RSA Weekly For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia
Saturday 19 July 2025 Hi , With the federal parliament set to return this coming week, we'll be watching with interest to see whether the House of Representatives and the Senate will again impose daily acts of
Christian worship as part of their formal proceedings. In our latest action, we have written to all new Labor MPs and senators on the issue, making it clear we see the matter as one of fundamental human rights (see the 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
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| RSA RSA calls on new Labor MPs and senators to support change on
parliamentary prayers19 Jul: The Rationalist Society of Australia has urged all new federal Labor MPs and senators to advocate for change on the parliamentary prayer issue, telling them that it was a matter of fundamental human rights. In a letter to the 27 incoming members of parliament, the RSA said, unless the Standing Orders were changed, both the House of Representatives and Senate would ask them to observe acts of Christian worship
at the opening of each day. According to data published recently, 18 identified either as not religious (nine) or did not answer the question on religious affiliation (nine). Read the full article |
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| RSA Council that imposes Christian worship now bringing back
Christmas nativity scene to promote inclusion17 Jul: Councillors at a Queensland council that only invites Christian preachers to deliver minutes-long sermons at the opening of its meetings say they are re-introducing a nativity scene to the city’s Christmas celebrations to be inclusive and to respect multiculturalism. The Redland City Council this week voted to bring back a nativity scene to the council’s official Christmas celebrations,
with councillors supporting a motion that included formally acknowledging “Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ”. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Victorian government opposes Moira Deeming-backed push to include ‘transgender ideology’ in cults inquiry 18 Jul: Victoria’s equality minister
says the government will oppose a push to examine “transgender ideology” as part of an upcoming inquiry into cults. Earlier this month, anti-trans lobby group Binary published a blog post saying the Liberal party MP Moira Deeming was “urging people to make submissions” to the parliamentary inquiry into cults and organised fringe groups. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Reusing their religion: The Sydney churches with eyes on high-rise futures 18 Jul: A north shore church is a step closer to transforming into a
multi-storey development as faith lobby groups push for more religious sites to be given high-rise futures to answer Sydney’s housing prayers. Faith Housing Australia, which advocates for faith organisations, has urged the NSW government to relax zoning rules so that more housing could be added to church sites. Read the full article |
| SMH Catholic Church selling prime East Melbourne terraces 18 Jul: The Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne is offloading a handful of prime East Melbourne
terraces opposite the St Patrick’s Cathedral precinct on Albert Street. The portfolio is potentially worth more than $25 million. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Sydney Muslim cleric told to prominently display online judge’s findings he was ‘racist and antisemitic’ 17 Jul: An Islamist preacher who used
harmful racial stereotypes about Jewish people in sermons will be forced to tell the world of his antisemitism through prominent online posts. A judge on Thursday ordered the preacher to “pin” or “feature” corrective notices describing the court’s findings to the centre’s website and social media pages. Read the full article |
| THE AUSTRALIAN (VIA CATH NEWS) Jewish community urges Labor to implement plan to stop antisemitism 17 Jul: The nation’s Jewish community has told Labor it
cannot wait any longer to implement a landmark plan to stop the wave of anti-Semitic hate, after Education Minister Jason Clare said he would not move until seeing a similar report on stamping out Islamophobia. Read the full
article |
| ABC Thai woman arrested for allegedly seducing and blackmailing Buddhist monks 17 Jul: Police in Thailand have arrested a woman who allegedly enticed a
string of Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then pressured them into making large payments to cover up their intimacy. The possible violation of the celibacy rule for monks has rocked Buddhist institutions and gripped public attention. Read
the full article |
| THE AGE 'Heavy-handed': Former minister breaks ranks on antisemitism report 16 Jul: A former Albanese government minister has broken ranks to brand aspects
of a national plan to tackle antisemitism as “heavy-handed”, prompting accusations from Jewish Australians he was downplaying the threat of hatred aimed at them. Ed Husic said the report made “some really important” points, but was concerned with certain sections and some of Segal’s commentary. Read the full article |
| NT NEWS (VIA CATH NEWS) Parliamentary committee opens consultations on assisted dying 16 Jul: The committee tasked with consulting Territorians on
voluntary assisted dying has revealed where it will visit and what questions it will ask as it prepares a report for the Northern Territory Parliament. The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is aiming to host hearings in a dozen locations in August. Read the full article |
| SBS Liberal MP raises free speech concerns over legislating antisemitism definition 15 Jul: Australia shouldn't legislate a controversial definition of
antisemitism or impose penalties for breaching it, Coalition frontbencher James Paterson says. In a radio interview, he said doing so would not "be consistent with Australia's approach to free speech". Read the full
article |
| THE AUSTRALIAN (VIA CATH NEWS) Albanese under pressure from Greens over human rights act 14 Jul: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing pressure from
