Visions for Australia: Religion

Transgender people in New South Wales could soon be able to change their sex on their birth certificates without getting surgery, but gay teachers will still be able to be fired from some schools after a watered-down proposal received the premier's support.

Australia's legalization of same-sex marriage in 2017 has opened the door to a series of federal, state, and territory-level religious discrimination bills (or proposed bills) that focus on antidiscrimination rather than protection of the autonomy of religious institutions, curtailing the capacity of such organizations to govern their affairs, writes Ian Tregenza in the Journal of Church and State (66).

Donald Trump is promoting religious liberty in a way no Australian prime minister would ever dare and winning back the support of disillusioned Americans by defending the centrality of Judeo-Christian principles to US society.

Australia’s top anti-racism adviser will intervene in One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s appeal against racial vilification findings to argue that discrimination laws should apply to religious hatred that “may also involve racial ­elements”.

Islamophobia has become Australia's favourite footnote. As synagogues burn, Jewish childcare centres are torched and Jewish students are too frightened to go to school, no one can condemn anti-Semitism without adding "and Islamophobia too, of course".

OCTOBER 7 - TWO YEARS ON Seventy-six years ago, my parents, still reeling from the destruction of our family in the Holocaust, went to Yom Kippur service in Manchester. The idea that they might be unsafe, in a country whose basic decency they greatly admired, would never have crossed their mind. Last Thursday, in the same city in which they had prayed all those years ago, two people died and several others were seriously wounded when an Islamist attacked the Yom Kippur service.

More than 1800 parents and grandparents have signed a letter to Premier Jacinta Allan calling for "dangerous" school gender-identity policies to be abandoned and an overhaul of sex education.

The Northern Territory anti-discrimination watchdog has raised concerns about changes to hate speech and religious discrimination laws, warning the reforms undermine the very purpose of the protection.

It is not a surprise that Education Minister Jason Clare has delayed acting on Jillian Segal's anti-Semitism plan ("Clare puts anti-Semitism response on hold", 17/7) by using the usual measure-for-measure approach with Islamophobia.

Melbourne Anglicans have voted for "massive change" in their new archbishop, Bishop Ric Thorpe from London, a specialist in "church planting" and revitalising congregations, who will take up the post later this year.

Elite private schools across Queensland have been embroiled in many scandals over the years from a wild AirBNB party hosted by students, to degrading online lists targeting girls' schools and privacy breaches.

Faith leaders have waved the white flag on passing a religious discrimination bill in the next term of parliament without a deal between Anthony Albanese and Sussan Ley, with top clerics accepting that attempts to clarify the rights of religious schools have reached an impasse.

LEGISLATION Labor is facing increased pressure from religious groups on the eve of the election, with the government moving to dispel fears it will reintroduce misinformation laws or work with the Greens on a religious discrimination bill.

There is, in fact, little evidence to suggest that "reduced religious adherence leads to less ethical behaviour".

A UNSW law academic explains a major new report and its implications for different communities.
On 21 March 2024, the Australian Federal Government released a December 2023 report from the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) on religious educational institutions and anti-discrimination laws. The release of this report aligns with signals from the federal government that it intends to fulfill one of its election promises: to attempt to legislate on the protection of religious freedoms in Australia.

As the flame goes out on the Paris Olympic Games, one image left smouldering in the minds of those of faith was the overt mockery of Christ at the opening ceremony on 26 July.
The grotesque parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper, saw Jesus Christ, portrayed by a lesbian DJ, surrounded by drag performers and a near-naked man painted blue. While the painting depicts one of the most profound moments of the Gospel stories, the Olympic organisers saw fit to parade writhing cross-dressers over what Christians hold sacred.

Social scientists have long predicted that the influence of religion on public life would decrease with modernisation. While Christianity is still a major social and political force in countries like the United States, in Australia and other liberal democracies, increasing numbers of people report being non-religious. However, as this Insights piece shows, religious beliefs continue to shape how some Australian communities see themselves, the wider world, and how they connect with others.