Weekend Wrap for 11 June 2023

Jack Waterford: Catholics should go where the government isn't.
"I do hope that the Catholic Church remains closely involved in providing health care to Canberra citizens, particularly the poorer ones, after the takeover by the government of Calvary public hospital. Indeed I suspect it could be making for itself, and Canberra citizens, greater treasure in heaven if it got entirely out of the provision of government-funded health care and concentrated on areas where the less well-off were not as well served by government as they could be and should be. It is a political, not a moral question, whether the takeover of the hospital by the government is a good thing. One can wonder if Chief Minister Andrew Barr, or health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith are doing a wise thing. Or whether they can manage Calvary, or a united hospital system better. You can guess that single ownership of the public hospital system, or secular ownership of Calvary might be better or cheaper. One doesn’t or shouldn’t judge these matters according to religious affiliation. But whether they are wise or not, governments have the legal and constitutional right, as elected representatives, to decide to do it." (6 Jun 2023)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations

Paul Gregoire: Churches Use New Tactic to Avoid Paying Compensation to Child Sexual Abuse Victims.
"'This is a very disturbing case of history repeating,' declared Senator David Shoebridge, in relation to Christian institutions once again employing legal thuggery to avoid paying victims of historical sexual abuse perpetrated by their own clergy. 'And it’s the worst of history repeating,' he added. The Greens Senator raised this with the Attorney General’s Department during budget estimates on 24 May, as the issue was supposed to have been solved via state responses to the findings of The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse almost a decade ago now. Shoebridge quizzed staff from the office of attorney general Mark Dreyfus about what’s being done at the federal level to prevent the new practice of church legal teams making permanent stay applications which, if successful, stop cases in their tracks to threaten abuse survivors to drop their cases. Yet, their response was not much at all is being done." (6 Jun 2023)
Read more at Sydney Criminal Lawyers

David Free: It’s the season of the Hillsong documentary, which is a bad sign for Hillsong.
"As a rule, it’s a bad sign when multiple documentaries and podcasts about you come out simultaneously. A single documentary can be cause for celebration. Two or three at once is rarely a reason to break out the champagne. More than three and you’re really in strife. ... Now it’s the season of the Hillsong documentary. Late last year came the four-part Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed. A podcast called Faith on Trial debuted earlier this year. In the US, the four-part documentary The Secrets of Hillsong just went to air. This weekend SBS will premiere The Kingdom, presented by Marc Fennell, who grew up attending several Pentecostal churches in Sydney, including Hillsong. And to add insult to injury, Hillsong will be getting the satirical treatment in the first episode of The Betoota Advocate Presents, which premieres later this month on Paramount Plus." (6 Jun 2023)
Read more at The Age

Maria Bhatti, Maryam Hashimi, and Sandy Noakes: Are Australia’s anti-discrimination laws protecting the rights of Muslim women?
"The level of protection provided by Australian law for Muslim women who choose to wear religious garments, such as the headscarf, has received minimal attention. This is significant because Muslim women who opt to wear religious garments continue to encounter discrimination, as highlighted in the 2022 Islamophobia in Australia Report. Studies also reveal that the prevailing biased narrative surrounding the veil often undermines women’s autonomy. This makes it crucial to assess the effectiveness of international and domestic legal frameworks — including Australian federal and state laws — in ensuring sufficient safeguards for Muslim women, especially in relation to employment." (8 Jun 2023)
Read more at ABC Religion & Ethics

Dan Jensen: The Kingdom: Uncovering Hillsong's rise and demise.
"The Hillsong Church has gained a reputation as being a dangerous organisation through its political influence and subsequent scandals that have led to its downfall. While appearing as a religious body, delving deeper into its inner workings reveals the true nature of the beast and how it succeeded in luring hundreds of thousands of members into its fold. Australian journalist, author and media presenter, Marc Fennell, was one of many who was part of the Pentecostal religion and fell victim to the Hillsong empire. In The Kingdom, he explores the history of Hillsong, how it became so successful and why the megachurch is now in ruins. But more importantly, he also shows how when one head is cut off, another grows in its place." (9 Jun 2023)
Read more at Independent Australia

Jane Caro: Underfunded public schools suffer.
"In the 23 years since then prime minister John Howard and his Education minister David Kemp decided parental choice should be at the centre of Australia’s publicly subsidised education system, our schools have become increasingly segregated. Middle-class families have flocked to what they see as “desirable” schools and left the rest in their dust. In 2021, an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study that compares education systems internationally found 41 per cent of government schools in Australia could be classed as disadvantaged, compared with 3 per cent of Catholic and less than 1 per cent of independent schools." (10 Jun 2023)
Read more at The Saturday Paper

Rationalist Society of Australia: Religionists give to their own, shows new volume in ‘Religiosity in Australia’ series.
"Religious people engage in higher levels of volunteerism and charitable donations than the non-religious but say it is more for their personal benefit and that of their congregations rather than benefiting others, the latest report into religiosity in Australia reveals. The Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) has today published the new volume in Neil Francis’ landmark Religiosity in Australia research series, with Part 4 – Religion and charity – examining the charitable behaviours of religious and non-religious Australians as individuals. The report also reveals that religionists feel higher levels of coercion in making donations. Francis utilises gold-standard Australian university datasets and peer-reviewed scientific literature, and applied his Australian Religious Identity 6-Segment model (ARI6) model, to explore widely held beliefs about religious people being more prosocial in giving to charity." (10 Jun 2023)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia