Religion & Society

     In a dramatic turnaround, the LGBTI lobby in Australia is proving to be a significant source of support for faith-based schools, including Christian schools.      In 2010, the government of Australia’s southern state of Victoria rolled out the Safe Schools program. The purpose of Safe Schools, according to official government speak, was to develop a mechanism to limit bullying within Australian schools of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) students. This program included professional development activities for school teachers accompanied by materials and recommended activities for the training of students to eliminate discrimination against LGBTI students.      The Safe Schools program was the brainchild of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at Melbourne’s La Trobe University. Its best-known advocate is Dr Roz Ward, a former faculty member at the University, who has been reported as declari...

In Australia, supporters of same sex marriage (SSM) continue to celebrate the result of the postal survey taken during the months of September and October. Around 62% of Australian voters answered YES to the simple question: “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?” Press coverage of this result has generally taken the line that the Australian people have overwhelmingly supported SSM. Masking the details Of course, such macro statistics mask myriad details. To speak of “the Australian people” as a monolithic block on such a contentious topic is misleading. Almost 5,000,000 Australians voted against SSM. The country is clearly divided on the basis of voting statistics alone. However, this issue has revealed deep divisions of other kinds that have been under-reported in the media, itself largely pro-SSM during the campaign. One of the most interesting, and perhaps most concerning, aspects of division revealed by this vote relates to Australia’s multicultural...

  As Australian churches entered the New Year, the attention of the church media was devoted to several pressing issues of debate, both domestic and international. The “same-sex marriage” debate The push in Australia for the somewhat euphemistically named “same-sex marriage” has been increasing in momentum in recent times. Opposition is coming from various quarters, including the different Australian churches, in partnership with other faith communities. During 2015, religious leaders from diverse religious traditions in Australia wrote a public letter to the then Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, calling on him to stand against attempts in Federal Parliament to redefine the meaning of marriage. The letter included the following statements: “As leaders of Australia’s major religions we write to express the grave concerns that we, and those who share our various faiths, share regarding Bills that have or will be introduced into the Federal Parliament to change the definition o...