Religion News Australia 2010 - 20 (May 23

Religion News Australia 2010 - 20 (May 23 - 30)

(29 May 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

May 23 - 30, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

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

ABUSE

Archbishop says scale of sex abuse can't be denied (ABC News)

May 23 - The Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Mark Coleridge, has called on Catholic leaders to do everything possible to stop sexual abuse within the Church.

The divine act of forgiveness has cloaked decades of abuse (The Age, Melbourne)

May 26 – (Opinion: Jodi Death) Victims of the clergy must be allowed to find peace by telling their stories.

Abuse victims seek more church transparency (ABC News)

May 27 - A victims' support group is calling on the Maitland-Newcaslte Catholic diocese to be more transparent when it comes to allegations of clergy child sex abuse.

Abuse victims frustrated at delay in priest's sentencing (ABC News)

May 28 - Sex abuse victims of a former Catholic priest have expressed their disbelief at a delay in his sentencing.

ANGLICAN CHURCH

Bishop facing Anglican church charges (ABC News)

May 24 - Embattled Anglican bishop Ross Davies will face a tribunal hearing in September over a dispute within the Murray diocese.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

It ain't easy being gay, Christian and famous (ABC News)

May 28 - Australia doesn't know who Jennifer Knapp is and doubtless she prefers it that way.

Defender of the realm (The Age, Melbourne)

May 28 - Paul Bettany plays a heroic fallen angel in unholy horror film Legion…

Religion in the light (The Australian)

May 29 – (Review) [Bill] Maher's documentary Religulous was always going to be an enticing prospect.

The Stoning of Soraya M. (Perth Now)

May 30 – (Review) AS the title suggests, this acclaimed but provocative foreign-language flick makes for confronting viewing.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Youth day $64m in the red (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 30 - THE cost to NSW of hosting World Youth Day came in $64 million over budget, according to an Auditor-General's report that raises serious questions about the profligacy of the government in securing major events.

EDUCATION

Intelligent design to be taught in Queensland schools (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

May 30 - CREATIONISM and intelligent design will be taught in Queensland state schools for the first time as part of the new national curriculum.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Italy priest abuse stats reveal 100 cases in 10yrs (ABC News)

May 27 - The body representing Roman Catholic bishops admits there have been at least 100 cases of child sex abuse by priests reported to church authorities in Italy.

205 claims of abuse at Jesuit schools in Germany (Adelaide Now)

May 28 - A SPECIAL investigator says in her final report that at least 205 former students claim to have been sexually or otherwise abused in Jesuit schools in Germany.

Vatican investigator says hell is harder for paedophile priests (The Australian)

May 30 - THE Vatican's investigator into the Church's paedophilia scandal warned priests that those who abuse children face a harder time in hell.

Islam

Sex and the City 2 'anti-Muslim' (The Age, Melbourne)

May 25 - Sex and the City 2 has been branded "anti-Muslim" in one of the first critical reviews of the sequel.

Ground zero mosque 'needs approval' (The Australian)

May 25 - NEW York City officials say a plan to tear down a building and put up a mosque near the World Trade Center site will need the approval of a commission that protects landmarks.

Women caught in colliding cultures (The Australian)

May 26 – (Opinion: Michael Gerson) AFTER the British army conquered the Sindh region of what is now modern-day Pakistan in the 1840s, General Charles Napier enforced a ban on the practice of sati - the burning of widows alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands.

Facebook fuels American flag business in Pakistan (The Age, Melbourne)

May 26 - In Pakistan a row about Facebook, censorship and religious sacrilege means booming demand for replica American and Israeli flags to go up in flames at protest rallies.

Also: Pakistan lifts YouTube, Facebook ban (Adelaide Now)

May 27 - PAKISTAN to lift a ban on Facebook and YouTube in the next few days, after blocking the websites over "sacrilegious" content, the country's interior minister said today.

No question over who wears the pants in West Aceh (The Age, Melbourne)

May 27 - ''LET me ask you a question,'' said the regent of West Aceh, Ramli Mansur, leaning back in his chair in his spacious office. ''What do you think when you see a woman's round shapes?''

Woman under fire for 'Leaving Islam?' bus ad (Adelaide Now)

May 27 - THE questions on the ads aren't subtle: Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you?

