RSA Weekly For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia
Saturday 21 June 2025 Hi , We're looking forward to joining with some non-religious veterans in meeting with staff of the Australian War Memorial to discuss our concerns about the domination of the Anzac Dawn
Service by religion (see our top article). Having previously urged the War Memorial to listen to non-religious veterans and Australians, we're grateful that it has provided the opportunity to meet. Also, this week we've released a new episode for our Secular Agenda podcast, featuring Lara Kaput, an ex-member of the Jehovah's Witnesses and now whistleblower speaking on the importance
of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into cults. You can listen on podcast apps or here on our website. 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 War Memorial opens door for discussions with non-religious
veterans and RSA about Dawn Services20 Jun: The Rationalist Society of Australia welcomes the Australian War Memorial’s decision to meet with non-religious veterans and pro-secular advocates to discuss the domination of Anzac Day Dawn Services by Christianity. The Canberra-based War Memorial has provided an opportunity for the RSA and non-religious veterans to soon meet with its staff following another request from the RSA Executive
Director Si Gladman earlier this month. Read the full article |
| YAHOO NEWS Federal appellate court rejects Louisiana’s Ten Commandments display law 21 Jun: A federal appeals court blocked a Louisiana law Friday that
requires public K-12 schools, colleges and universities to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. The 5th US Court of Appeals, often cited as one of the most conservative courts in the nation, found the law unconstitutional because it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Read the full article |
| BBC MPs back assisted dying bill in historic Commons vote 21 Jun: In an historic vote, MPs have approved a bill which would pave the way for huge social
change by giving terminally ill adults in England and Wales the right to end their own lives. The Terminally Ill Adults Bill, which was backed by 314 votes to 291, will now go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Protest at Sydney synagogue wasn’t targeting ‘religious event’ but Israel Defense Forces speaker, court told 19 Jun: A protest outside a
Sydney synagogue – which was the “catalyst” for the New South Wales government introducing anti-protest laws designed to curb antisemitism – was targeting an event where a member of the Israel Defense Forces was speaking, a court has been told during a constitutional challenge. The Palestine Action Group is challenging in the supreme court the Minns government’s controversial laws giving police broad powers to restrict protests. Read the full article |
| ABC UK votes to decriminalise abortion, repealing Victorian-era law 19 Jun: Britain's parliament has voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales
to stop women from facing criminal charges for terminating pregnancies after 24 weeks. Politicians gave an initial approval of 379 votes to 137 for an amendment to stop prosecutions for women who end pregnancies in all circumstances. Read the full
article |
| ABC Churches to be held vicariously liable for abuse 17 Jun: Churches will be held vicariously liable for abuse committed by their priests under new
Victorian laws to be introduced to parliament by the end of the year. The retrospective legislation seeks to overcome a 2024 High Court ruling that the Ballarat Catholic Diocese could not be held liable for the abuse of notorious paedophile priest Bryan Coffey because he was not a church employee. Read the full article |
| ABC NT government to reverse some anti-discrimination law protections amid LGBTQIA+ community pushback 17 Jun: The Northern Territory government has
back-pedalled on plans to scrap hate speech protections in the NT's Anti-Discrimination Act. But the territory's anti-discrimination commissioner — whose office handles discrimination complaints — says the government's new proposal will still "water down" those protections. Read the full article |
| FRIENDLY ATHEIST Trump has earned $1.3 million (so far) from his MAGA Bible grift 16 Jun: How much can you make from slapping your name on an overpriced,
made-in-China Bible with sticky pages that no one else was buying, then pitching the whole thing as a Christian Nationalist gift for your most devoted and gullible fans? If you’re Donald Trump, the answer is $1,306,035. So far. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Anglicans vote for change with new archbishop 14 Jun: The Melbourne Anglican Church’s new archbishop faces problems including declining
congregations, large numbers of unviable parishes, a financial crisis that if unchecked will see the diocese run out of money in 2028. Read the full article |
| HUMANISTS UK Andrew Copson awarded OBE in first-ever UK award for ‘Services to the Non-Religious’ 13 Jun: Humanists UK’s Chief Executive Andrew Copson has
been awarded an OBE for ‘services to the non-religious’ in the UK national honours announced today. This is the first time an award has been made for services to the non-religious, who now represent a majority of the UK’s population. Read the
