Religion News Australia 2010 - 15 (Apr 18

Religion News Australia 2010 - 15 (Apr 18 - 26)

(25 April 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

Apr 18 - 26, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / arts & entertainment / education / international stories / islam / politics / religion & society / other

ABUSE

Extradited ex-priest admits more child sex offences (ABC News)

Apr 19 - A former Catholic priest extradited from Indonesia has admitted to more child sex offences, at a District Court hearing in Adelaide.

Sex claims at Wesley Mission (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 21 - POLICE have been called in to investigate allegations that a former staff member sexually assaulted at least one vulnerable person living in a facility for people with serious illnesses.

Abuse victim backs Pope's pledge (ABC News)

Apr 22 - A Hunter Valley victim of clergy abuse says he hopes the Roman Catholic Church's zero tolerance policy of sexual abuse is not just "lip-service".

300 abuse cases, one defrocking (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 22 - VICTORIA Police has called for sweeping changes to the way Melbourne's Catholic Church deals with sex crime allegations, as The Age reveals that only one priest has been defrocked for abuse in the past 14 years.

Victims want 'abuse' priests defrocked (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 24 - A church-related victims' group is calling on the Vatican to defrock about 100 Melbourne priests implicated in sexual abuse claims which have been substantiated by church investigations.

Priest won't change sex abuse guilty pleas (ABC News)

Apr 23 - A New South Wales Hunter Valley Catholic priest accused of molesting dozens of boys has decided against reversing some of his guilty pleas.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Church again opens its door to creativity (The Australian)

Apr 20 - THE relationship between art and Christianity began in the catacombs. The two have been intricately involved ever since.

Alien probes cost a bundle but faith is free (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 26 – (Opinion: Philippe Mora) When I directed Communion, the alien-abduction film, I asked the special-effects expert how much the alien anal probe instrument would cost. "It's 10 feet long, moves by itself," he replied, "$50,000."

EDUCATION

Ethics trial a Rees throwback: Catholics (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 20 - THE controversial secular ethics trial starting today in NSW schools is a policy of the previous premier and does not have full support from the Keneally government, says the NSW head of Catholic scripture teachers.

Residents plan to take Islamic school fight to High Court (ABC News)

Apr 20 - Some Sydney residents who do not want an Islamic School being built in their suburb are applying to take their fight to the High Court.

Hands up all those who want to explore ethics (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 21 - THE students of 6C were grappling with life's big issues.

Too-hot topics out of ethics (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 24 - THE state government made a last-minute decision to remove a hypothetical scenario involving designer babies from secular ethics classes being trialled in public schools as an alternative to scripture classes.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Pope says he leads a 'wounded and sinner' church (ABC News)

Apr 20 - Pope Benedict XVI admitted to world cardinals that he led a "wounded and sinner" Church as he marked five tumultuous years in charge, most recently mired in paedophile priest scandals.

Chile Church seeks forgiveness for abuse (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 21 - The Catholic Church in Chile has asked for forgiveness from victims of pedophile priests in the country, saying there were 20 known such cases.

Pope acknowledges sex abuse (ABC News)

Apr 22 - Pope Benedict has spoken publicly for the first time about the sex abuse scandal embroiling the Catholic Church.

Bishops say sorry to British abuse victims (ABC News)

Apr 23 - Catholic bishops in England and Wales have apologised to victims of the Church's child sex abuse scandal.

German bishop accused of child beating resigns (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 23 - GERMANY'S embattled Catholic Bishop Walter Mixa has resigned three weeks after people came forward to say he beat them regularly when in his care at an orphanage.

Priest's oral sex from choirboy sold on streets as mobile video download (News.com.au)

Apr 23 - A VIDEO of a priest receiving oral sex in a church from a former choirboy was being sold in the streets of Brazil.

A crime is a crime, even for priests (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 23 – (Opinion: Editorial) THE Pope acknowledged this week, for the first time, the extent of sexual abuse by priests and promised victims the Catholic Church would do more to protect children.

Bishop of Bruges quits after admitting abuse (ABC News)

Apr 24 - Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of the bishop of the Belgian city of Bruges after he admitted that he sexually abused a boy earlier in his career.

