Religion News Australia 2012 - 27 (Aug 5

Religion News Australia 2012 - 27 (Aug 5 - 12)

(12 August 12)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

August 5 - 12, 2012

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / anglican church / arts & entertainment / catholic church / education / international stories / islam / judaism / religion & society

ABUSE

Clergy Abuse victim backs Royal Commision (ABC News)

Aug 7 - A Hunter Valley clergy abuse victim says a Royal Commission is the only way to ensure more people do not end their lives.

Clergy abuse victims too scared to speak to inquiry (ABC News)

Aug 9 - A former Victorian sex crimes squad detective says many clergy abuse victims are too scared to make submissions to a parliamentary inquiry.

ANGLICAN CHURCH

Struggle for women priests 'worth it' (news.com.au)

Aug 11 - TWENTY years after female priests were admitted to the Anglican church, the woman who led the push says she feels vindicated.

Also: Twenty years on: Where do female priests stand now? (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 11 - Thirty years ago Brisbane girl Marian Free was living in New Zealand when she realised her purpose in life.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mystics spring forth (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 11 – (Review) AS RAPID-response vehicles, novels aren't much chop.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Dissidents preach a new breed of Catholicism. (The Age, Melbourne)

Aug 6 - FATHER Greg Reynolds wants his church of dissident Catholics to welcome all - ''every man and his dog'', one might say, risking the non-inclusive language he deplores - but even he was taken aback when that was put to the test during Mass yesterday.

EDUCATION

Put ideology to one side for a moment and look at the work chaplains do (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 10 – (Opinion: David Hastie) Along with many other Australian Christians who believe in social gospel, I have almost voted Green for years. Almost.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Anglican Church

Church sells News Corp shares in wake of phone hacking scandal (The Australian)

Aug 8 - THE Church of England has sold its shares worth $A2.8 million in News Corporation in response to the phone- hacking scandal.

Also: Church of England dumps News Corp shares (ABC News)

Aug 8 - The Church of England has sold nearly $3 million worth of its shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation because of ethical concerns over the company's response to the newspaper phone-hacking scandal.

Also: Anglicans lose faith in News Corp shares (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 8 - The Church of England has sold all shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp held in its investment portfolios on ethical grounds, after the phone hacking scandal at the media empire's UK operations.

Buddhism

S. Korean Buddhist monks fined for gambling (The West Australian)

Aug 10 - SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean court said Friday it has fined two Buddhist monks for illegal gambling, after video footage of their high-stakes poker game sparked a scandal in religious circles.

Catholic Church

Decision on pope's butler due next week (The Australian)

Aug 8 - THE Vatican says it will announce its decision on Monday on whether to order the pope's butler to stand trial in the theft and leaking of secret documents that have embarrassed the church.

Kosovo Catholics practice faith openly (The West Australian)

Aug 11 - KRAVASERI, Kosovo (AFP) - The solemn sounds of an organ echoed around this remote mountain village in the small Catholic community gathered for Sunday mass in a newly-built stone church.

US nuns ready to talk with Vatican after rebuke (The West Australian)

Aug 12 - WASHINGTON (AFP) - American nuns in open conflict with the Vatican over claims they have "radical feminist" views and have strayed too far from Catholic doctrine offered Friday to talk with top Church leaders.

Islam

Pilgrims from Iran caught up in conflict (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 6 - BEIRUT: Gunmen kidnapped dozens of Iranian pilgrims on a trip to Syria on Saturday, the latest in a series of abductions that have targeted citizens of Iran, a major international ally of the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.

Australian imam's role in Syria's civil war (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 7 - IT IS not a place you expect to run into one of Australia's leading imams.

The last place that meant more than any medal (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 9 - She was coming last, 150 metres from the finish line and almost 44 seconds behind the winner.

Pro-Islamist elected Libya assembly chief (The West Australian)

Aug 10 - TRIPOLI (AFP) - Mohamed al-Megaryef, a staunch opponent of Moamer Kadhafi's overthrown regime who is seen as being pro-Islamist, was elected president of Libya's new national assembly.

