This Month
‘At the end of the day, we’re Aussies’: Assyrians assess church attack
For Sydney’s tight-knit Assyrian community, Monday’s terrorist attack in a church was confronting and triggering for a long-persecuted people.
- Max Mason
Muslims fear rise in Islamophobia as tensions run high after attack
There are fears in the Muslim community that law enforcement’s labelling of the stabbing of a bishop a terrorist attack will inflame Islamophobia.
- Max Mason
Leaders condemn terror attack, call for calm
Political and religious leaders have called for calm after a shock stabbing in a Sydney church has put some communities on edge for reprisals.
- Samantha Hutchinson
Rio and BHP’s massive US copper mine faces religious freedom challenge
Resolution Copper would be the largest development of its kind. Native American groups opposed to it have found new financiers for legal action against it.
- Peter Ker
- Updated
- Terror charges
Shock stabbing at Sydney church a ‘terror’ attack
Spy agency head Mike Burgess said ‘lone wolf’ attacks remain Australia’s biggest threat after NSW Police labelled a Sydney church stabbing a terror attack.
- Samantha Hutchinson and Max Mason
March
Why conservative Christians are tolerating vulgarity and lust
A raunchy, outsider, boobs-and-booze ethos has elbowed its way into the conservative power class, accelerated by the rise of Donald Trump.
- Ruth Graham
- Opinion
- Easter
Disgrace turns into love on the cross
Easter offers divine love beyond shame. God, it turns out, is far less judgmental than we are.
- Michael P Jensen
January
A dazzling glimpse into a Sri Lankan holy spot
A visit to see a sacred relic requires patience and white clothing.
- Theo Chapman
December 2023
Tax deduction curbs ‘an attack on religious freedom’
The draft Productivity Commission recommendations on charitable giving will be fiercely opposed by religious groups.
- Tom McIlroy
November 2023
US thwarts plot to kill Sikh separatist, issues warning to India: FT
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was identified as the target of the foiled plot, against whom India’s anti-terror agency filed a case on Monday.
- Reuters
October 2023
Francis the feminist pope puts women centre stage
The church’s three-week long synod will consider whether women should be ordained and be given roles of authority.
- NICOLE WINFIELD and TRISHA THOMAS
September 2023
- Opinion
- Review
The Church of England is heading towards extinction
Churches are closing across England because the religious hierarchy refuses to fund parishes.
- Rev Marcus Walker
February 2023
Pell endured ‘modern-day crucifixion’, Abbott tells funeral
The former PM used his eulogy to rail against George Pell’s since-overturned conviction as John Howard, Peter Dutton, Alan Jones gathered for the Sydney service.
- Samantha Hutchinson
January 2023
Is it time to get yourself a spiritual mentor?
Once we outsourced personal growth to a life coach. Now it seems we’re seeking counsel from those who spruik a much deeper connection to self.
- Eugenie Kelly
George Pell: the most powerful and controversial Catholic in Australia
A deeply divisive figure during his life, the Cardinal is no less polarising in death.
- Andrew Clark
Pell leaves complex legacy as Abbott remembers ‘a saint for our times’
Politicians’ reactions to George Pell’s death ranged from accolades that he was “a fine man” and “saint” to “a new entrant” to hell.
- Hannah Wootton
Church lays Benedict to rest, if not its divisions
A strange era in the modern church has come to an end, in which two popes – one resigned and one in power, one conservative and one liberal – coexisted in the tiny confines of the Vatican.
- Jason Horowitz
- Opinion
- Psychology
Don’t worry – you don’t always need to be happy
Even if we want to buy into the modern happiness cult, most of us can’t help but notice that life frequently just sucks.
- Andreas Kluth
- Analysis
- Analysis
Benedict’s death leaves Catholic conservatives bereft
Conservatives are mourning the loss of a leader who championed the traditions, doctrines, and church law and order they cherished.
- Jason Horowitz
December 2022
Demographic changes shift Australia’s spirit of Christmas
Christianity is declining in Australia, while a rise in families from multicultural backgrounds is helping shape the traditional December 25 celebration.
- Tom McIlroy
