The Rationalist Society of Australia champions reason & evidence as the basis of public policy.

Rationalists believe all decisions should be based on reason and evidence. Our mission is to campaign for rational public policy and promote reason in Australia, something we’ve been doing since 1906. Find out more about the RSA.

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Open Society

“Our democracy depends on diverse sources of reliable, accurate, and independent news. But media ownership is becoming more concentrated alongside new business models that encourage deliberately polarising and politically manipulated news.”

#DontDivideUs

Everyone should be able to go about their lives free from discrimination. To keep Australia free from discrimination join the campaign today.

Meetups

The RSA holds monthly meetings for Members and others interested in discussing contemporary issues from a rationalist perspective.

Freedom of religion & belief

Stung by its defeat in the same-sex marriage debate, the religious right is fighting back. The RSA is not opposed to laws that protect against discrimination on the ground of religion or belief; but the government’s Religious Discrimination bill is a sword for the powerful, not a shield for the vulnerable.

Voluntary Assisted Dying

After decades of patient activism, the Victorian and Western Australian parliaments have finally ceded to the vast majority of Australian citizens who want the choice of voluntary assisted dying when facing end-of-life. The RSA supports guaranteed control over one’s body, free from religious interference.

Just how religious is Australia?

The 2016 census showed a massive rise in the non-religious, now the single largest belief group in Australia. The RSA holds that everyone should be free to choose and hold their own religious OR non-religious worldview, provided they do not impose such views on others and provided practices associated with such worldviews do no harm.

Secular Education

For over 100 years, the RSA has fought for a secular education system, one that does not promote any particular religion. National and state curricula should include the study of a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, taught by professionally trained teachers.

Chaplaincy Challenge

The RSA is opposed to discrimination on the ground of religion or belief. We are working to ensure all qualified people – regardless of their religious affiliation or lack of religious affiliation – are eligible to work as ‘chaplains’, in schools and universities, in hospitals and in the armed forces.

Latest articles

News

On the Indoctrination of Children

Nicholas Humphrey / 15 October 2020

Chaplaincy

Andrews government ‘turning a blind eye’ to schools discrimination

Meredith Doig / 11 October 2020

Dying with Dignity

Why assisted dying opponents don’t mention Switzerland

Neil Francis / 05 October 2020

The Annual General Meeting of the Rationalist Society of Australia Inc. was held on Wednesday 21 October 2020.
Due to COVID-19, this AGM was not held in-person as was the case in previous years. Instead, the 2020 AGM was held via Zoom.
Members can read the minutes here.

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