The Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) promotes the interests of rationalists nationally in Australia. Originally formed as the Victorian Rationalist Association, the society originated in a meeting of freethinkers in the University of Melbourne in 1906.[1] It is the operational arm of the rationalist movement in Australia.
The society created a rationalist library in 1909, and grew its collection though donations. The society ran the 1910 and 1913 Australian tours of rationalist thinker, Joseph McCabe.[2] A number of trade unionists and social campaigners sought to advance political causes, including Robert Samuel Ross and Alfred Foster. John Samuel Langley became the secretary in 1919, and William Glanville Cook became the secretary in 1938.[3]
Its aims include:
The RSA publishes the Australian Rationalist journal. Issues are archived in the National Library of Australia, and previous issues of the journal can be found on their website.[4] Victoria University maintains a Rationalist Collection from the society.[2] Contributors have included Brian Fitzpatrick and Ian Robinson.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics in the national census categorises rationalists under "No Religion". In the 2016 census, 29.6% of respondents (or 6,933,708 people) selected "no religion"[5]orirreligious, a category that includes rationalists as well as Humanists, agnostics and atheists.
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