Summary and report on RELIGION and SOCIAL COHESION IN AUSTRALIA: AN OVERVIEW of MULTIFAITH ACTIVITY

Religions for Peace Australia (RfP) have conducted an audit of mulitfaith and interfaith activity in each state along with the National Capital. The Audit results find skewed activities and significant variations in support of multifaith and interfaith activity.

A major finding of this report:

This RfP Australia audit found that the multifaith/interfaith sector is managed by very small dedicated groups of volunteers, a handful of part-time paid workers (almost all appointed by religious bodies such as the Catholic Church and its dioceses, by local government councils, by one network and an even smaller group of dedicated academics. This audit also found that faith/worldviews engagement was not included as a structured part of social cohesion policy by the Federal Minister of Home Affairs, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the State and Territory governments, nor the Federal Department of Social Services.

The audit highlighted policy and program development of faith/worldviews from a government perspective is simply not occurring, even though religion is constantly in the news with the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse and the focus on religiously inspired terrorism. This report articulates the need for action.

The NCCA would like to thank the RfP Australia National Secretary, Dr. Susan Ennis and  Chair, Professor Emeritus Desmond Cahill for sharing this report with us. We encourage you to circulate it through your networks.

Download the full RfP Australia pdf Multifaith Interfaith Australia Audit September 2018 (1.30 MB)  here.