Check out Rationale’s top reads of 2025

Published: Wed, 12/31/25

Updated: Wed, 12/31/25

Hi ,

Articles about the Christian Right – whether in Trump's America or here in Australian politics – have generated a lot of traffic to our Rationale magazine over the past 12 months. They feature heavily among our top reads for 2025 (according to our readership data).

Rationale has continued to help serve the mission of the Rationalist Society of Australia by providing a platform for rationalist thinkers to share their opinions on a wide range of topics, reaching thousands of readers in Australia and abroad.

Check out the articles that resonated most with our readers in 2025.

The top reads of 2025

Si Gladman

Paul Monk

Clare Heath-McIvor

The world “does have intelligent design”, says Andrew Hastie (October 2025)

By Si Gladman

Even as speculation now rages that Hastie is positioning himself for a tilt at the Liberal Party leadership, the Australian media and public appear to be no clearer about Hastie’s religious beliefs. Today, the Rationale magazine can help shed some light on the issue. Rationale has discovered a podcast interview in which Hastie discusses Genesis – the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity that describes the creation of the Earth and humankind – with a pastor from Eastlake Church in Mandurah. In the interview, Hastie says that Genesis “answers a few of the big questions upfront”, including about our origins.

Read the full article

Robert Harris, Edward Berger and the Vatican (February 2025)

By Paul Monk

Robert Harris is a gifted historical novelist, whose work spans millennia on topics from ancient Rome (Imperium, Pompeii, Dictator) to the Nazi era (Fatherland, Munich) and the present (Conclave). He is clearly interested in the workings of power, the logic of institutions, the nature of diplomacy and the role of individuals on the margins of major events. His latest book, Conclave, is about the Vatican and Papal elections. The novel and the film take for granted that the Pope is the supreme Christian leader and everything else is about rivalries between conservatives and liberals.

Read the full article

Christian extremism: An American ideological contagion in the Australian context (September 2025)

By Clare Heath-McIvor

Just three weeks prior, anyone warning of the dangers of white Christian nationalism would sound like an alarmist, a conspiracy theorist who looked at America and incorrectly thought it could happen here, too. Now, these voices have been vindicated in the worst possible way. White Christian nationalism has been here in Australia for a long time, but three cultural moments have just combined into a significant cultural flashpoint. Putting that genie back in the bottle just became a significantly more challenging problem.

Read the full article

Cult survivors on a mission for meaningful change (July 2025)

By Clare Heath-McIvor

Of all the difficult issues parliamentary inquiries have sought to gain insight into, the Victorian Parliament’s examination of recruitment methods and the damage caused by cults and fringe groups may go down in history as one of the most complex. Cults and fringe groups not only frequently hide behind the opaque veil of ‘religious freedom’ but also are often nebulous organisations with no registrations, lines of accountability, policy, procedure or other means for victims to gain recourse.

Read the full article

As Christian nationalism’s new figurehead, Trump inspires Australia’s extremes (February 2025)

By Clare Heath-McIvor

Unsurprisingly, gender identity has landed itself front and centre in the culture wars. Now, we have an announcement that he is creating a taskforce to eradicate anti-Christian bias. Watching Trump capture the alt-right vote and morph himself from a felon, a rapist, and a dodgy businessman into an alt-right ‘anointed one’ spearheading what seems like a theocratic-come-dystopian nightmare is perplexing. But this is Christian nationalism, and it’s here in Australia, too.

Read the full article

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Thanks for reading Rationale.

Si Gladman
Editor, Rationale

Executive Director, Rationalist Society of Australia

PO Box 1312
Hawksburn Victoria 3142
AU

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