RSA Weekly For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia
Saturday 15 March 2025 Hi , In recent weeks, we've received a number of responses from state and territory attorneys-general to our call for them to address coercive control in cults and
high-demand religious groups. Tasmania is the latest state to say it has "no plan" to broaden existing coercive control laws (see our top article). 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 Tasmania has ‘no plan’ to extend coercive control laws to cover
religious cults15 Mar: Another state has indicated it has no plans to broaden coercive control laws to protect people from harmful religious cults, despite pleas from cult survivors for action. In a letter to the Rationalist Society of Australia this month, Tasmanian Attorney-General Guy Barnett recognised that some of the reported behaviours of cults were “very concerning”, but said his state already had a “wide-ranging legal framework”
in place to combat such matters. Read the full article |
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| RSA Defence adds ‘God’ to definition of ‘spirituality’ at behest of
religious clerics13 Mar: A taxpayer-funded committee of religious clerics has successfully pushed the Australian Defence Force to adopt a definition of ‘spirituality’ that has been altered to include a reference to ‘God’. An Army chaplain, writing in the 2024 edition of the Australian Army Chaplaincy Journal, revealed that the Religious Advisory Committee to the Services added the reference to ‘God’ into a long-standing academic
definition of spirituality featured in key strategic Defence documents. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Australian researchers asked to confirm they align with Trump administration interests if they receive US funding 14 Mar: The Trump
administration has been accused of “blatant foreign interference” in Australia’s universities after researchers who receive US funding were asked to confirm they aligned with US government interests. The questionnaire included questions asking whether they recognise only two genders and took measures to combat “Christian prosecution”. Read the full article |
| ABC RADIO PNG parliament passes bill declaring god as 'creator and sustainer of the entire universe' 14 Mar: Papua New Guinea's Opposition say they're
taking two constitutional amendments, declaring PNG a Christian country and limiting the votes of no confidence against the PM, to the Supreme Court. It follows a constitution amendment bill passed this week formally declaring PNG as a Christian nation. Only four MPs opposed the bill, with eighty supporting it. Listen to the episode |
| THE GUARDIAN Chris Minns and NSW police minister should face inquiry over ‘fake terrorism plot’ and antisemitic attacks, critics say 13 Mar: There are
mounting calls for an inquiry into whether the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, and his police minister misled MPs and the public before controversial hate speech and religious worship bills were rushed through state parliament. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Islamophobic incidents in Australia have doubled over the past two years, research suggests 13 Mar: Islamophobic incidents – including
physical attacks, verbal harassment, people being spat on and rape threats – have more than doubled in the past two years, with girls and women bearing the brunt of hatred towards Muslims in Australia, new research shows. Read the full article |
| ABC Chris Minns defends rushing hate speech laws through state parliament 13 Mar: Premier Chris Minns has ruled out the NSW government repealing its new
hate speech laws, despite repeated claims the bill was rushed through parliament. Last month, the state government passed hate speech laws that introduced a maximum penalty of two years' in prison or fines of up to $11,000 for intentionally inciting racial hatred. Read the full article |
| ABC WA Greens to hold balance of power in Legislative Council 12 Mar: At the WA state election, the state director of the Australian Christians Party
Maryka Groenewald picked up the party's only seat. Meanwhile, the WA Greens say strengthening the government’s climate change legislation will be a top priority after they seize the balance of power in the upper house. Read the full
article |
| THE GUARDIAN Dalai Lama says his successor will be born outside China in the ‘free world’ 11 Mar: The Dalai Lama’s successor will be born outside China,
the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago. Tibetans worldwide want the institution of the Dalai Lama to continue after the 89-year-old’s death, he writes in Voice for the Voiceless. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Climate action is locked in despite Trump, says former US climate envoy 10 Mar: One of the world’s leading climate diplomats has told a conference
in Sydney that Donald Trump’s resistance to climate action would not stop the global transition to a clean economy, rather it would delay the United States’ progress, and potentially cost lives around the world. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Mormon church rocked by child sexual abuse allegations in California 9 Mar: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in the US has
been rocked by a slew of sexual abuse allegations launched against it in California in the latest scandal to hit the organization that is better known as the Mormon church. Read the full article |
| SBS Housework, incomes, and religion: How Australia is — and isn't — changing 6 Mar: The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia report
noted that the rise in the proportion of Australians who say they don't have a religion has coincided with a drop in the proportion of those who identify as Christian. The 15–24 age group had the lowest proportion of religiosity for most of the last two decades, but were recently overtaken by 25 to 34-year-olds. Read the full article |
| NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY (UK) Government launches ‘Islamophobia’ definition working group 3 Mar: The Government has launched a working group to create a
definition of "Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia" within six months. The group was set up by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in response to record levels of anti-Muslim hate crime. Read the full article |
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| RATIONALE Are our thoughts ‘real’? Sam Baron: You can doubt just about anything. But there’s one thing you can know for sure: you are having thoughts right now. This idea came to characterise the philosophical thinking of 17th century philosopher René Descartes. For Descartes, that we have thoughts may be the only thing we can be certain about. But what exactly are thoughts? Read the full article |
| PEARLS & IRRITATIONS Government funding increases entrench private school resource advantage Trevor Cobbold: Government funding increases
for Catholic and Independent schools have outstripped those for public schools since 2009 and entrenched a major resource advantage for them. New figures published by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority show Catholic and Independent schools have a much higher income per student than public schools across Australia and in nearly every state/territory. Read the full article |
| ABC The Universities Australia definition of antisemitism is not as worrying as some would have you believe David Slucki and Katharine Gelber:
At the end of February, Universities Australia, the peak body for Australia’s higher education sector, endorsed a definition of antisemitism drafted by a working committee of the Group of Eight, of which we both were a part. The definition marks an effort to take seriously the rise in antisemitism on Australian campuses in recent years. Read the full article |
| IAI NEWS Wittgenstein vs Dawkins: Is God a scientific hypothesis? John Cottingham: The first quarter of the twenty-first century has seen some
serious damage to the cause of religious belief. Some of the damage has been self-inflicted, but a significant element relates to the attacks mounted by prominent scientists and philosophers. That formidable critic of religious belief, Richard Dawkins, has tended to portray religious thought as if it were primarily aimed at advancing rival explanations to those offered by modern science. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Threaten campuses, shut down debate: that’s what free speech looks like under Trump Owen Jones: For those who fear Donald Trump is
a despot in the making, don’t worry: he has an answer. “I’ve stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America,” he triumphantly declared in his State of the Union address. “It’s back!” JD Vance scolded Europe in his speech at the Munich security conference last month, declaring that “free speech is in retreat” across the continent. Read the full article |
| FORWARD Christian nationalism is rising. So is the Christian resistance Benyamin Cohen: Amanda Tyler didn’t need President Donald Trump to tell
her that Christian nationalism was on the rise. She had seen it reshape churches, rewrite textbooks and realign politics. She is leading a growing movement within Christianity that is resisting Christian nationalism — not from the outside, but from inside the church itself. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN ‘Guess what? You don’t matter’: what Trump’s war on DEI means for every American who’s not a straight white man Arwa Mahdawi: Now
that the political landscape has changed, many companies that used to talk the big talk about inclusivity have changed their tune. Some, such as Costco and Apple, have defended their diversity policies and chosen to stay the course. But roughly 20% of companies in the S&P 100 – including Meta, Amazon, Target and McDonald’s – have retreated from DEI commitments. Read the full article
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| THE HERALD (SCOTLAND) SNP teeing up for another unnecessary culture war with religious right Neil Mackay: There's a strange imbalance in
Scottish society. As a nation, we’re now predominantly secular: 51.1% said in the 2022 census that they had “no religion”. Yet churches hold power which far outweighs their place. When it comes to public discourse, that 51.1% deserves much more of a hearing, if democracy is to be equitable. Why should the rational mind be of less import than the magical mind? Read the full article |
| SKY NEWS Christianity in Australia and beyond is caving to the progressive cultural elite John Mac Ghlionn: When believers adjust their faith to
meet the expectations of secular society, they unintentionally contribute to its decline. Dr John G. West addresses this sobering reality in his new book, Stockholm Syndrome Christianity: Why America’s Christian Leaders Are Failing—and What We Can Do About It. Although he focuses on the United States, his observations reach well beyond American borders. Read the full article |
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