New US study finds diverse beliefs in Muslim world (The West Australian)

Aug 10 - WASHINGTON (AFP) - The global Muslim community of 1.6 billion people agree on the core principles of their faith, but differ widely in religiosity and religious tolerance, according to a poll published Thursday.

Muslim nations 'should host Games' (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 12 - WITH the sun setting on London, Olympic officials are readying to pass the baton to Rio de Janeiro, which will host South America's first ever Games in 2016.

Religious Violence

Seven dead after shooting at Sikh temple in US (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 6 - At least seven people are thought to have been killed, including a suspect, in another mass shooting in the United States, this time at a Sikh temple in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek in the state of Wisconsin.

Also: Sikh temple shooter had 'white power ties' (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 7 - Police are probing the white power ties of the former US soldier who gunned down six people at a Sikh temple in the US state of Wisconsin, while the close-knit Indian-American community mourns its dead.

Also: Sikh community hasn't felt safe since 9/11 (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 7 – (Opinion: Nick O'Malley) After the shootings in America people tell each other in sad and shocked tones that the victims should have been safe where they were killed.

Also: Sikh temple gunman shot himself dead (The Australian)

Aug 9 - THE gunman who killed six people at a Sikh temple in the US died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after he was shot by police, the FBI says.

Also: Sikh temple gunman shot himself dead: police (ABC News)

Aug 9 - The FBI says a gunman accused of killing six worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin probably died after shooting himself in the head.

Also: Thousands mourn Sikh shooting victims (ABC News)

Aug 11 - Thousands of mourners have attended the funerals of six victims of a shooting at a Sikh temple in the American state of Wisconsin.

Also: US Sikhs leave bullet hole to mark tragedy (NEWS.COM.AU)

Aug 11 - THOUSANDS have mourned the six victims gunned down at a Sikh Temple in the US state of Wisconsin, after members worked late the previous night to remove all but the one trace of the shooting hole to mark the memory of a white supremacist's deadly rampage.

At least 19 shot dead at Nigeria church (The Australian)

Aug 7 - AN army official says gunmen have shot dead at least 19 people at a Christian church in central Nigeria.

Al-Qaeda suspects targeted Gibraltar (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 8 - MADRID: Three suspected members of al-Qaeda arrested in Spain were planning to launch an attack from the air on a shopping mall in the British territory of Gibraltar during the Olympics, reports said.

Fatal lot of Christianity's homelands (The Australian)

Aug 9 – (Opinion: William Dalrymple) WHEREVER you go in the Middle East today, you see the Arab Spring rapidly turning into the Christian winter.

Egyptian leaders feel fury over deadly raid (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 9 - THE Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi, abruptly cancelled plans to attend the funeral of 16 soldiers killed during an attack by militants in the Sinai Peninsula after protesters shouting anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans chased the country's Prime Minister from an earlier prayer service.

Taliban threaten to kill Imran Khan (news.com.au)

Aug 9 - THE Taliban have threatened to kill Pakistani cricket star turned politician Imran Khan if he holds a planned march to their tribal stronghold along the Afghan border to protest US drone attacks.

Mali readies military action on Islamists (news.com.au)

Aug 10 - MALI'S government says military intervention in the Islamist-held north is inevitable as the jihadists defied mediation efforts and cut off the hand of a thief.

AWOL US soldier Naser Abdo gets life for Fort Hood massacre plot (NEWS.COM.AU)

Aug 11 - AN AWOL soldier convicted of collecting bomb-making materials for a "massive attack" on a Texas restaurant full of US troops was sentenced to life in prison.

Assad's Alawites run out of options (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 12 – (Opinion: Paul McGeough) The dilemma for Syria's Alawites is acute.

Other

Prosecutor demands three years' jail for Pussy Riot (ABC News)

Aug 8 - A state prosecutor has demanded a three-year jail term for three members of Russian female punk band Pussy Riot.

Also: Russian punk protest trial wraps up (The Australian)

Aug 9 - A MOSCOW judge has wrapped up the trial of three feminist punk rockers and says she will issue a verdict in the controversial case next week.

Also: Pussy Riot defiant at end of trial (The Australian)

Aug 9 - THE lead singer of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot last night compared the group's trial to Stalin-era repression in a dramatic final statement before the verdict is delivered later this month.

