Weekend Wrap for 14 July 2024

Frank Bongiorno: Faith-based politics is nothing new in Australia – so what’s Albanese really worried about?
"Senator Fatima Payman’s defection over Labor Party policy on statehood for the Palestinians has generated wider discussion about the written and unwritten rules of Australian politics. One of those involves the vexed question of the role of religious faith. Scott Morrison’s prime ministership inevitably raised it. Morrison did not hide his evangelical Christianity. His strange memoir revived the issue because it showed Morrison’s faith was not incidental to his politics. By his own account at least, faith was its organising principle. ... The context for Albanese’s commentary was Payman’s defection, and reports that she had been in contact with an organisation called The Muslim Vote, which intends organising candidates in Labor-held seats with large numbers of voters of this faith... Even a cursory glance at the historical record indicates a long list of Australian minor parties that were explicitly Christian." (8 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Conversation

Sarah Martin: Why Guardian Australia is investigating Exclusive Brethren schools
"Now known as the OneSchool Global network, the Brethren schools have 120 campuses across 20 countries teaching almost 10,000 children. In Australia, the schools operate in six states with 31 separate campuses serving their followers. The Australian schools have benefited from generous taxpayer support – more than $130m in taxpayer funds has flowed to them in the past five years, in line with the commonwealth funding arrangements for non-government schools. But little is known about the culture within these institutions. A Guardian Australia investigation has sought to find out what is happening behind the gates of the OneSchool Global schools, to question whether the Australian taxpayer should be directly supporting an ethos that appears at odds with many of the values of modern Australia." (8 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Guardian

Cloe Read: As Elizabeth lay dying, her family turned to God. Now, 14 people face trial
"Just as her parents’ beliefs sat outside mainstream religion, the criminal trial will bend the conventions of the Queensland court system. ... [The victim's sister] Jayde describes how the Struhs family originally attended a mainstream church, but they and another family separated from the parishioners, claiming the church was “corrupt”. Members of that other family are among those charged over Elizabeth’s death. ... But the case bears similarities to other faith-based matters in which believers have not pursued medical treatment, and in some instances have relied on divine healing, QUT associate professor Alex Deagon says. There were also cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses refusing blood transfusions. ... Deagon says in the Struhs case, the courts might face the issue of having no established religious doctrines a judge or prosecutor could refer to, because it is a fringe group. The Queensland government introduced legislation in 2019 to expand the definition of murder to include reckless indifference to human life." (9 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Age

Waleed Aly: Identity politics has the power to be meaningful. If only we stopped making it an incoherent mess
"Is appointing a special envoy for combatting antisemitism an exercise in identity politics? What about the forthcoming envoy for Islamophobia? I wouldn’t have thought of asking this a week ago, but fretting about such things has become something of a national sport since Senator Fatima Payman’s defection from the Labor Party, and the Muslim Vote movement – which seeks to mobilise Muslim voters, possibly behind pro-Palestinian independents – started making headlines. Now, presumably, it’s the frame through which all political actions must pass. In those cases at least, the prevailing verdict seems clear. A steady stream of editorials and opinion pieces lament Payman’s embrace of identity politics. The prime minister didn’t use that specific phrase, but he struck the same pose in warning that “faith-based political parties” would “undermine social cohesion”, and a “faith-based party system” would simply cause “minority groups to isolate themselves”. This echoes one of the most common criticisms of identity politics: that by organising groups around one or two identities, it can only lead ultimately to separatism; that it makes building broad coalitions across society just about impossible." (11 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Age

Maurice Quirk: Payman saga proves politicians and journalists are weaponising religion without understanding it
"Anthony Albanese last week expressed discomfort at the notion of “faith-based political parties” following Senator Fatima Payman’s defection and subsequent resignation from the Labor Party. Albanese stated that religion-based politics are not the path to social cohesion, and that political factions only serve to further isolate minority religions. But little attention has been paid to what Albanese and other politicians are actually talking about when they talk about religion. While Australia is formally a secular nation, it is unavoidable that religion plays a significant role in our culture and politics. These influences range from the everyday — annual public holidays for Easter and Christmas — to the controversial — the influence of fundamentalist Christian movements on national debates such as marriage equality. It’s no secret that Christianity dominates in Australia, having both the largest national demographic and claim over our calendar. What is more complex is when and how politicians like Albanese differentiate between religion and culture." (12 Jul 2024)
Read more at Crikey