Religion News Australia 2010 - 14 (Apr 11

Religion News Australia 2010 - 14 (Apr 11 - 18)

(18 April 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

Apr 11 - 18, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

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

ABUSE

Unholy trinity of the sex abuse scandal (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 12 – (Opinion: Dick Gross) WARNING! The sex abuse revelations are not a theodicy moment!

ANGLICAN CHURCH

Back in black as prayers answered (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 16 – (Opinion: Matt O'Sullivan) Praise the Lord. The investment arm of the country's largest Anglican diocese has edged back into the black after a $160 million loss of faith in 2008.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Diocese needs its own bishop to survive: Priest (ABC News)

Apr 12 - A Parkes Catholic priest who has been elected to represent clergy across almost half of New South Wales says the area needs its own bishop to help it survive.

Penola plans for Mary MacKillop pilgrims (ABC News)

Apr 12 - The town of Penola is preparing itself for an influx of pilgrims in the lead-up to the canonisation of Australia's first saint, Blessed Mary MacKillop.

Also: Shire hopes to lure MacKillop tourists (ABC News)

Apr 15 - The Southern Grampians Shire hopes to make the most of increasing interest in the life of Sister Mary MacKillop.

Priests fight to save diocese (ABC News)

Apr 16 - A group of priests fighting plans to dissolve the Wilcannia-Forbes diocese have started circulating a petition around the district.

EDUCATION

You can't teach ethics without referring to Christianity (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 12 – (Opinion: Jim Wallace) With our nation having just played host to a big atheist convention trumpeting the intellectual superiority of unbelief, many may well be wondering why we still bother gazetting an extended long weekend to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Keneally allows Anglican Church to vet content of ethics lessons (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 13 - THE Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has privately lobbied the Premier, Kristina Keneally, against the permanent introduction of secular ethics classes in public schools, saying they would jeopardise the future of religious education.

Also: Bishop enters battle against secular ethics classes (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 14 - THE Bishop of North Sydney has urged Anglican priests to collect information from principals of public schools to stop the spread of the secular ethics classes the Sydney Anglicans believe may threaten religious education.

Complaints put brakes on ethics class trial (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 17 - VERITY FIRTH is refusing to guarantee a 10-week trial for secular ethics classes will start next week in state primary schools as expected, after a flurry of complaints from religious leaders.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Dawkins, Hitchens want Pope arrested (ABC News)

Apr 12 - High-profile atheist Richard Dawkins is backing a push to have Pope Benedict arrested over the Catholic church's child abuse scandal when the pontiff visits Britain later this year.

Also: Literary duo seeks Pontiff's arrest (The Australian)

Apr 12 - AUTHOR and atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain "for crimes against humanity".

Also: Call to hold Pope over abuse cases (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 13 - PROMINENT British atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are paying lawyers to investigate the possibility of prosecuting the Pope for crimes against humanity, their solicitor has confirmed.

Also: Pope Benedict arrest bid 'a publicity stunt' (Adelaide Now)

Apr 13 - A BID by a prominent British atheist campaigner to have the Pope arrested over the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has been labelled a "publicity stunt".

Also: The Pope-hunters' pathological campaign (The Australian)

Apr 15 – (Opinion: Brendan O'Neill) THE New Atheist campaign to have Pope Benedict XVI arrested when he visits Britain later this year exposes the deeply disturbing, authoritarian and even Inquisitorial side to today's campaigning secularism.

Also: Evildoers, not Pope, to blame (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 16 - (Opinion: Miranda Devine) The pursuit of the Pope reached absurd heights this week with news that atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have asked the Australian barrister Geoffrey Robertson to draw up a case to arrest Benedict XVI for alleged cover-up of paedophilia in the Catholic Church.

Church abuse cover-ups scandal moves to Britain (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 12 - A PRIEST who admitted indecently assaulting deaf boys at a school in Yorkshire has been allowed to remain as a cleric, it has been revealed as the scandal over abuse cover-ups in the Catholic Church moves to Britain.

Pope acted expeditiously on molestation: Vatican (The Australian)

Apr 12 - THE Vatican has insisted the Pope acted "expeditiously" by the standards of the time when he hesitated - as a cardinal - to dismiss a priest convicted of molesting two boys.

Vatican distances itself from prelate's gay remarks (ABC News)

Apr 15 - The Vatican has distanced itself from remarks by a top prelate who stirred anger in the gay community by blaming homosexual priests for the child sex abuse scandals rocking the Catholic Church.

Also: Vatican massively confused about nature of sex (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

Apr 15 - IT is "nonsense" for the Catholic Church to draw a link between paedophilia and homosexuality, says a visiting US expert in counselling male survivors of child abuse.

Also: Cardinal error to conflate homosexuality with paedophilia (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 16 – (Opinion: Austen Ivereigh) The Vatican secretary of state's attempt to blame gay priests is foolish.

Also: Pornography makes it hard to stay celibate, bishop says (ABC News)

Apr 17 - A prominent Roman Catholic bishop in Mexico blamed eroticism on television and internet pornography for child abuse by priests, in the latest incendiary comments on sex scandals in the church.

The enforcer with a gentle manner (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 15 – (Opinion: Paola Totaro ) My brush with Pope Benedict occurred on board a specially re-configured Qantas 747, en route back to Rome from Sydney two years ago almost to the day.

