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Keywords: Secular

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Hidrellez: The green saint who straddles faiths and cultures

    • William Gourlay
    • 11 May 2023
    2 Comments

    The celebration of Hıdrellez in Turkey unites secular, urbanized communities to honor the arrival of spring on 6 May. Marked by rituals rooted in diverse traditions, the mythical figure of Hıdrellez blends Islamic and Old Testament influences fusing cultures, religions, and customs in yearly observance.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Father Bob, dissident prophet

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 20 April 2023
    2 Comments

    For Father Bob, being a priest entails getting his hands dirty, giving everything of himself, and doing what he thinks is right, even if doing so upsets power structures; especially if it upsets power structures, if they have contributed to the plight of the downtrodden. (From 2013)

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  • RELIGION

    Thereafter

    • Bill Uren
    • 13 April 2023
    15 Comments

    In a world where we are constantly faced with life's fragility, it's no wonder that we find ourselves wondering what lies beyond. Is it the bright promise of immortality, or the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth? Or perhaps nothingness? When contemplating the 'thereafter,' what can we hope for?

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Hope springs

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 10 April 2023

    In a secular society the fast that preceded Easter has disappeared, but Easter remains a time of celebration. Celebrations recognise happy times and happy events, often marking the end of hard times. The message of Easter remains: that hope can spring up and new life can grow in apparently barren places.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Extinction machines and the religious gut

    • Nathan Campbell
    • 07 March 2023
    1 Comment

    The evolution of profit-driven poker machines has sparked a debate over the role of personal beliefs in shaping policies aimed at curbing addiction. As society grapples with the ethical implications of technology designed to maximize addiction, can a policymaker rely on a 'religious gut'? 

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    New heresy: In conversation with Richard Dawkins

    • David Halliday, Juliette Hughes
    • 03 March 2023
    2 Comments

    In the world of science and rational inquiry, few names loom as large. The often-controversial evolutionary biologist has spent decades exploring the mysteries of the natural world and ruffling feathers in religious and secular movements alike. Speaking to Eureka Street, Richard Dawkins discusses the difficulties in public discourse and what constitutes modern heresy.  

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  • RELIGION

    When two popes become one

    • Miles Pattenden
    • 28 February 2023
    4 Comments

    Following the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, some believe Pope Francis is now free to advance a progressive agenda, while there’s good reason to doubt Francis will be willing or able to forward any meaningful change beyond that already achieved.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The book corner: Faith and doubt in American fiction

    • Paul Mitchell
    • 03 February 2023
    6 Comments

    Through exploring the work of nine Catholic American authors — with special focus on Flannery O’Connor, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy and Don DeLillo — Longing for an Absent God boldly attempts to discover what it is about faith and the desire for transcendence that exerts such influence over the popular imagination. 

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Eternal questions?

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 18 January 2023
    7 Comments

    The ‘no religion’ question is complicated and interesting and connected with social change. We live in a much more complex world than previously. Even in my own childhood, it was accepted as a fact that most people were believers of varying degrees of conviction and form. Agnosticism and atheism were not matters for discussion.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2022: Is the Essendon saga evidence of faith under siege?

    • Chris Middleton
    • 12 January 2023

    It is highly doubtful that the Essendon Football Club appreciated the reaction that would occur when it presented its new CEO, Andrew Thorburn, with the option of giving up his role as a lay leader in the City on a Hill Anglican Church or resigning from his role with the Club. Even if many were uneasy about how the issue was caught up in the culture wars, it caused widespread concerns amongst people of faith.

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  • RELIGION

    Best of 2022: What now for senior clergy who covered up abuse?

    • Miles Pattenden
    • 12 January 2023

    Many Catholics will have found the news from Germany this past week painful. A law firm, Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, has presented findings in its investigation into historic sexual abuse in the Munich archdiocese. Running to 1,000 pages, the report is shocking: it lists at least 497 victims for the period 1945–2019 and identifies 235 probable offenders including 173 priests and nine deacons.

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  • RELIGION

    Best of 2022: What did the Plenary Council achieve?

    • Paul Collins
    • 05 January 2023

    The Plenary Council (PC) is over and the time has come for assessments. What did it achieve? In positive terms it brought together an enormously generous group of people whose dedication to Catholicism is extraordinary. It also demonstrated the diverse complexity of the community. 

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