RSA Weekly For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia
Saturday 26 July 2025 Hi , In our submission to the UN Human Rights Council (see the top article), we raised the imposition of acts of religious worship in parliaments and government meetings as just one of
many examples of discriminatory and unfair treatment of non-religious Australians. In the first week of the new federal parliament, both the House of Representatives and the Senate continued with the divisive practice (see the video). We'll be raising human rights concerns with the presiding officers of both chambers in coming days. 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 Coalition of groups highlights discrimination of non-religious
people in submission to UN Human Rights Council25 Jul: The Rationalist Society of Australia has spearheaded an effort by non-religious, ex-religious and pro-secular groups to urge the United Nations Human Rights Council to address the discriminatory and unfair treatment of non-religious Australians in government institutions and programs. The RSA led a coalition of groups in making a submission this month to the Human Rights Council’s
Universal Periodic Review (Fourth Cycle) into Australia’s human rights. Read the full article |
| ABC Brindabella Christian College may have been trading insolvent for years, administrator finds 25 Jul: The administrators of Brindabella Christian
College in Canberra's north say the school spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an overseas trip and a robot dog while it may have been insolvent. A 113-page report to creditors shows that $330,000 was spent on a robot dog and donations were made to a political party using a company credit card. Read the full article |
| NEWS Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne breaks silence on video of Muslims at St Patrick’s Cathedral 24 Jul: The Archbishop of Melbourne has broken his
silence after a video showing thousands of Muslims gathered outside the city’s largest church went viral around the world. News exclusively reported last weekend that footage filmed on July 7 outside St Patrick’s Cathedral showing the annual Ashura Muslim procession had drawn a huge response globally. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Saudi Arabia accused of banning women’s rights activists from leaving the country 24 Jul: Saudi Arabia is banning large numbers of its own
citizens from leaving the country in a “cruel” attempt to silence criticism, say human rights activists. High-profile women’s rights campaigners appear to have been given long travel bans. Read the full
article |
| THE GUARDIAN Sunday school teacher jailed for sexually abusing nine children was protected by church leader, Victorian cult inquiry hears 23 Jul: A Sunday
school teacher who was jailed for sexually abusing nine children was protected by the leader of his fundamentalist church, after parents reported the abuse to him instead of police, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard. Former members of the Geelong Revival Centre gave evidence at the first hearing of the parliamentary inquiry into the practices of cults and organised fringe groups on Wednesday. Read the full article |
| ABC Mater Hospital's religious abortion ban left couple feeling 'abandoned' 23 Jul: A Brisbane couple attending the Mater Hospital for prenatal scans say
they were devastated to learn their baby was at high risk of a serious genetic abnormality. They say they felt '"abandoned" when the Catholic-run hospital informed them it would not perform terminations, even when the foetus has a serious medical condition. Read the full article |
| CATHOLIC LEADER Queensland senator introduces motion sharing congratulations and prayers for Pope Leo on his election 23 Jul: Senator Matthew Canavan has
introduced a motion today “wishing Pope Leo XIV best wishes for his pontificate”. An image of the motion he shared online showed signatures from many other senators. Read the full
article |
| CATHOLIC WEEKLY 'He doesn’t think we should exist': NSW education secretary slammed 21 Jul: Catholic Schools NSW CEO Dallas McInerney has criticised NSW
Education Secretary Murat Dizdar during the 2025 Catholic Schools NSW Education Law Symposium, responding strongly to comments Dizdar made on ABC’s Australian Story in April questioning the ongoing necessity of non-government schools. Read the full
article |
| NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY (UK) Christian MP calls for 're-founding' of UK on biblical teachings 18 Jul: A Conservative MP has called for a greater role for
Christianity in politics while launching a blistering attack on secularism. In the parliament, Danny Kruger said the Church of England is "a chaplain to the nation" and claimed every citizen is "its member", even "if you do not believe in its teachings". Read the full article |
| CATHOLIC WEEKLY Australia’s Catholic bishops call for national ban on surrogacy 15 Jul: The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has told the Australian
Law Reform Commission that all forms of surrogacy are “unacceptable” and called for stronger enforcement of the country’s ban on overseas commercial surrogacy. Read the full article |
| CHRISTIANITY TODAY UK Labour rejects calls to end parliamentary prayers 8 Jul: A UK government minister has issued a less than full-throated defence of the
traditional parliamentary practice of prayers at the beginning of the day. Lucy Powell MP said that the tradition would remain in place, noting that Parliament is connected to the established Church of England and that this historic connection is “sort of important”. Read the
full article |
The houses of the new federal parliament have continued with the divisive practice of imposing daily acts of Christian worship, showing disregard for the fundamental rights of non-religious people and non-Christians, and for Australia’s international commitments to freedom of religion and belief. What do you think? Email your comments to:
