RSA Weekly For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia
Sunday 3 August 2025 Hi , Anti-discrimination laws are again in the spotlight. In the Northern Territory, religious lobbyists are applauding the Northern Territory government's move to re-introduce faith-based
exceptions to anti-discrimination laws. In New South Wales, we have been given a seat at the table for discussions about possible reforms to that state's Anti-Discrimination Act. In a meeting with the NSW Law Reform Commission, we outlined numerous examples of how non-religious people are discriminated against on the basis of religion and belief in New South Wales (see our article
below). 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 Allan government silent on its failure to deliver promise to
remove Christian prayers from parliament3 Aug: The Victorian government has remained silent on its failure so far to deliver its long-overdue promise of removing daily acts of Christian worship from the state parliament. Asked in May to provide an update to the parliament on the progress being made in developing a replacement for the Lord’s Prayer, the Allan government has, more than one month after the due date, not yet provided a
response. Read the full article |
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| RSA RSA advocates for anti-discrimination reforms to protect
non-religious people in New South Wales1 Aug: The Rationalist Society of Australia has called for strong protections for non-religious people under any proposed reforms to anti-discrimination laws in New South Wales. Last month, in a meeting with the New South Wales Law Reform Commission, the RSA said any recommendation to protect religious people from discrimination should also equally protect non-religious people from discrimination on
the grounds of religion and belief. Read the full article |
| CATH NEWS Changes to NT law ‘protects rights of people of faith’ 1 Aug: Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci has welcomed proposed changes to the Northern
Territory’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1992, which aim to restore balance between religious freedom, respectful speech, and anti-discrimination protections. Read the full article |
| NT NEWS (VIA CATH NEWS) Christian schools welcome NT anti-discrimination bill 31 Jul: Northern Territory Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby yesterday
introduced the Anti-Discrimination Amendment Bill to parliament, reinstating an exception for religious schools to hire on the basis of faith and removing the word “offence” from vilification protections. The Northern Territory anti-discrimination watchdog has expressed concern over the proposed legislation, warning the reforms undermine the very purpose of the protections. Read the full article |
| Q NEWS Religious exemptions unnecessary and harmful, say NT teachers 31 Jul: The Northern Territory union representing teachers say that the reinstatement
of religious discrimination exemptions is unnecessary, divisive, and harmful. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Why parents are really opting for private schools 31 Jul: A growing number of parents are choosing to enrol their children in religious private
schools, despite the proportion of students who identify as having no religion almost doubling over the decade. Over the past five years, independent schools gained more students than any other sector, particularly in regional NSW. Read the full
article |
| THE AGE Hockey Australia stands by Peris as more anti-Islam re-posts emerge 30 Jul: Hockey gold medallist and former Labor senator Nova Peris shared a
series of social media posts scathing of Islam in the lead-up to her election as a director of the sport, including one which said the religion “should be banned in the West. Read the full
article |
| THE GUARDIAN Law professor at centre of leaked email controversy claims university suspended him for political opinion 29 Jul: A University of Melbourne
law professor who claimed “‘Blak’ activists” were leading the prestigious institution to “destruction” alleges he has been suspended because of his political opinion. Guardian Australia on Saturday revealed that Dr Eric Descheemaeker is suing Australia’s top-ranked university for discrimination. Read the full article |
| THE AGE King’s School launches investigation into headmaster 28 Jul: The King’s School has launched an investigation into an incident involving its
headmaster at a faith lecture attended by about 100 students and staff. The headmaster, Tony George, is alleged to have clipped the back of a senior school student’s head at a biblical studies class in the historic Futter Hall, sources familiar with the matter have said. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Missionaries using secret audio devices to evangelise Brazil’s isolated peoples 27 Jul: Missionary groups are using audio devices in protected
territories of the rainforest to attract and evangelise isolated or recently contacted Indigenous people in the Amazon. A joint investigation by The Guardian and Brazilian newspaper O Globo reveals that solar-powered devices reciting biblical messages in Portuguese and Spanish have appeared among members of the Korubo people. Read the full article |
| ABC Hobart City councillor proposes moving Acknowledgement of Country from official proceedings 24 Jul: A Hobart City councillor is calling for Aboriginal