Pope urges penance for Catholic Church's sins (ABC News)

Apr 16 - Pope Benedict says the sexual abuse scandal shaking Roman Catholicism shows the church needs to do penance for its sins, in a rare public reference to paedophilia in the priesthood.

Cardinal urges support for pope (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 16 - A top cardinal has asked priests around the world to flock to the Vatican in June in a public display of support for the pope against "unjust attacks" over his handling of paedophile clergy.

The sins of the fathers (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 18 – (Opinion: Paola Totaro) WHEN Pope Benedict steps off his plane on to Maltese soil today, the conclave of cardinals who walk behind him will be holding their collective breath.

Malta hosts pope under priest sex abuse cloud (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 18 - The Roman Catholic Church has been "wounded by sin" Pope Benedict XVI said as he flew to Malta on his first foreign trip since having to deal with a wave of priest sex abuse scandals.

Why the Pope should be thanked (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

Apr 18 – (Opinion: George Pell) Pope Benedict XVI has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over his handling of sexual abuse by priests.

Catholic Church

Pope goes to the movies (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 12 - AS THE Catholic Church battled a sexual abuse crisis, Pope Benedict XVI spent Friday evening watching a movie: a biopic about wartime Pope Pius XII, one of the most contentious figures to haunt his five-year-old papacy.

Penis sculpture must go before Pope's visit (ABC News)

Apr 13 - The mayor of a town near Malta's main airport has called for the removal of a sculpture resembling a penis near the road leading to the capital Valletta ahead of a weekend visit by the Pope.

British bishop fined for Holocaust denial (ABC News)

Apr 16 - Renegade British Catholic bishop Richard Williamson was fined 10,000 euros ($14,500) by a German court Friday for Holocaust denial in a case that has deeply embarrassed the Vatican.

Hinduism

Millions of pilgrims flock to Ganges (ABC News)

Apr 14 - Millions of Hindu pilgrims have gathered on the banks of India's Ganges river, ready to plunge into the holy waters at the climax of the world's largest religious festival.

Also: Rapture for millions who wash away their mortality (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 17 - HARIDWAR: Braj Bihari Yadev could not hide his toothless smile after emerging from the Ganges.

Islam

Protest over Jakarta tomb turns deadly (ABC News)

Apr 14 - Two people were killed and dozens injured in clashes in Jakarta between security forces and people protesting at the bulldozing of a cemetery containing the remains of a revered Muslim scholar.

Religious Violence

The day music died: Somali hardliners ban songs (ABC News)

Apr 14 - Mogadishu-based radio stations stopped playing all music on Tuesday following an ultimatum by hardline Islamist militia in a sign of the insurgents' tightening grip on the Somali capital.

Other

Ooh la la! Halal food is the new big thing (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 12 - PARIS: Few things define the traditional good life in France better than champagne and foie gras but few would have thought them symbols of social integration - until now.

Mass cremation to send off souls of quake dead (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 18 - China has begun the mass cremation of hundreds of earthquake victims, as hopes fade of finding more survivors.

ISLAM

Federal Govt looking into Al Qaeda sermon reports (ABC News)

Apr 15 - The Federal Attorney General's Department says it is looking into a sermon given by an alleged recruiter for Al-Qaeda at a mosque in Sydney last year.

Also: Police did not act on terrorist sermon (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 16 - THE NSW counter-terrorism squad knew about an al-Qaeda-linked sermon delivered at a Sydney mosque but did nothing because it did not believe that the radical imam who gave it was a threat.

POLITICS

Churches lash Rudd on new asylum stance (The Australian)

Apr 14 - KEVIN Rudd is facing growing criticism from church groups over his toughened asylum stance, but other critics of past Australian refugee policy are holding their fire.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Aussies safer in a strip club than a church, figures show (Adelaide Now)

Apr 11 - THEY may be holy places of worship and reflection, but new figures show you may not be as safe in a NSW church as you are at a strip club or in a brothel.

Top cop leads God squad (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 12 – [T]he Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, doesn't just want to save the people of Sydney from crooks. He is worried about our eternal souls as well.

How the West was lost: a lack of faith in civilisation (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 12 – (Opinion: Phillip Coorey) There is a growing belief among Australia's most formidable conservative thinkers that the foundations of Western civilisation in this country are being eroded.

Euthanasia doctor gives internet tips (ABC News)

Apr 16 - Australia's pro-euthanasia movement is trying to stay one step ahead of any move to block access to internet sites promoting euthanasia and assisted suicide.

When laws clash with culture (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 16 – (Opinion: James Spigelman) Sexism in the European cultural tradition has been attacked on a broad front, including violence against women.

Also: Sexist migrants create legal problem (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 16 - AUSTRALIAN courts will increasingly have to grapple with the sexist cultural traditions of minorities from the Middle East and south Asia, the state's most senior judge says, and will find it difficult without more support from politicians.

Passion for thrashin' gives way to ugly denials (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 17 – (Opinion: Rick Feneley) Religious instruction was never enough to guide me along the path of righteousness.

The true nature of sceptics (The Australian)

Apr 17 – (Opinion: Frank Furedi) Unafraid, questioning minds are central to the pursuit of truth and democracy.

Hannant keen to let sleeping dogs lie but NRL will investigate (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 18 – (Sport) THE NRL will investigate an alleged religious slur made by Bryce Gibbs against Ben Hannant despite the Mormon forward's desire to leave the matter on the field.