Religion News Australia 2014 - 50 (Nov 16

Religion News Australia 2014 - 50 (Nov 16 - 23)

(23 November 14)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

November 16 - 23, 2014

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / catholic church / international stories / islam / politics / religion & society

ABUSE

'Love letter' clouds abuse finding (The West Australian)
Nov 21 - A love letter written by a man claiming to be a victim of child sexual abuse to his alleged abuser made it difficult to later verify if the crime had taken place, a royal commission has been told.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Sacked Bishop Bill Morris to campaign for ordination of married men (Brisbane Times)
Nov 17 - Sacked Catholic Bishop Bill Morris will campaign for the ordination of married men, during a book signing tour to Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Anglican Church

Church of England ends centuries of tradition and allows women to become bishops (ABC News)
Nov 18 - The Church of England has ended centuries of tradition by adopting legislation allowing women to become bishops for the first time, with the first ordinations set for next year.

Catholic Church

Pope Francis launches Christmas giveaway to raise money for homeless (ABC News)
Nov 22 - Pope Francis is raffling off unwanted gifts including a Fiat Panda, a tandem bike and a coffee machine to raise money for the homeless.

Myanmar Catholics celebrate 500 years in the country (The West Australian)
Nov 22 - Yangon (AFP) - Thousands of Myanmar Catholics marked 500 years of the Church's presence inside the country in a lively celebration at a Yangon cathedral held four years late because of religious restrictions under the former junta.

Islam

Virginity tests for female Indonesian police force applicants 'discriminatory' (ABC News)
Nov 17 - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Indonesia's national police to halt "discriminatory" virginity tests for women applying to join the force.

Turkey to open mosques 'in every university' (The West Australian)
Nov 21 - Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's top religious body said on Friday that there are plans to build a mosque in every state university, adding to concerns over what critics say are creeping efforts to force Islamic values on the society.

Religious Violence

Barack Obama confirms 'evil' murder of US aid worker Peter Kassig (ABC News)
Nov 17 - Islamic State (IS) militants fighting in Iraq and Syria have beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig.

Also: Islamic State claims beheading of US aid worker Peter Kassig (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 17 - Threatening "slaughter" on Western streets, the Islamic State has released a video purporting to show the execution of US aid worker Peter Abdul-Rahman Kassig along with at least 12 Syrians.

Also: Islamic State claims beheading of US aid worker Peter Kassig in brutal video (news.com.au)
Nov 17 - THE Islamic State jihadist group is claiming to have executed US aid worker Peter Kassig as a warning to the United States.

Bangladeshi professor Shafiul Islam hacked to death (news.com.au)
Nov 17 - SUSPECTED Islamic militants have hacked to death a university professor in Bangladesh, several years after he led a push to ban students wearing full-face veils.

Jerusalem synagogue attack: At least four Israelis dead (ABC News)
Nov 17 - At least four Israelis were killed when men armed with axes and a gun attacked worshippers at a synagogue in Jerusalem, Israeli police say.

Also: Jerusalem: Four killed in attack on synagogue (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 17 - Jerusalem: Two assailants armed with a meat cleaver and a gun stormed a synagogue complex in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of West Jerusalem on Tuesday, killing at least four worshippers during morning prayers, according to the police.

Also: Benjamin Netanyahu promises heavy response after axe-wielding Palestinians kill four rabbis (ABC News)
Nov 18 - Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a heavy-handed response after two Palestinians attacked a Jerusalem synagogue with a gun and meat cleavers, killing four rabbis and wounding eight others.

Also: Brutal murders of rabbis at prayer in Jerusalem synagogue push a divided city to the edge (The Age, Melbourne)
Nov 19 - Beirut: In a city already deeply riven with sectarian tensions, the brutal slaughter of four rabbis in an ultra-Orthodox synagogue has pushed Jerusalem to the edge of what many fear could escalate into another Palestinian uprising.

Also: Israelis, Palestinians look to personal safety in holy city on edge (The West Australian)
Nov 19 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - On edge but faithful to their religious routine, worshippers returned on Wednesday to the Jerusalem synagogue where four rabbis and a policeman were killed in a Palestinian attack a day earlier.

Families in shock as Islamic State lures sons into 'barbaric madness' (The West Australian)
Nov 18 - CARDIFF (Reuters) - “Do you know how much it hurts to raise someone and watch them grow and suddenly they’re just gone?” says Ahmed Muthana, 57, a retired electronics engineer in Wales whose two sons Nasser, 20, and Aseel, 17, have gone to fight for Islamic State.

