This episode highlights the psychological impacts and other harms experienced in religious cults and high-demand religious groups, and discusses the supports cult survivors need on their path to recovery. The episode features an interview with Maria Esguerra (2:03), a psychologist and director of the Olive Leaf Network Australia, which is dedicated to supporting former members of high-demand religious groups. Maria is a survivor of the Children of God cult – now known as the Family International. Maria co-authored a submission to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry examining recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups. The Legislative Assembly Legal and Social Issues Committee’s inquiry is currently conducting hearings and plans to report its findings by 30 September next year.

This episode highlights a new parliamentary inquiry in Victoria examining cults and organised fringe groups, the methods used to recruit and control their members, and the impacts of coercive control. The episode features an interview with Lara Kaput (02:10), a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who became a whistleblower. For a number of years, Lara dedicated herself to advocacy work with the group known as Say Sorry. She has recently stepped down from Say Sorry but continues to advocate for governments to address abuses in cult groups. The Legislative Assembly Legal and Social Issues Committee’s inquiry is currently open for submissions, closing at the end of July 2025. Submissions can be made via the committee's website. The Rationalist Society of Australia is advocating for states and territories to extend coercive control laws to cover cults and high-demand religious groups.

This episode examines the Australian War Memorial's response to public calls for it to stop imposing Christianity in the national Anzac Day Dawn Service in Canberra. The episode features an interview with David Stephens (01:45), the editor of the Honest History and Defending Country websites. Honest History has long been advocating for reforms on a number of issues relating to the War Memorial, and challenging the misuse of history to serve political or other agendas. It has publicly backed the call for Anzac Day Dawn Services to stop imposing Christianity.

With increasing numbers of Australians walking away from religion, there is a growing need for support services to help people navigate the journey out of religion and to overcome the trauma of having lived with strict religious dogmas or having suffered years of abuse in coercive and repressive religious environments. One organisation helping to address this need in Australia is Recovering from Religion. This episode features an interview with Sherrie D'Souza (2:08), who is International Development Director of Recovering from Religion. She is also Public Officer and Treasurer of Recovering from Religion Australia.

There has been increasing interest in a shadowy network of free-market think tanks seeking to influence economic and political policy in countries around the world, including in Australia. One emerging element of the Atlas Network is Christian Nationalism. This episode features an interview with Lucy Hamilton (1:48), who is currently undertaking PhD research into the links between Christian Nationalism and the Atlas Network in the Australian political context. Lucy has written a number of pieces on the topic in online publications, in particular on John Menadue’s ‘Pearls & Irritations’ blog.

With Donald Trump set to return to the presidency in 2025, the Christian Nationalist agenda looms large in the United States. But what will Trump’s re-election mean for the Christian Right in Australia? This episode features an interview with Clare Heath-McIvor (1:42), who is host of the ‘Unchurchable’ podcast, which examines religious trauma, damaging theologies, and life after church. Clare is the eldest child of pastors of a church involved in the dominionist movement. Since leaving the City Builders Church in Gippsland, she has spoken out about the church’s efforts to infiltrate mainstream political parties and about the threat of Christian dominionism in Australia.

Each month, the Rationalist Society of Australia hosts a webinar, with a guest speaker, or speakers, presenting on a topic of interest. We share highlights of our past webinars here on this podcast. This episode features an interview with New South Wales upper house member Abigail Boyd, of the The Greens. For our October 2022 webinar, Abigail joined with other guest speakers to discuss the issue of the imposition of daily Christian prayers in parliaments and in local councils. You can watch the full webinar on our YouTube channel.

Each month, the Rationalist Society of Australia hosts a webinar, with a guest speaker, or speakers, presenting on a topic of interest. We share highlights of our past webinars here on this podcast. This episode features an interview with investigative journalist David Hardaker from our webinar in April 2024. David is well-known for his reporting on the controversies at Hillsong Church, its former leader Brian Houston, and the rising influence of Pentecostal Christianity in Australian politics. David joined us to speak about his new book, 'Mine is the Kingdom: The rise and fall of Brian Houston and the Hillsong Church'.

This episode explores the stalemate in federal politics over proposals to remove religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. It features an interview with teacher Steph Lentz (1:48), who was fired from a Christian school because of her homosexuality. Steph has been a vocal advocate for the need to remove such exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. In 2023, she told her story in the book, ‘In/Out: A scandalous story of falling into love and out of the church’, published by ABC Books. In this episode, Steph also speaks about her personal journey of being raised in a hardline church, her struggle with her sexuality while an active member of the church, and then her journey out of religion.

This episode features highlights from our February 2024 RSA Webinar, when Stephen Evans, the Chief Executive Office of the UK’s National Secular Society, shared insights on the entanglement of church and state in his country. With Christianity continuing to decline in the UK, Stephen spoke on why it is time to cut symbolic and institutional ties with the Church of England.

This episode examines the religious dominance of important national commemorations, such as Anzac Day, and the need for secular reform of such events. The episode features an interview with Army veteran Sam Proctor (1:50), who separated from the Australian Army last year after 10 years of service. Sam raised the problem as part of his submission to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. He spoke to the podcast in a personal capacity about his submission to the Royal Commission, and his views are his own. Although the majority of Australian Defence Force personnel are not religious, Christianity continues to dominate Dawn Services in the Defence Force, at the Australian War Memorial, and in the wider public.

