What does the census tell us? On the Catholica Forum today I have posted an interesting table computed from the raw ABS tables for religious affiliation which shows the relative change in affiliation religion to religion over the last three Commonwealth Census. The good news that comes out of these tables I think is that, in either raw or absolute terms, the rise in religious fundamentalism does not pose any significant threat in a country like ours. The pain the rest of the nation has to put up with is that fundamentalists tend to sing a heck of a lot louder than everybody else and the buggers can never sing in tune – lol! These figures give no comfort to the likes of Drs Pell and Jensen (The Anglican Archibishop of Sydney) that religious fundamentalism is going to re-evangelise their Churches. In fact reading Linda Morris's article in the Sydney Morning Herald it is easy to draw the conclusion that the great push by the Sydney Anglicans to re-evangelise their Church through religious fundamentalism has been a failure. …Ed <more>

Testing our pollies? Cliff Baxter takes up Senator Bill Heffernan's suggestion (now there's an unlikely duo for you – LOL) and asks if our politicians ought be subject to random drug testing as well? <more>

The positives and negatives of anger… Most of us are challenged by anger at some point or other in our lives. Dr Kania explores the subject through the lens of a contemporary movie and through a homily penned by St Basil the Great. Like everything else in life anger has both negative and positive aspects. <more>

These rumours need to be dealt with — and quickly… The rumours continue to circulate that Bishop Bill Morris from Toowoomba is under some kind of investigation by the Vatican. In his commentary today Brian Coyne argues these rumours need to be dealt with by the ecclesial authorities quickly. <more>

National Emergency? Cliff Baxter questions the reasoning behind the Australian Federal Government's declaration of a national emergency in the matter of child abuse. <more>