Jews bare (sic) the brunt for naive hatred of Israel (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 20 - After all the beheadings, massacres, rapes and enslavements of women by men running amok under the black flag of Islamic State, surveys have shown that support for the group is much higher in Europe than it is in Middle East.

Islamic State video: second Frenchman identified (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 20 - Paris: French authorities have identified a second French militant who appears on a beheading video released by Islamic State at the weekend, a state prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Israel razes East Jerusalem home in synagogue attack crackdown (The Age, Melbourne)
Nov 20 - Israel on Wednesday demolished the home of a Palestinian behind a deadly car attack in Jerusalem, pushing ahead with a promised crackdown following a bloody assault on a synagogue.

Gunmen kill 28 non-Muslim bus passengers in north-east Kenya attack (ABC News)
Nov 23 - Gunmen have seized a bus in north-eastern Kenya near the Somali border and executed 28 non-Muslim passengers, police say.

Also: Somalia's Shabab gunmen kill 28 on Kenyan bus (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 23 - KENYA - Somalia's Shabab Islamists have ambushed a bus in Kenya and executed 28 non-Muslim passengers in what they say is revenge for police raids on mosques in the troubled port of Mombasa.

Also: Kenya bus killings: al-Shabab claim attack in retaliation for raids (The Australian)
Nov 22 - ONE gunman shot from the right, one from the left, each killing the non-Muslims lying in a line on the ground, growing closer and closer to Douglas Ochwodho, who was in the middle.

Other

Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova had joined ‘dehumanising’ cult before jumping to death (news.com.au)
Nov 17 - A SUPERMODEL who jumped to her death from a New York building had reportedly become involved with a “dehumanising” sect.

Woman’s chilling devil exorcism filmed through keyhole (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)
Nov 20 - SECRETLY-FILMED keyhole footage of a woman’s real-life exorcism possessed by the devil has gone viral on the internet.

Beer, wine flow in West Bank village (The West Australian)
Nov 20 - A tiny Christian enclave in the overwhelmingly Muslim West Bank has for years crafted the only Palestinian beer and brought thousands of visitors flocking to its annual beer festival.

Indian 'godman' Rampal charged with sedition after hundreds arrested at fortified compound (ABC News)
Nov 21 - The leader of a cult in India has been charged with sedition and waging war against the state after a siege at his compound lasting several days ended in his arrest along with 450 followers.

Eleven worshippers die in Zimbabwe stampede (The West Australian)
Nov 22 - At least 11 people died and many more were injured in a stampede in Zimbabwe as thousands packed a stadium for a service by a celebrity preacher and self-styled miracle-worker, police said.

ISLAM

Sydney brothers believed to have joined Islamic State (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 17 - "We made it to Bilad al-Sham, we will see you in Paradise."

Attack on mosque at Rockingham in WA leaves building partly spattered with paint (ABC News)
Nov 18 - Police are investigating an attack on a mosque at Rockingham, south of Perth.

Another racist attack at Newcastle mosque (ABC News)
Nov 19 - There has been another racist attack at the Newcastle mosque with a pig's head thrown into its grounds.

Also: Pig's head thrown at Newcastle mosque (ABC News)
Nov 21 - There has been another attack at the Newcastle mosque with a pig's head thrown into its grounds.

Campaign to boycott halal food gains momentum in Australia (ABC News)
Nov 21 - A campaign to boycott halal-certified food is gaining momentum across Australia, with groups claiming that certification pushes up prices and the money goes towards funding terrorism.

Islamic State death cult claims responsibility for Numan Haider’s knife attack on police (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)
Nov 22 - THE Islamic State death cult has claimed responsibility for a Melbourne teenager’s frenzied knife attack on two counter-terrorism officers.

POLITICS

Victoria election 2014: Voters polarised over burka ban, Vote Compass reveals (ABC News)
Nov 17 - Victorians are polarised by a suggestion to ban the burka, results from the ABC's online survey Vote Compass indicate.

Halal certification funds extremists: MP (The West Australian)
Nov 20 - Consumers who buy Halal products could be funding Islamic extremism, an Abbott government backbencher claims.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Immunisation rebels are not moral crusaders (The West Australian)
Nov 19 – (Opinion: Editorial) When most people hear the term "conscientious objectors", it comes with an image of potential soldiers who refuse to perform military service because they believe, on moral or religious grounds, that it is wrong to kill another human being.