The Religion and Ethics Report

If your vision of a church wedding involves chiming bells, rose petals, as well as a father walking his daughter down the aisle, then Sweden is not the place for you. In a fascinating twist, Sweden's national church insists it's upholding a tradition – one that might surprise you. 

Pope Francis embarks on the longest trip of his papacy — beginning in Jakarta, the anti-slavery organisation fighting child sexual exploitation on tech platforms, and why Sweden could ban fathers walking their daughters down the aisle.

Pope Francis is about to embark on his longest ever overseas tour. It will include a visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. Catholics are only 3 per cent of Indonesia's population, and the Archbishop of Jakarta, Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, will be hosting the pope. 

What happens if you're a politician, lawyer or judge, faithful to your religious beliefs, but bound to operate in secular democracy? In the US, this question is a lively debate, and on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, it affects both the right and the left. 

Pope Francis will visit the most populous Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, new research reveals how religion plays a role in where and why people migrate, and how does someone navigate religious conscience in a secular democracy?

Immigration is likely to be a major, and possibly divisive, issue in the next election— at home and abroad. People leave their country of birth for many reasons, and often, their religion plays a role in where and why they migrate, as new research reveals.

The UN has urged an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to allow a mass vaccination campaign to prevent an outbreak of polio. And on the frontline of these efforts are aid workers, both local and international. In 2024, they've been killed in unprecedented numbers while working in Gaza, and globally. 

In 2016, the Religion and Ethics Report revealed that several Australians who’d gone to join the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria were implicated in sexual violence against Yazidi women. Eight years on, there's been a renewed campaign to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Riots across the UK have died down, as ringleaders have been charged and jailed. But it's left a division in the country that's both racial and religious, and it poses a challenge to the new Labour government. 

Yazidi women are still fighting to bring Islamic State perpetrators to justice, the UK riots have left racial and religious divisions in the country, and frontline aid workers are being killed in unprecedented numbers across the globe.