Also: Russian deputy PM slams Madonna (news.com.au)

Aug 10 - A RUSSIAN deputy prime minister has referred to pop icon Madonna as a "former whore" on Twitter after she called for the release of jailed members of the punk group Pussy Riot at a Moscow concert.

Russian 'muammin' sect kept children underground for years (Adelaide Now)

Aug 9 - THE children in a reclusive Russian sect, aged between one and 17, have never seen daylight, health officials say.

Rebel's captives linked to Iran regime (The Australian)

Aug 9 - TEHRAN admitted for the first time last night that the Iranians abducted by Syrian rebels in Damascus at the weekend were linked to the Islamic republic's military.

Hutterites seek apology for NatGeo show (The Australian)

Aug 9 - LEADERS of a Hutterite colony are demanding an apology from the National Geographic Society and a pledge that it never again broadcast a television show they say misrepresented their way of life and damaged their reputation.

Man pleads guilty in murder that shocked New York (news.com.au)

Aug 10 - A MAN accused in the horrific abduction and dismemberment of an eight-year-old boy from a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community has pleaded guilty.

Model's first interview since propeller accident (The West Australian)

Aug 10 - A Texas model who lost her hand in a plane propeller accident has credited her religious beliefs for getting her through the ordeal.

Protestants told to stop gossiping (news.com.au)

Aug 11 - CANADA'S largest Protestant denomination, the United Church of Canada, is urging congregants to stop gossiping, likening it to gambling and "other evils of society."

ISLAM

Hope for mosque work to start soon (ABC News)

Aug 9 - A religious leader in the Wimmera hopes construction of Horsham's first mosque will start within the next 12 months.

Attempt to wind up Islamic school over debts (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 10 - A CLOTHING company which supplies school uniforms has made a court application to wind up Malek Fahd Islamic School in Sydney because of its alleged failure to pay debts of $286,303.

Ambassador may not be fastest during run, but he will be fasting (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 10 - THE City2Surf is hard enough when you are fit and young, but the 14-kilometre race will be a hard slog for the 56-year-old ambassador to Australia from the United Arab Emirates, Ali Nasser Al Nuaimi, who is fasting for Ramadan.

Councillors push for Islamic prayer hall (The West Australian)

Aug 10 - A planned Islamic prayer hall at the centre of a religious discrimination row is set to be approved after a push from City of Gosnells councillors.

JUDAISM

Jewish call to curb compassion (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 8 - THE Jewish community should not be misled by compassion from the Holocaust into supporting Muslim boat people, the owner of The Australian Jewish News has argued in an article condemned by some as hate speech.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Census data reveals where religious groups tend to congregate (Adelaide Now)

Aug 5 - WHILE Christians love Fulham Gardens and Buddhists are flocking to Mansfield Park, Muslims are settling in the northern suburbs, new Census data shows.

Costello slams Salvos-clubs deal as 'whitewash' (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 6 - THE Salvation Army claims a new agreement for its chaplains to work in clubs will ''make a difference'' to problem gamblers, but campaigners for poker machine reform have condemned it as a ''whitewash''.

New world order as Anglican priests move to a Catholic environment (The Age, Melbourne)

Aug 8 - CHRISTOPHER SETON leaves one job on September 2 and starts another six days later. In one sense it is exactly the same job, and in another it is completely different.

Respect from religious rivals proves Pearson is a class act (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 9 - After winning medals in the women's 100m hurdles, Americans Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells thanked God for their talents.

Who wants to get married? (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 9 - We're keen to find life partners but not so interested in marriage, according to a new study that uncovers the nation's dating habits.

Opposing gay marriage is not discrimination for Christians (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

Aug 9 - OPPOSING same-sex marriage is not discrimination for Christians because it is based on the Bible's teachings, the Presbyterian church's Australian leader says.

Krishna birthday attracts thousands in Australia (ABC News)

Aug 10 - Lord Krishna's birthday has been celebrated by Hindus in Australia no less than in other countries.

Qantas baggage handler back in jail (The Age, Melbourne)

Aug 11 - A NOTORIOUS extremist and former Qantas baggage handler was back behind bars last night.