the Greens to take advantage of his parliamentary majority to implement a human rights act, which has drawn criticism for galvanising judicial activism and limiting religious freedom. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Dig begins at site in Ireland believed to hold remains of nearly 800 infants 14 Jul: A century after Irish nuns first began to bury hundreds
of infants in what would become a mass, unmarked grave, archaeologists and other specialists will start excavating the site in Tuam, County Galway. The 5,000-sq-metre site is where the Bon Secours order is believed to have interred 796 infants who died at the St Mary’s mother and baby home. Read the full article |
| SBS Calls for antisemitism envoy to step down after husband's trust Advance Australia donation 14 Jul: There are calls for Australia's special envoy to
combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, to resign from the position following revelations that a trust linked to her husband made a $50,000 donation to right-wing political lobby group Advance Australia. Read the full
article |
| THE AGE ‘Sheep do not judge their shepherd’: Sermon after child abuse conviction shocks victims 5 Jul: A senior Sydney priest has warned his followers
“sheep do not judge their shepherd” in a sermon about his divided church after a veteran cleric was found guilty of child sexual abuse days earlier – shocking victims and experts. Meanwhile, a document penned by the paedophile priest himself, which ordered followers “when you are abused, be quiet”, has been quietly removed after decades in a government registry. Read the full article |
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| RATIONALE Why the British accepted evolutionary science and
Americans didn’t Edward White: Why did British religious institutions embrace science while American ones declared war? The answer lies in different approaches to intellectual challenges. British Anglicanism has a centuries-old tradition of seeking a “via media” – a middle way between extremes – that allowed church leaders to accommodate new ideas without abandoning core
beliefs. Read the full article |
| THE FREETHINKER Christopher Hitchens’s Theory of Historical Progress: A Cruel Moral Calculus Zwan Mahmod: Even if Hitchens’ theory of historical
change held internal logical consistency, it would still have to be repudiated as a form of thinking since it obviously risks setting a murderous precedent in which present or future atrocities are justified with the promise of future benefit for a larger group of humanity. Read the full article |
| THE FREETHINKER Godless Love: The Dating Lives of Young Nigerian Atheists Adesomola Adedayo: It doesn’t help that the nonreligious are in danger
of both physical and nonphysical harm if their lack of religious belief is known about. Many still live under a pretence, performing religiosity rather than being true believers. Consequently, being upfront about their disbelief of the God claim when romantically interested in a religious person is a decision they have to make carefully. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN The challenges facing a Liberal party in existential crisis Krishani Dhanji, et al: Across consecutive elections, the Liberals have
lost more than 30 lower house seats, have been all but wiped out in the capital cities, deserted by women and migrant communities and abandoned by young people. Its problems are not just electoral, but ideological. At the heart of the party’s problems is a deep and unresolved rift between more moderate liberal forces and rightwing conservatives. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Liberal party hardliners are on the back foot – but while Tony Abbott is around, the right will fight Dan Jervis-Bardy:
Conversations with Liberal MPs and insiders suggest that more than six years after losing his seat in federal parliament, Abbott remains arguably the most powerful conservative in Australian politics. One senior Liberal source said Abbott was as influential as he has been since he was dumped as prime minister in 2015. Read the full article |
| THE AGE To defend our democracy, PM must disavow and abandon Segal report Richard Flanagan: Despite the Segal report’s claims about rising
antisemitism, some of which are contested as exaggerated by leading Jewish figures, it fails to provide a single citation in evidence. This gifts bigots the untruth that there is no ground for concern when antisemitism has lately presented in shocking ways. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Why has it taken Ireland a decade to exhume the bodies of the 800 dead babies of Tuam? Caelainn Hogan: Religious sisters did speak
to me for my book, but were often silenced by superiors or after legal advice. Meanwhile, voices from within the religious right, including the president of the Catholic League in the US, have called Tuam “a hoax”. Read the full
article |
| THE GUARDIAN New York’s mayoral race exposes the deep roots of American Islamophobia Ahmed Moor: Mamdani’s rise will only invite more racist
attacks. This is Trump’s America now; bad faith arguments and unmasked bigotry have attained new heights in public discussions. But Islamophobia has deep institutional roots. Read the full article |
| THE AGE How the Trump shooting supercharged beliefs in a divine right of MAGA Isaac Arnsdorf: There were already whispers of messianism among
some of Trump’s supporters, such as the QAnon offshoot called Negative 48 whose members frequented his rallies in 2022. Trump has long claimed that God was on his movement’s side. But after the assassination attempt, many of his followers – and most notably Trump himself – more explicitly cast him as a divine instrument. Read the full article |
| ABC RADIO The government of Armenia takes on the Apostolic Church In Armenia national security police have gaoled a popular archbishop, Bagrat
Galstanyan, claiming he was involved in a plot to overthrow the government. It’s a high-risk move for an unpopular government, taking on the ancient church that many Armenians see as the embodiment of the nation. Listen to the full episode |
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