Pope named in sex abuse lawsuit (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 24 - THE alleged victim of a notorious US priest has sued the Pope and the Vatican in an attempt to open the Catholic Church's secret files containing internal investigations into sex abuse.

British leaders join forces against Pope Benedict XVI (The Australian)

Apr 24 - POPE Benedict was a surprise player in Britain's televised leadership debate but not in a way the pontiff would have enjoyed.

Chilean priest named in scandal (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 24 - FATHER Fernando Karadima is one of Chile's most respected clerics, who for half a century trained dozens of priests.

Google fined for anonymous defamatory message (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 26 - Google has been fined $US8500 ($A9169) in Brazil after an anonymous Internet user posted defamatory messages on one of its sites against a priest, calling him a "paedophile", media reported on Sunday.

Priests must protect kids: Pope (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 26 - Pope Benedict XVI told priests on Sunday to safeguard children in their charge from evil and win the "absolute" trust of their flock, even as his own papacy is clouded by accusations he and other top churchmen failed to protect minors adequately from pedophile clergy.

Atheism/Secularism

Lebanese march against sectarianism (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 26 - At least 2,000 Lebanese marched through central Beirut on Sunday in a show of support for secularism in their deeply divided country.

Catholic Church

Britain sorry for papal condoms proposal (ABC News)

Apr 26 - Britain's foreign office has apologised for a memorandum by a civil servant suggesting Pope Benedict should open a hospital abortion ward when he visits Britain this year.

Also: Condom incident threatens papal visit (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 26 - LONDON: An embarrassed British government has apologised to the Pope over official documents which mocked his coming visit to Britain by suggesting he should bless a gay marriage and even launch papal-branded condoms.

Islam

Promiscuous women to blame for earthquakes, says cleric (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 20 - A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

Court upholds blasphemy law (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 21 - JAKARTA: Human rights groups pilloried Indonesia's Constitutional Court yesterday after it upheld a 1965 blasphemy law, ruling in favour of orthodox religions over basic freedoms.

France prepares anti-burqa bill (ABC News)

Apr 22 - The French government is drafting legislation to ban Muslim women from wearing full-face veils in public, even though it could be unconstitutional.

Also: French burka ban lifts veil of division (The Australian)

Apr 24 - A SAVIOUR of women, or rank Islamophobe and racist? By pushing for a total ban on the burka, or full Islamic veil, in all public places, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is provoking outrage in the political establishment while winning the backing of the electorate and the far-right.

Jail or fines if Belgium's burqa ban made law (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 22 - Belgian lawmakers are set to impose a ban on wearing the Islamic burqa in public, the first clampdown of its kind in Europe, unless the nation's political crisis disrupts their vote.

France and Belgium risk Muslim anger over veil bans (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 23 - Moves by France and Belgium to ban Muslim full face veils predictably angered some Islamic clerics, but other European states facing the same question are following the delicate debate carefully.

French Muslim fined for driving while veiled (ABC News)

Apr 23 - The lawyer for a French Muslim woman fined for driving while wearing a full-face veil has accused police of abusing her human rights, as the government pushes to ban the garment.

Also: Driver wearing niqab fined in France (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 24 - A woman driver wearing an Islamic face veil has been fined by French police for not having a clear field of vision.

Also: French driving veil row escalates (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 26 - A political row over the case of a French woman fined for driving in an Islamic veil gathered pace Sunday as a leading Muslim scholar and a French far-right leader both weighed in.

Battle against the Burka is not based on bigotry (The Australian)

Apr 26 – (Opinion: Sally Neighbour) FRANCE'S move to extend its ban on the Islamic headscarf and outlaw the full-face veil appears to be catching on.

Judaism

No sexiness, we're Holy City cheerleaders (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 21 - A dozen dancing girls hit the hardwood floors of a Jerusalem basketball court on a recent spring night with an unusual goal -- show nothing sexy.

Israel's survival a huge achievement (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 26 – (Opinion: Dvir Abramovich) This month, Jews around the world celebrated the establishment of the state of Israel 62 years ago.

Religious Violence

Iraqi anti-Al Qaeda chief's family slain (ABC News)

Apr 21 - Gunmen have stormed the house of an anti-Al Qaeda tribal chief and killed his wife and children, hours after the Iraqi government announced that leaders of the militant group had been killed in a raid, police said.