editor@rationalist.com.au
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| RATIONALE Letters to the Editor: End the government funding
of faith workers Paul Tonson: For some years, I have been committed to seeing an end to the government funding of faith workers. I take this position as a minister in good standing in the Uniting Church. The principle of a secular society demands the non-preferencing of any religion and of religion generally. And I cannot see how any Christian mission or ministry, other than social services, can be authentic if
it relies on public funding. Read the full Letters column |
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| RATIONALE Democracy and the legitimacy of political
power John Wright: Why are we willing to do what the government says when we are outraged if anyone else tries to do it? This is referred to as the problem of the legitimacy of political power. What, if anything, makes the power the government exercises over us legitimate? The philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) was concerned with this question. Read the full article |
| ABC RADIO Troubling Korean religious cults South Korea is one of the great success stories of the past 30 years, moving from military dictatorship to a
strong democracy and economy. But South Korea’s also the home of a thriving number of troubling religious cults – some of them exported to Australia. Listen to the full episode |
| ABC RADIO Cults recruiting on campus and the 'walk up evangelism' controversy You expect to see a few clubs trying to recruit at uni O-week. Maybe it's
a sport team, or an arts group. But what about a cult? Students across the country are experiencing "walk up evangelism", and it's not just mainstream religious groups using the tactic. Listen to the full episode |
| THE GUARDIAN ‘It’s a takeover’: the South Australian power player reshaping the state Liberal party Sarah Basford Canales: Antic has risen from
an influential up-and-comer in the state to South Australia’s top factional warlord. Through his efforts recruiting Christian activists and anti-government sceptics into the state’s Liberal regional and metropolitan branches, the once fringe conservative senator now wields considerable influence over the state division’s policy and preselection processes. Read the full article |
| MELBOURNE ANGLICAN Prayer in parliament: Inclusive of all? Victorian faith leaders say the ideals of the Lord’s Prayer are inclusive in response to
renewed calls from parliamentarians to remove it from parliament because it privileges one faith tradition. Read the full article |
| THE FREETHINKER The consolation of the philosopher Suyum Audu: Unfortunately, the child’s curiosity is usually destroyed by culture and religion
as they grow up. They are asked to blindly conform to the already existing standards and beliefs of their society and to stop questioning them so that they can be good, law-abiding citizens of their country. Read the full article |
| THE CONVERSATION How the QAnon movement entered mainstream politics – and why the silence on Epstein files matters Art Jipson: Epstein’s arrest
and death became a central focus for QAnon followers, who saw them as proof of a hidden global elite engaged in child trafficking and protected by powerful institutions. The release – or withholding – of the Epstein files is often cited within QAnon movement circles as evidence of a broader cover-up by the so-called “deep state.” Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Republicans wanted fewer abortions and more births. They are getting the opposite Judith Levine: Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health
Organization, the US supreme court case that rescinded the constitutional right to abortion, is failing on its own terms. Since the ruling, in June 2022, the number of abortions in the US has risen. Support for reproductive rights is on the upswing. Read the full
article |
| THE GUARDIAN Late Jesuit global leader didn’t stop known child molester from becoming priest – court documents Ramon Antonio Vargas: Pedro
Arrupe, the late, former worldwide leader of the Jesuit religious order and a candidate for Catholic sainthood, acknowledged in records produced as part of a New Orleans court case that he was warned about how one of the group’s aspiring priests had been accused of sexually molesting two minors and acknowledged making sexual advances on a third. Read the full article |
| THE CONVERSATION Reform is winning over Britain’s Christian support Stuart Fox: For the one-in-three adults in Britain who are Christian, this
identity remains an important influence on their political behaviour. New polling, published here for the first time, shows how Reform UK is disrupting our previous understanding of how Christians vote in British elections. Read the full
article |
| THE GUARDIAN How the rightwing media are pivoting to Reform Ramon Antonio Vargas: As the 2015 election hove into view, one of Nigel Farage’s
team was frustrated. Ukip, the party Farage then led, had recently caused what was widely regarded as a political earthquake by winning the European parliament elections. The Daily Mail seemed to agree with everything Farage was saying, most notably his condemnation of the number of Romanians and Bulgarians coming to Britain. Why then would the paper not endorse Ukip? Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Islamophobia isn’t just socially acceptable in the UK now – it’s flourishing Zoe Williams: According to YouGov, more than half of
people do not believe Islam to be compatible with British values. This latest poll found that 41% of the British public believe that Muslim immigrants have had a negative impact on the UK. Nearly half (49%) think that Muslim women are pressured into wearing the hijab. Read the full article |
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