Religion News Selection 17 (May 3

Religion News Selection 17 (May 3 - 9)

(08 May 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Selection

Apr May 3 - 9, 2010

A selection of religion news stories from Australia.

Inclusion here does not endorse the veracity or quality of any particular item – it just means I found it worth reading and reflecting on (even if badly conceived or poorly written).

If you’re after the unexpurgated (and reasonably unbiased) version, see Religion News Australia which appears weekly on our website.

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

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".

Islam

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.