During a world-wide Divestment Week of Action initiated by the global Catholic Laudato Si’ Movement, Australian people of faith and their organisations were encouraged to consider divesting from fossil fuels as part of their broader responsibility to care for the earth.
A multi-faith prayer service was held at St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Parramatta on Thursday 9 March, as part of the Week of Action, organised by the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC).
Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Several resources are available, and there are a number of interfaith events occurring during Harmony Week.
Breaking the Silence is a proposal for whistleblower protections to enable migrant workers to address exploitation. Religions for Peace Australia, in support of the Australian Catholic Anti-slavery Network adds its voice to calls to better protect people on temporary visas who experience exploitation in Australia. These protections would increase the opportunity for international students and the many thousands of temporary workers in Catholic operations and supply chains to seek help without fear of losing their visa.
Australians will soon be asked to vote in a referendum asking ‘Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?’
Frank Brennan has been an advocate for Indigenous rights for 40 years. Here he shows the difficult path travelled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and their supporters to get to this question.
From 22-24 March 2023, United Nations Member States, civil society, and other stakeholders will gather in New York for the UN 2023 Water Conference, to unite the world for water. The primary goal of the Conference is to raise awareness of the global water crisis and commit to joint action to achieve the internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, such as Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6: Clean Water and Sanitation) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Queensland government has vowed to make it illegal to display Nazi swastika tattoos as part of its ban on hate symbols that it says will be among the strongest in the country.
Queensland will join New South Wales, which has already implemented a ban on displaying the symbol, in applying the restriction to tattoos. Western Australia and Tasmania are also moving to include tattoos in their proposed bans.
Australia is the only liberal democracy that does not have a bill or charter of rights at the national level, and people’s human rights are not very well protected in Australian law. The starting point for a national Human Rights Act is to recognise that people’s human rights matter, all of the time, and should be protected.
The United Nations on Friday commemorated the first-ever International Day to Combat Islamophobia with a special event in the General Assembly Hall, where speakers upheld the need for concrete action in the face of rising hatred, discrimination and violence against Muslims.
The Church – and interested participants from other religions – have been discussing the ethics of biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and the race of science and technology to reach new frontiers of nanotechnology. Here, Pope Francis addresses participants in a workshop hosted by the Pontifical Academy for Life on the relationship between the person, emerging technologies and the common good, and reiterates that progress of science and technology must always be at the service of human dignity and integral human development.
A re-elected NSW Liberal and Nationals Government will invest $10 million over four years to boost safety and security for faith communities.
At least 494 religious buildings in Ukraine have been destroyed, damaged, or looted as a result of the Russian invasion—and seizure of religious buildings for use as Russian military bases increases the scale of destruction of religious sites in Ukraine, reports the Institute for Religious Freedom.
One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pax Christi International expresses our deep concern for countless victims of a war that has led to death, injury, displacement, trauma, and ecological harm. This war has generated almost 6 million internally displaced persons and 8 million refugees; killed more than 7,200 civilians including over 400 children and hundreds of thousands of soldiers; and caused generational trauma.