Each month, the Rationalist Society of Australia hosts a webinar, with a guest speaker, or speakers, presenting on a topic of interest. We share highlights of our past webinars here on this podcast. This episode features highlights from our September 2023 webinar, when Dr Rebecca Banham shared insights into her research on the Australian media’s response to the rise of non-religious identification in the Census. Dr Banham is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Tasmania. In the webinar, she spoke about how, following the release of the most recent Census data, significant sections of the media responded to the rapid rise in non-religious identification in the national Census with concern, defensiveness and fear.

This episode explores the development in New South Wales of the Faith Affairs Council and the state Labor government’s decision to block non-religious and ex-religious representation from the body. The episode features an interview with Steve Marton (2:25), who is president of Sydney Atheists. In November 2023, the state government rejected his application to become a member of the Faith Affairs Council. He applied for a position on the advisory body – which has a direct line to government ministers – in order to represent the voices of non-religious and ex-religious citizens on matters relating to religion.

Each month, the Rationalist Society of Australia hosts a webinar, with a guest speaker, or speakers, presenting on a topic of interest. We share highlights of our past webinars here on this podcast. This episode features highlights from our March 2023 webinar, when Dr Jennifer Bleazby presented on her research into current scripture laws and policies operating in public schools across the country. Dr Bleazby is a Senior Lecturer at Monash University. She is also a recipient of an RSA Research Grant. In the webinar, she discussed how the methods of indoctrination used in programs such as Religious Instruction in Queensland and Special Religious Education in New South Wales undermine fundamental educational aims and raise problems for schools as they seek to help children to navigate disinformation, conspiratorial thinking and science denialism.

This episode explores the topic of Special Religious Education (SRE), or ‘scripture’, in New South Wales’ public schools, and the mounting public opposition to religious missionaries continuing to be allowed to interrupt the curriculum and take over class time. The episode features an interview with Steven Cowgill (4:48), a parent who has recently launched a petition on the New South Wales Parliament website. The petition – open for New South Wales citizens until 12 April 2024 – calls for the Legislative Assembly to ask that the state government amends the Education Act (1990) so that optional SRE and Special Education in Ethics (SEE) run only during participating students' own time, such as breaks or before or after school.

Each month, the Rationalist Society of Australia hosts a webinar, with a guest speaker, or speakers, presenting on a topic of interest. We share highlights of our past webinars here on this podcast. This episode features highlights from our June webinar with Dr Philip Saj, Visiting Scholar at The Business School at University of Adelaide. In the webinar, he spoke on the topic ‘Basic Religious Charities: The case for more transparency’. He shared insights from his research into Basic Religious Charities (BRCs) and their unique place in Australia’s charities system, enjoying exemptions from the financial reporting requirements and governance standards that apply to other charities. Dr Saj told the webinar that removing the exemptions for BRCs would enhance public trust in the charities system.

This episode explores the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) proposal to change the religion question for the 2026 Census, and the campaign behind the push for more accurate and meaningful data on religion. The episode features an interview with Michael Dove (1:57), the spokesperson for the ‘Census21 – Not Religious? Mark 'No Religion'' campaign. At the 2021 Census, the campaign – which was a joint effort by a number of pro-secular organisations, including the Rationalist Society of Australia – encouraged Australians to mark ‘No religion’ if they were no longer religious. More recently, the campaign has been making submissions to the ABS’ public consultation process for reviewing Census topics and considering changes to questions.

This episode takes a look at the growing pressure on the Palaszczuk government to move Religious Instruction – or RI – out of class time at public schools in Queensland. The episode features an interview with Labor branch member Mel Dodds (1:41), who successfully moved a resolution calling for reform at Queensland Labor’s State Party Conference in early June 2023. Her resolution asked: that RI be removed from lesson time to lunch time, or to before or after school; or, alternatively, that non-participating students be allowed to continue with the normal curriculum. The episode also features Alison Courtice (10.47), the spokesperson for secular advocacy group Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools.

Each month, the Rationalist Society of Australia hosts a webinar, with a guest speaker, or speakers, presenting on a topic of interest. We share highlights of our past webinars here on this podcast. In this episode, we hear from Phillip Hoglin CSC, a former Colonel in the Australian Army and Defence statistician, on the changing religious demographics in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). In June 2022, he appeared in a webinar which focused on the topic of religion in the ADF. At that webinar, the main speaker was former head of Navy chaplaincy, Collin Acton OAM, who spoke on the topic, ‘The need for a new model of wellbeing support in Defence’. We interviewed Collin for a previous episode of this podcast in October 2022.

This episode explores the nature of Australia’s system of public holidays and the growing calls for it to better reflect the religious and non-religious diversity of our multicultural society. The episode features an interview with Hugh Piper, the Program Lead at the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy and Defence Dialogue. Earlier this year, he put forward a secular solution to the problem – a system in which everyone would have a quota of portable public holidays to decide which days they want to take off.