergence of a relatively obscure, neo-reactionary (NRx) scribbler whose explicitly anti-democratic musings gave rise to an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian Dark Enlightenment movement which has gained serious credence with rich and powerful backers of the Trump 2.0 regime. Read the full article |
| SALON "What the Lord established": Elon Musk is camouflaging a Christian nationalist takeover Amanda Marcotte: Elon Musk does not read to most
people as a religious man. The tech billionaire who is attempting to take over the entire federal government through his "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) was once even regarded as an atheist. In 2013, Musk scoffed at the idea "that there's some superconsciousness watching over our every movement." Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN How Trump unleashed chaos in science In his first month in office the US president has thrown science in the US into chaos, delaying
projects and casting the future of research funding and jobs into doubt. For the Full Story podcast, Madeleine Finlay hears from science editor Ian Sample and Prof Harold Varmus, a Nobel prize winner. Listen to the
episode |
| THE CONVERSATION Academic freedom and democracy under siege: how a Nobel peace prize could help defend them Stéphanie Balme: March 7 has been
recognized as the “Day of the Stand Up for Science Movement”, launched in 2017 in response to the anti-science actions of the first Trump administration. Under the second, attacks on scientists and scientific inquiry have escalated into a systematic assault – tantamount to a coup d’Etat against science itself. Read the full article |
| THE AGE ‘People are going silent’: Fearing retribution, Trump critics muzzle themselves Elisabeth Bumiller: The silence grows louder every day.
Fired federal workers who are worried about losing their homes ask not to be quoted by name. University presidents fearing that millions of dollars in federal funding could disappear are holding their fire. CEOs alarmed by tariffs that could hurt their businesses are on mute. Read the full article |
| THE CONVERSATION Who’s who at the Vatican? Daniel Speed Thompson: In Catholic doctrine, the pope has the highest authority in the church. He can
exercise it alone or with the College of Bishops, made up of all the bishops in the world. Bishops named by the pope to the office of “cardinal” can, if under 80 years old, vote to elect a new pope. Some cardinals, but by no means all, serve in the papal Curia in Rome. Read the full
article |
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