One to watch

Speaking on ABC Radio in south-west Victoria on Friday, the RSA's Si Gladman said that the Moyne council’s decision to remove prayers from its meetings was further proof of a growing desire across Australia for public institutions, such as parliaments and local governments, to be secular. Click the image to listen to some of the highlights on our YouTube channel. Or you can listen to the full interview here on the ABC website (listen from the 2:02:58 mark). What do you think? Email your comments to: editor@rationalist.com.au

Opinion / Analysis

Si Gladman: Despite the inherent bias in the Census question, Australians marking ‘No religion’ next year will likely overtake Christians as a share of the population for the first time. Even if that eventuates, the Census results will still not come close to telling the ‘real story of Australia’ in regards to religious affiliation. Only when the ABS finally removes the bias from the question will we, as a nation, get an accurate picture. Read the full article

Tony Wright: There is disbelief now in the Porepunkah district that a “sovereign citizen” camped just out of town could allegedly be responsible for shooting dead two policemen and wounding another. What is largely forgotten these days is that the Porepunkah area has a long, dark history involving both terrible violence and bizarre cult activity. Read the full article

In 2024, the suspected Porepunkah gunman Dezi Freeman told the Victorian supreme court his firearm licence had been taken. As part of its investigation into gun control, Guardian Australia has found pseudo legal ideas are an issue in firearm disputes across the country, with police in some cases citing “sovereign citizen” beliefs as grounds to cancel licences and remove weapons. Read the full article

Josh Roose: It would be easy to see the incident as an isolated one: a case of a radicalised man enacting his fringe beliefs and allegedly taking two innocent lives in the process. But this case is emblematic of a broader problem. The sovereign citizen movement is growing, as demonstrated by an increase in the presence of “sovereign citizens” before the courts. Read the full article

In 2000, at a secret meeting in the Vatican, an Australian bishop warned a deluge would soon overwhelm the Catholic Church. The sex abuse crisis would become the greatest challenge to the authority and reputation of the Vatican since the Protestant Reformation almost 500 years earlier. But this warning went largely unheeded. It’s another revelation in the new book, Jesus Wept. Listen to the full episode

Hemant Mehta: Even if you don’t know a lot about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, there are a few rules that they’ve historically been very strict about. For example, you can’t receive blood transfusions, you can’t celebrate birthdays, and you’re discouraged from obtaining a higher education. That last one has been a major problem for a lot of JWs over the years because, without a college degree, many of them have struggled to find higher-paying jobs and support their families. Read the full article

Ryan Di Corpo: Numerous officials within the Roman Catholic religious order known as the Jesuits struggled in the 1970s and 1980s over how to deal with a man whom they knew molested children – but nonetheless was ordained a priest, according to a review of internal correspondence concerning his career. Read the full article

How did the perfect suburban mom get wrapped up with doomsday preppers and prophets? For months, the media has been chasing the story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, covering the strange beliefs they shared and the disappearance of her two kids. ‘Madness of Two’ digs deep into the why: Why did five people end up dead? Listen to the full series