Religion News Australia 2010 - 17 (May 3

Religion News Australia 2010 - 17 (May 3 - 9)

(08 May 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

May 3 - 9, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

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

ABUSE

Church forums look to stop child sex abuse (ABC News)

May 4 - The Catholic Church says its decision to hold regular forums for clergy in the Hunter Valley is part of its commitment to ensure no more children are abused.

ANGLICAN CHURCH

Thou shalt not breed: Anglicans (The Age, Melbourne)

May 9 - THE Anglican Church wants Australians to have fewer children and has urged the federal government to scrap the baby bonus and cut immigration.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A new testament on Jesus and a twin (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 8 – (Review) [Philip] Pullman has published The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, a rumination on the life of Jesus, casting him not as one man, but two brothers, the prophet Jesus and his manipulative twin, Christ.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Rumours fly over Cardinal George Pell's job in Rome (The Australian)

May 7 - SPECULATION that Australia's Cardinal George Pell is about to be appointed to a senior Vatican post has strengthened in Rome with high-ranking priests now regarding the move as a done deal.

Also: Keep out Pell, say Irish sex victims (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 8 - IRISH victims of Catholic sex abuse are trying to block any visit by Cardinal George Pell intended to help end paedophilia cover-ups within the clergy there.

EDUCATION

Abbott evokes Jesus to teach pupils all about 'natural' climate change (The Australian)

May 8 - TONY Abbott has urged primary school students to be sceptical about man-made climate change, saying it was warmer during the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus than it is now.

Scripture classes lose half of students to ethics, say Anglicans (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 8 - THE controversial trial of secular ethics classes has ''decimated'' Protestant scripture classes in the 10 NSW schools where it has been introduced as an alternative for non-religious children, with the classes losing about 47 per cent of enrolled students.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Society is paedophile, archbishop says (ABC News)

May 6 - A Brazilian archbishop has risked stirring new controversy in the Catholic Church's defence against child sex abuse allegations by saying "society today is paedophile".

Catholic Church

Pilgrims light up online (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 4 - Would-be pilgrims without the time or energy to walk to church now need only a credit card and an internet connection to light a candle in Spain.

Text-the-pope service launched in Italy (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 9 - Roman Catholics can send now text messages of support to Pope Benedict XVI, Italian public television said Saturday, as the Church faces an international paedophile scandal.

Hinduism

Police hunt fake Hindu faith-healing priests (ABC News)

May 6 - Guyanese police are searching for at least four Indian nationals they say posed as miracle-healing Hindu priests and fleeced their local followers.

Islam

Muslim fined for wearing burka in Italy (ABC News)

May 4 - Italian police have fined a Muslim woman for wearing a full Islamic veil in a street in the northern city of Novara, possibly the first such incident in Italy, city officials said.

Admiral's arrest could signal Turkey's swing against secularism (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 4 – (Opinion: Peter Hartcher) ''Excuse us, admiral, but we must arrest you now.'' With these words, Turkey this year crossed a threshold into a new era.

Arabian Nights 'too rude' for Egypt (ABC News)

May 6 - Islamic lawyers in Egypt have started legal action to ban the famous book One Thousand And One Nights - also known as Arabian Nights - on the grounds it is too lewd.

Islamists call for ban on Elton John (The Age, Melbourne)

May 9 - Morocco's main Islamist opposition party has called for gay singer Elton John to be banned from a festival later this month.

Judaism

Rabbi who deplored Israel and advised Arafat (The Age, Melbourne)

May 7 – (Obituary) RABBI Moshe Hirsch, the American-born leader of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect that opposes the existence of the Israeli state and a longtime adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, has died at his home in Jerusalem.

Religious Violence

Times Square bomb suspect the perfect recruit (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 6 - The Pakistani-American accused of trying to explode a bomb in New York's Times Square was able to move easily between the two countries and came from a family of wealth and privilege — a near-perfect background for an international terrorist group wanting to steal into the United States and launch an attack.

Also: Bomb focus zeroes in on Pakistani Taliban (The Age, Melbourne)

May 6 - FEDERAL investigators focused on the possible involvement of the Pakistani Taliban in the failed Times Square bombing as they pieced together clues and charged a Pakistani-American man with terrorism-related crimes.

Also: Taliban disowns 'idiot bomber' Faisal Shahzad (The Australian)

May 9 - A PAKISTANI Taliban terror group is distancing itself from the attempted car-bombing in New York's Times Square, as details emerge about mistakes made by the self-confessed attacker, dubbed the "idiot bomber".

Taliban announces new offensive to begin (The Australian)

May 8 - THE Taliban announced a new campaign of attacks on "foreigners and their surrogates" in Afghanistan, just a day before President Hamid Karzai left for a crucial visit to Washington.

Other

Jordan River could die by next year (ABC News)

May 3 - The once mighty Jordan River, where Christians believe Jesus was baptised, is now little more than a polluted stream that could die next year unless the decay is halted, environmentalists say.

Philippine evangelist backs Teodoro (The Age, Melbourne)

May 3 - A self-proclaimed "son of God" in The Philippines has thrown his influential support behind outgoing President Gloria Arroyo's chosen successor in next week's election.

Freedom in South Park under threat (The Age, Melbourne)

May 6 - THEY have depicted the Queen blowing her brains out after a failed attempt by the British Army to re-invade the US, Saddam Hussein as Satan's gay lover and Jesus as a trigger-happy superhero.

Anti-gay minister caught holidaying with rent boy (The Australian)

May 7 - A US Baptist minister and leading anti-gay activist faced the ruination of his career yesterday after being photographed returning from a European holiday with a male prostitute.

Lord Jesus Christ (his real name) hit by US car (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 8 - The victim might have forgiven the woman who ran him down in a Massachusetts crosswalk, but police haven't.

ISLAM

For Australia's sake, we need to ban the burqa (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 6 – (Opinion: Cory Bernardi) The burqa is no longer simply the symbol of female repression and Islamic culture, it is now emerging as a disguise of bandits and n'er do wells.

Also: Call to ban burka 'cynical politics' (ABC News)

May 7 - Australia's peak Islamic organisation has reacted with disappointment over Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi's comments yesterday that the burka is "un-Australian" and should be banned.

Also: Burka ban bid slammed (The Australian)

May 8 - KEVIN Rudd accused the opposition of cynical politics over Liberal senator Cory Bernardi's call for a ban on wearing the burka in public.

Budget spending targets radicals: report (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 8 - Millions of dollars will be spent trying to halt the spread of radical Islam as part of a big-spending Federal Budget package to bolster national security.

POLITICS

UK election: Why politicians need theologians (ABC News)

May 6 – (Opinion: Scott Stephens) If the Tories get up in the UK general election, Tony Abbott ought to take this as a sign that he should be running toward - not away from - his Catholicism.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Do parents make children religious? Heaven wonders (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 1 - FINALLY, some good news for Catholic spin doctors: hopeful children with warm but firm parents are more likely to develop religious values, according to a study by Wollongong University psychologists.