While some thought the suspension of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ audit of the Vatican a blow for church transparency, it is the Big Four accounting firms themselves that remain hypocritically inscrutable.
The Australian Christian Lobby's bid for influence
Martin McKenzie-Murray
The Australian Christian Lobby has a high profile as a religious organisation seeking to influence government policy, but are its claims of intolerance and censorship a sign it realises it is out of step with a secular society?
Australian Jew’s fight against the Catholic Church in Poland
Jill Singer
For many years a Melbourne Jewish doctor has been fighting assiduously to prove the Catholic Church in Poland willingly participated in a scam to steal her forebears’ land. Finally, justice has been served.
Gay Muslims in the West can face lack of acceptance within their families and their religion, as well as experiencing wider prejudice against their faith, fostering a complex and contradictory identity.
Royal commission examines Jehovah Witnesses cover-up
Martin McKenzie-Murray
The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ fiercely literal reading of the Bible has distanced them from the law and politics, but the royal commission into child sexual abuse is ending that.
The delicate balance of policing suburban extremists
Martin McKenzie-Murray
The arrest of five teenagers in counterterrorism raids this week sparked fresh claims of racism and police brutality. It also highlighted the need for deeper investigation into the motivation of young jihadists.
Hillsong in the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse
Tanya Levin
Despite a royal commission being told that Hillsong’s senior pastor mishandled revelations of child sex abuse by his father and fellow church leader, the organisation’s global expansion continues apace.
As Coalition figures drum up fears of Muslim extremism, Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells is trying to reassure a community at the crossroads.
Church offers a blind eye for an eye on child sex abuse
David Campbell
As the spotlight shines on institutional responses to child sex abuse, one victim tells how her church community made her feel more punished than the perpetrator.