Trio arrested over suspected 'human sacrifice' (ABC News)

Apr 21 - Police in eastern India have arrested three men in a suspected case of human sacrifice, including two former colleagues of the victim, who was found beheaded in a temple.

Threat to South Park over Mohammed in bear suit (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 22 - A radical Muslim group has warned the creators of South Park that they could face violent retribution for depicting the prophet Mohammed in a bear suit during last week's episode.

Also: South Park cuts Mohammed joke after threat (ABC News)

Apr 23 - The latest episode of South Park has been censored after a radical Muslim group threatened the show's creators over their depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.

Iraqi Christians erect Jesus statue (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 23 - The Christians of northern Iraq have chosen to defy mounting attacks by extremists by erecting a statue of Jesus modelled on the giant Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

Al-Qaeda confirms two top figures killed (The Age, Melbourne)

Apr 25 - An al-Qaeda front group in Iraq declared in a statement posted on the internet on Sunday that its two top figures have been killed.

Other

Russia bans books by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard (Adelaide Now)

Apr 22 - RUSSIA is set to ban dozens of texts and recordings by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

'This tornado was enormous' ... at least 10 killed (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 26 - Yazoo City, Mississippi: One prayed to God under a communion table as his church was blown to pieces around him.

ISLAM

Cleric given two weeks' deportation reprieve (ABC News)

Apr 19 - A Sydney shia muslim cleric, who is facing deportation, has been given another two weeks to stay in Australia.

Mosque plagued by age-old problem (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 24 - A young ambitious board is shaking things up in Lakemba…

Turkish mosque joins honour roll of Australian heritage buildings (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 24 - WITH its soaring minarets, soft Turkish carpet and words from the Koran inscribed in gold on its walls, the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque is unlike most iconic Australian buildings.

POLITICS

It's over: Mr Rudd gets it right on a bill of rights (The Australian)

Apr 26 – (Opinion: Editorial) KEVIN Rudd has acted decisively in closing the door on an Australian bill of rights for at least a generation.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Lindy Chamberlain to talk in Sydney (Perth Now)

Apr 20 - LINDY Chamberlain, whose nine-week-old daughter Azaria went missing in August 1980, will speak of the ordeal that followed in a small Baptist church on Sydney's north shore at the weekend.

Robin Hood tax urged to aid good causes (The Australian)

Apr 20 - LEADING trade unions, charities, green groups and churches want Australian political parties to adopt a "Robin Hood" tax on all financial transactions, in their manifestos for this year's election.

Is God a conservative? (Sydney Morning Herald)

Apr 22 - (Opinion: Bella Counihan) [I]t seems many out there, even in the Year of Our Lord 2010, still believe that God reflects, Old Testament style, his will through nature.

Science sees a white light: near-death experience (The Australian)

Apr 24 - ADVERTISING executive Harry Joy has had a near-death experience three times

OTHER

Bay Salvo HQ opens despite hitch (ABC News)

Apr 19 - The Salvation Army has overcome a last-minute drama to open its new multi-million dollar headquarters at Batemans Bay on the New South Wales far south coast at the weekend.

Go-kart safety alert after headscarf death (ABC News)

Apr 19 - A fatal accident at a New South Wales go-kart track has prompted a safety alert, recommending people do not go for a ride if their hair or clothing is not properly secured.

Gloria Jean's faces $56m coffee lawsuit (The Australian)

Apr 19 - COFFEE giant Gloria Jean's is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit, with its parent company accused of breaking a joint venture agreement with a small coffee supplier.

The Tokaikolo Christian Church choir's joy and dancing banned by council (The Australian)

Apr 24 - A SMALL western Sydney church has been hit with a $3000 fine by the local council because its choir was singing too loudly and some choristers were caught dancing.

From the Archive…

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

Religion News Australia 2010 - 13 (Apr 4 - 11)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 12 (March 28 – Apr 4)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 11 (March 21 - 28)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 10 (March 7 - 21)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 9 (February 28 – March 7)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 8 (February 21 - 28)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 7 (February 14 - 21)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 6 (February 7 - 14)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 5 (February 1 - 7)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 4 (January 24 - 31)