The Spirit Lounge is taking a break until November. For our final show before the break, Rachel, Claudine and Mark played clips from some our favourites of the last year:

If you’d like to give us feedback, please fill out our listener survey at bit.ly/slsurvey2016.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 28 July 2016.

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Source: St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne

Craig D’Alton, vicar of St Mary’s Anglican Church in North Melbourne, talks to Claudine and Rachel about Christian voices in the plebiscite debate, Anglican attitudes to marriage equality and LGBTI inclusion, and last month’s interfaith memorial for the victims of Orlando at St Paul’s Cathedral. (Listen to our previous episode on Orlando from 16 June.)

Originally broadcast on Thursday 21 July 2016.

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Holy day of the week was Asalha Puja (Theravada Buddhism).

News item 1: The Anglican Church of Canada narrowly approves same-sex marriage after voting errors are identified.

News item 2: Conservative and Reform Jews sue the Israeli government to allow mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall.

Claudine spoke about her visit to Bangladesh last November as part of a World Student Christian Federation program to educate young Christian women on LGBTIQ issues. The Bandhu Social Welfare Society is one example of an organisation promoting HIV awareness and LGBTIQ rights in Bangladesh.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 14 July 2016.

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Holy day of the week was Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.

Gough Whitlam and Vincent Lingiari, photo by Mervyn Bishop (National Gallery of Australia)

For NAIDOC Week, Mark and Claudine talked about the impact of Christianity on Indigenous spirituality.

The AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia displays Indigenous language, tribal and national groups in Australia.

The Uniting Church in Australia’s 2016 Easter message was delivered by Stuart McMillan and Denise Champion.

You can learn more about NAIDOC Week on the NAIDOC website.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 7 July 2016.

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On yet another cold, wet Melbourne night, Rachel and Mark talked about rain and rainbows in various spiritual traditions.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 30 June 2016.

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Source: St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne

Like many at JOY and in the LGBTIQ community, we in the Spirit Lounge have been shocked by the murder of 49 LGBTIQ people in Orlando, Florida.

On Thursday 16 June – just before we went to air – Rachel and Claudine attended a vigil in solidarity for Orlando in Federation Square, organised by the Victorian Government. JOY recorded the vigil and individual speeches are available in our community highlights podcast. The Victorian Government is also taking condolences online.

St Paul’s Cathedral hosted a multi-faith memorial service immediately after the vigil. Religious and civic leaders participated, including former Spirit Lounge guests Nur Warsame, Avril Hannah-Jones and Simon Holt. The order of service is available from the Cathedral’s website.

Faith and community leaders at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne

Rachel, Mark and Claudine reflected on the vigil and memorial service and their significance for LGBTIQ and faith communities. We also read from a Multifaith statement against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, published by Victorian religious leaders.

You can find previous interviews with Imam Nur Warsame on the Spirit Lounge and on ABC.

If you need to talk to someone, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or QLife (3pm-12am) on 1800 184 527.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 16 June 2016.

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Holy day of the week was Shavuot.

Mark and Rachel talked about two Christian musicians who have recently come out as gay, Trey Pearson and Tyler Glenn.

They also continued last week’s discussion of celebrities, religion and film.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 9 June 2016.

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Rachel talks to Senar about growing up as a Muslim, coming out as gay, and celebrating Ramadan, which begins this week.

Rachel and Paige then talk about some celebrities’ religions.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 2 June 2016.

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In this show we talk about recent government apologies and religious perspectives on apologising.

Source: premier.vic.gov.au

26 May was National Sorry Day. An Aboriginal flag flew above Victoria’s Parliament House to mark the Government’s apology to Indigenous children who were taken from their families – the Stolen Generations. The Federal government under Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generations on 13 February, 2008.

The transcript of the National Apology to Stolen Generations is available online, along with a timeline of the Stolen Generations and Sorry Day.

One of our listeners sent us the news story that Carnarvon Shire Council (in Western Australia) voted against flying the Aboriginal flag in NAIDOC Week.

On Tuesday, the rainbow flag flew above the Victorian Parliament as the Premier Daniel Andrews apologised on behalf of past Victorian governments for the criminalisation of gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

For more reports on this apology, listen to the Informer reports from the Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 26 May.

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Holy days of the week are the Declaration of the (Bahá’i) and Trinity Sunday (Christian).

Source: Uniting Network Australia

We talked to Robert Stringer and surprise guest Rowena Allen about the upcoming Daring Conference held by Uniting Network Australia, the national network for lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and transgender people, their families, friends and supporters within the Uniting Church in Australia.

The theme of this year’s Daring Conference is “Daring to reach out: Honouring our diversity, Connecting interfaith, CALD and LGBTI communities”. See the program and book for the conference and accommodation online.

The conference will be held in Melbourne from 10-12 June. Bookings close Friday 3 June.

Originally broadcast on Thursday 19 May 2016.

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