full article |
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| RATIONALE What Victoria’s inquiry into cults will
examine Jaime Simpson and Kathleen McPhillips: The Victorian parliament has launched a long-overdue inquiry into abuse and coercive control within cults and religious fringe groups. It is a welcome acknowledgement of the damage that can flourish under the guise of faith, and the unquestioning obedience to authoritarian leaders in religious groups. Read the full article |
| CRIKEY The Victorian Liberals are beyond help. Let them sink and start again Bernard Keane: The other problem has been an infestation of
extremists — initially Christian fundamentalists who effortlessly signalled how badly out of touch the party was with ordinary Victorians, and in more recent years, Trump-inspired elements prone to peddling conspiracy theories about Andrews, threatening violence, abusing LGBTQIA+ people and Indigenous peoples, and attacking abortion rights. Read the full article |
| THE SATURDAY PAPER ‘A very dangerous man’: How Alex Antic is shaping the Liberals Jason Koutsoukis: Behind the scenes in South Australia Antic
has built a formidable power base, aided mainly by an influx of conservative and Pentecostal-aligned members who party insiders say are driving moderates out of local branches and taking control of the state party machinery. Read the full
article |
| THE FREETHINKER Iran-Israel, and beyond: the religious perspective Nicholas E. Meyer: The religious dimension of the open war between Iran and
Israel has tended to take a back seat to other issues in analyses of the situation. Yet a look at the religious angle is instructive in that it provides two object lessons. Firstly, it shows how enormous religion can rear even today, in given situations, as a driver of international politics. And secondly, it shows that the special level of bitterness — the venom — religion injects into the conflicts it is involved in remains as potent as ever. Read the full article |
| ABC RADIO Netanyahu: will his government fall over the issue of ultra-Orthodox military service? Australia has imposed sanctions on two far-right
Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, citing a history of violent and racist statements. The two men are crucial to propping up the Netanyahu government in parliament. Even so, the government could fall later this year over compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox men. Listen to the full episode |
| THE CONVERSATION The Christian nationalist group has a vision for America − and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s support Samuel Perry: As a
scholar of the Christian right, I have studied the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches – commonly called the CREC. Hegseth’s membership in a church that belongs to the CREC drew attention because prominent members of the church identify as Christian nationalists, and because of its positions on issues concerning gender, sexuality and the separation of church and state. Read the full article |
| NEW YORK MAGAZINE The Spiritual Warfare of Vance Boelter: An accused assassin’s religious convictions are not unusual in American life Sarah
Jones: For authoritarians, spiritual warfare is a useful notion. Their political opponents aren’t simply misguided; they’re agents of the devil, and their humanity is questionable. Boelter’s Christianity did not force him to kill, but it did give him permission to act. And although he is accused of carrying out an assassination campaign by himself, he is not, in the broadest sense, alone. Read the full article |
| THE CONVERSATION Is there really a religious revival in England? David Voas: The Bible Society recently published a report claiming that church
attendance in England and Wales increased by more than half between 2018 and 2024. The revival was especially striking among young men, with reported church attendance jumping from 4% to 21% over this short period. As a quantitative social scientist who has studied religious change in modern societies for more than 25 years, I’m surprised – and sceptical. Read the full article |
| THE FREETHINKER Calling Pascal’s Bluff: Why His Wager Doesn’t Hold Up David Falls: The French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal
(1623-1662) famously argued that belief in God is the safest bet — he proposed a wager where faith secures infinite reward (heaven) and doubt risks eternal punishment (hell). But what if this logic is upside down? What if scepticism — not belief — were the wiser wager? Read the full article |
| THE FREETHINKER The Left-Liberal Tradition Matt McManus: Liberalism has been in trouble for a decade now. In the struggle against self-described
post-liberal ‘aristopopulists’ and ‘illiberal (not quite) democrats’, there have been successes and retreats. But only the most naïve would deny we’ve come a very long way from a mere 30 years ago, when intelligent commentators could confidently say liberal democracy was the end of all of history. Read the full article |
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