Religion News Selection 19 (May 16

Religion News Selection 19 (May 16 - 23)

(22 May 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Selection

May 16 - 23, 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.

ABUSE

Put rein on sex-abuse priests, church told (The Age, Melbourne)

May 18 - ALLOWING a priest to work at a primary school while facing child sex abuse claims is ''unthinkable'', says the law professor who twice reviewed the Australian Catholic Church's complaints process.

Scientology chief's daughter attacks church (ABC News)

May 19 - The daughter of the president of the Church of Scientology in Australia has spoken out against the organisation, describing it as toxic and accusing the church of tearing some families apart.

Church of Scientology denies abuse cover-up (ABC News)

May 21 - The Church of Scientology is vigorously denying accusations a senior figure in the organisation tried to cover up the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in Sydney.

Priests must report abuse confessions: Xenophon (ABC News)

May 19 - The Catholic Church is again being urged to remove the sanctity of the confessional for child abuse cases.

Why the Vatican needs George Pell (ABC News)

May 20 – (Opinion: Scott Stephens) At the height of the Global Financial Crisis, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz likened the attempt by the US government to re-capitalise the banking system without dealing with the subprime mortgages that underpinned - and undermined - it, to a doctor giving a mass blood transfusion to a patient suffering from internal haemorrhaging.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Catholics reach back to church tradition (The Australian)

May 22 - A NEW translation of the mass soon to be celebrated by more than 100 million English-speaking Catholics reaches back to church tradition, replacing the more colloquial and dumbed-down liturgy that was adopted by the Vatican 40 years ago.

Also: Fresh embrace of everlasting salvation (The Australian)

May 22 - After nine years of work, Catholic authorities have rewritten the mass

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Vatican denies responsibility for the silence of its bishops (The Australian)

May 18 - VATICAN CITY: The Vatican last night was to make its most detailed defence yet against claims that it is liable for US bishops who allowed priests to molest children, saying bishops are not its employees and that a 1962 Vatican document did not require them to keep quiet.

Anglican Church

Episcopal Church consecrates lesbian bishop (ABC News)

May 16 - The Episcopal diocese of Los Angeles ordained an openly lesbian bishop on Saturday, a move likely to stoke further tensions between liberals and conservatives in the deeply divided global Anglican Communion.

Buddhism

Dalai Lama leaves his Marx on the world's financial capital (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 22 - NEW YORK: The Dalai Lama has declared that he is a Marxist who condemns capitalism as a system whose main goal is ''how to make profit''.

Islam

Pakistan blocks YouTube, Facebook as backlash grows (The Age, Melbourne)

May 21 - Pakistan on Thursday condemned caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that appeared on Facebook, blocking the social networking site and YouTube in a growing backlash over Internet "sacrilege."

Also: Everybody Draw Mohammed Day! cartoon page taken off Facebook (The Australian)

May 22 - A FACEBOOK page considered offensive to Islam that led to a Pakistani ban on the site has been removed, possibly by its creator.

Judaism

Battle of the sexes over Western Wall prayers (ABC News)

May 17 - A group of women want to change a Jewish tradition that prevents them from praying out loud at Jerusalem's Western Wall.

Ancient pagan altar unearthed in Israel (The Australian)

May 21 - ISRAELI archaeologists say workers have uncovered an ancient pagan altar while clearing ground for construction of a hotly disputed hospital emergency room.

Other

Evangelicals rewrite Texan curriculum (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 19 - HOUSTON: In a coup likely to shift what millions of American children learn at school, a clutch of Christian evangelicals and social conservatives who have grasped control of the Texas Board of Education are expected to force through a new state curriculum this week.

Malawi gay couple sentenced to 14 years (The Age, Melbourne)

May 21 - A Malawi gay couple has been sentenced to the maximum 14 years in prison with hard labour for holding the country's first same-sex wedding, which landed them with a sodomy conviction.

Geneticist creates first artificial life (The Australian)

May 21 - FLAMBOYANT geneticist Craig Venter has delivered on a pledge he made 15 years ago: to create the first artificial life, a cell controlled by DNA built from scratch in the laboratory.

Also: Italian bishops say first synthetic life cell could be devastating step (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

May 22 - THE creation of the world's first synthetic living cell could be a "devastating" step, senior Roman Catholic bishops have warned.

First female priest ordained in Italy (The Australian)

May 22 - ITALY'S first woman priest was ordained today at a church in central Rome, a stone's throw from the Vatican, a fierce opponent of women entering the priesthood.

ISLAM

The burqa is a war on women (The Age, Melbourne)

May 21 – (Opinion: Virginia Haussegger) A bizarre form of political correctness is preventing us from an open discussion about what is, in fact, female subjugation.

POLITICS

New Liberal candidate says left has infected church (ABC News)

May 17 - The recently selected Liberal candidate for Eden Monaro, David Gazard, claims the union movement has infiltrated the church.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Churches may house boat people (The Age, Melbourne)

May 19 - THE federal government has turned to churches for help in accommodating asylum seekers as Australia's detention facilities are stretched by the recent surge in arrivals.

Cults thrive on tax-free status: Xenophon (ABC News)

May 21 - Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says religious organisations must face a public benefit test, in light of a weapons find at properties linked to a religious cult.

Corruption is never harmless, in the Church or state (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 23 – (Opinion: Leslie Cannold) CORRUPTION is the most serious moral scandal of our time.

OTHER

Police raid Agape Ministries of God doomsday cult properties (Adelaide Now)

May 21 - POLICE have discovered a fifth shipping container believed to be packed with ammunition and supplies for members of a doomsday cult.