On September 19 the innocuously titled Australian Human Rights Commission Amendment (Costs Protection) Bill 2024 passed in federal Parliament…The Costs Protection Bill will enable claims to be made against Christian schools without the ordinary risk that if the claim fails, the claimant would have to pay the legal costs incurred in defending the claim. This opens the way for relatively cost and risk-free lawfare. It’s a very obvious consequence.

Religious leaders must rise to this challenge. They need to equip their congregations with the theological tools to understand and critique communist ideology. This isn’t about partisan politics; it’s about preserving the integrity of your congregation’s Biblical worldview in the face of a competing, all-encompassing worldview.

Hate crime data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation this week shows that individuals committed a disproportionately greater number of hate crimes against Jews than Muslims in the past year. The FBI reported 1,951 anti-Jewish hate crimes between January 2023 and December 2023, and 266 anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic hate crimes. The new data follows a rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, according to the American Jewish Coalition.