The Religion and Ethics Report

The defection of Labor senator Fatima Payman to the crossbench has galvanised many Australians – and not simply those of Muslim or Arab background – to demand the federal government take a tougher line against Israel’s war in Gaza. It has also emboldened activists in the Muslim community to recruit independent candidates to run against Labor MPs in their western Sydney electorates. One of those seats is Watson, held by Tony Burke. 

Senator Payman's defection, the Muslim Vote in the UK and Australia, and why the Pope has excommunicated a cleric. 

Today, we're out in Sydney's religiously and culturally diverse west, in Parramatta, to discuss educating for a diverse Australia.

4 in 10 students who attend Catholic high schools aren’t, in fact, Catholic. And it got us thinking –  the place where we learn to get along is the classroom. Today, we're in Sydney's culturally diverse west, in Parramatta to discuss educating for a diverse Australia.

Nicholas Mercer was a top UK military lawyer during the 2003 Iraq War. He's raised serious questions about the possible involvement of Australian troops in the mistreatment and disappearance of prisoners of war.

The British Labour Party is on the cusp of possibly the biggest victory in its history. But for one well-placed writer, there’s a risk in such a triumph. Labour MP John Cruddas takes a look at  one of the party’s most influential but forgotten traditions.

A top military lawyer raises serious questions about the possible involvement of Australian troops in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, and a British Labour MP rediscovers his party's religious and moral history.

In the officially secular nation of France, will the elections become a fight over Muslim piety? Religion is never far from the surface of French politics, but it's often dressed up as a debate over immigration. 

It captivated America and much of the world. In 1993, a 51 day stand-off in Waco, Texas, between the FBI and a religious cult known as the Branch Davidians came, literally, to a fiery end. Those who died became martyrs — but martyrs to whom?

In the officially secular nation of France, will the elections become a fight over Muslim piety? And the 51 day stand-off between the FBI and the Branch Davidians cult that came to a fiery end.