acknowledgements at official events to take place before proceedings begin, so they are not "forced on all attendees". Councillor Louise Elliot has likened the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country traditions to "religious rituals", which she said were being forced on people "against their will". Read the full article |
In a speech to parliament, Labor MP Shayne Neumann said he hoped a parliamentary committee examining the conduct of the election would now consider the alleged activities of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, commonly known as the Exclusive Brethren. Mr Neumann – a Christian – made a number of allegations about the Exclusive Brethren’s conduct during the
federal election campaign in his electorate of Blair and in electorates across the country What do you think? Email your comments to: editor@rationalist.com.au
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| RATIONALE When AI audits the scholarly record, what will
happen to public trust in science? Naomi Oreskes: Self-correction is fundamental to science. One of its most important forms is peer review, when anonymous experts scrutinise research before it is published. This helps safeguard the accuracy of the written record. Soon, artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to supercharge these efforts. What might that mean for public trust in science? Read the full article |
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| RATIONALE Tackling antisemitism can’t be at the expense of a
free and open society Ian Robinson: At the heart of the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism recently released by Jillian Segal, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, is a flawed definition of ‘antisemitism’ published in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Unfortunately, it has since been unthinkingly adopted by many other organisations, including the Australian
government in 2021. Read the full article |
| ABC RADIO What if we banned the Lord's Prayer from Parliament? The Labor government, led by Ms Allan's predecessor Daniel Andrews, made an election
promise to workshop a replacement for the Lord's Prayer at the start of this term. Making the case for removing prayers is Georgie Purcell from the Animal Justice Party. Listen to the full episode |
| THE GUARDIAN NSW religious schools see 30% rise in enrolments in a decade – and not necessarily due to beliefs Caitlin Cassidy: When the
Australian Christian College (ACC) in north-west Sydney began receiving a surge of enrolments after the pandemic lockdowns, its principal, Brendan Corr, was not surprised. ACC is located in Marsden Park, a major growth corridor of Sydney identified by the state government as an area where a failure to factor in the pace and scale of development has left families without access to local public schools. Read the full article |
| HERALD SUN Inside the secretive cults ripping Victorian families apart A groundbreaking inquiry is probing the dark world of cults amid rising fears
that dangerous groups — going under the radar —are forcing Victorians into financial ruin and leaving a trail of sexual abuse and suicides in their wake. Read the full
article |
| CRIKEY Just how ‘high and impregnable’ is the wall between church and state in the US? Charlie Lewis: As part of its apparent war with the
nation’s founding document, this week the Trump administration told federal government workers they can talk about religion at work, up to and including attempts to “persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views”. An obvious retort came from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which called the directive “outrageous and unconstitutional”. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Unmasked: the man behind one of the fastest growing far-right YouTube channels Jason Wilson: The Guardian has identified the
self-described “national socialist” behind an openly extremist YouTube channel that in just over two months has accumulated 50,000 subscribers, seen more than 2.3m views, and likely made thousands of dollars from YouTube’s revenue-sharing monetization program. Read
the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Antisemitism training designed by pro-Israel groups is becoming compulsory at US colleges. What’s in it? Tom Perkins: Near the end
of an antisemitism training video that Northwestern University students are required to watch, the narrator urges viewers to play a guessing game. Six statements pop on to the screen – the viewer must choose whether they were made by “anti-Israel activists” or the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. The video is part of a wave of controversial antisemitism trainings being implemented by universities across the US. Read the full article |
| THE FREETHINKER Debunking creationists, flat-earthers, and other enemies of science: interview with ‘Professor Dave’ Samual McKee: Dave Farina,
known popularly as ‘Professor Dave’, is an American YouTube science communicator who has nearly four million subscribers. He has produced around 1,700 videos since the channel’s inception and is well-known for debunking the likes of creationists and flat-earthers. Read the full article |
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