Dressing to discourage prying eyes ... to little avail (The Age, Melbourne)

May 29 – (Opinion: Selma Milovanovic) HE IS about 18, dressed in a fake Ralph Lauren T-shirt and jeans. I am 30 and covered from head to toe, according to local custom.

Ban on burqa draws line in the sand (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

May 30 – (Opinion: Liam Bartlett) FOR obviously superficial reasons, I've always associated Belgium with expensive chocolates, rather than political acts of bravery. That changed with its decision to ban the burqa.

Religious Violence

Gunmen attack Pakistani mosques; 80 dead (The Age, Melbourne)

May 29 - Victims of Friday's deadly attacks on two Pakistani mosques were on Saturday buried separately after sect members cancelled a mass funeral for more than 80 people, fearing further attacks.

Also: Taleban blamed for suicide attacks on Lahore mosques (Adelaide Now)

May 30 - POLICE say the men who attacked two mosques of a religious minority in Pakistan's east belonged to the Pakistani Taleban.

Other

Playing God? Not just yet (The Age, Melbourne)

May 25 – (Opinion: Michael Jensen) The development of a fully synthetic DNA transplanted into a bacterial cell was hailed by the world's media as "the first creation of synthetic life" and was followed by the usual concern about scientists "playing God".

Culture minister calls for creationism displays (The Age, Melbourne)

May 29 - NORTHERN Ireland's Culture Minister has called on the local Ulster Museum to put on exhibits reflecting the view that the world was made by God only several thousand years ago.

ISLAM

Men arrested over mosque shooting (The Australian)

May 25 - TWO West Australian men alleged to belong to an extreme nationalist group have been arrested and charged with firing shots at a Perth mosque.

Showing your face in public? The ayes have it (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 26 - MOST voters favour a ban on Muslim women wearing the burqa in public, according to an opinion survey by the polling group UMR Research.

MP wants Cat Stevens barred for fatwa view (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 29 - Not everyone will be on board Cat Stevens' Peace Train when it arrives in Australia next month.

Also: Pollie says keep Cat Stevens out (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

May 29 - An Australian politician called Friday for the musician formerly known as Cat Stevens to be denied a visa because he once supported an Islamic religious decree against British author Salman Rushdie.

JUDAISM

Copyrighting kosher a sectarian minefield (The Age, Melbourne)

May 28 – (Opinion: Rabbi Yaron Gottlieb) There's more to keeping kosher than avoiding pork chops.

POLITICS

Di hard with a vengeance, starring Princess Kristina (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 28 – (Opinion: Elizabeth Farrelly) Government by haircut. Who'd have thought it?

Deliver us from extremist evil (The Australian)

May 29 – (Opinion: Anthony Bergin) The Rudd government's third budget has committed $9.7 million over four years for measures that will counter violent Islamist extremism and terrorism through programs aimed at shaping public attitudes, undermining terrorist propaganda and supporting and diverting those at risk away from violent extremism.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Laws failing against cult brainwashing: Xenophon (ABC News)

May 24 - Tougher laws are being urged to help protect people from manipulation and brainwashing by cults.

Also: SA bikie laws may apply to cults (The Age, Melbourne)

May 25 - Parts of South Australia's anti-bikie laws could be used against cults like the Agape Ministries group, South Australian police commissioner Mal Hyde says.

Divided by God, united by truth (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 28 - (Opinion: Simon Smart of the conservative Centre for Public Christianity)

Christopher Hitchens, the celebrated author and polemicist, never got on with his younger brother, Peter.

Push to let Australian doctors mutilate genitals of baby girls (Perth Now)

May 28 - AUSTRALIAN doctors are considering a controversial form of genital mutilation on baby girls.

Also: Circumcising young girls is child abuse: Goward (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 28 - A former commonwealth sex discrimination commissioner has called for the prosecution of any Australian involved in the circumcision of young girls, saying the procedure is another form of child abuse.

Setu snubs Roosters for Mormon mission (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

May 29 – (Sport) LAGI Setu has stunned the Broncos with the Brisbane back-rower to officially quit the NRL at season's end to embark on a religious mission.

Agape cult members were 'the chosen ones' (The Australian)

May 30 - THE leader of a doomsday cult was appointed in a message delivered to his "prayer warrior" father by Jesus, it has been claimed.