Religion News Australia 23 (June 13

Religion News Australia 23 (June 13 - 20)

(21 June 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

June 13 - 20, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / catholic church / international stories / islam / politics / religion & society / other

ABUSE

Accused priest faces child sex committal hearing (ABC News)

June 16 - A New South Wales Catholic priest is facing a committal hearing on child sex charges today in Newcastle Local Court.

Bishop urges clarity on paedophile priest (ABC News)

June 19 - The Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone, says Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson needs to clarify what he knew about paedophile priest Denis McAlinden.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Cardinal Pell 'blocked' on top Vatican post (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 16 - CARDINAL George Pell, whose promotion to a top Vatican job was expected this month, has been dropped from consideration because of former abuse allegations against him, according to informed sources in Rome.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

German abuse case bishop to seek return (The Age, Melbourne)

June 18 - A SENIOR German bishop who resigned this year after admitting hitting children in his care is attempting to get his job back.

Catholic Church

Vatican blesses Blues Brothers (ABC News)

June 18 - When Jake and Elwood Blues - the protagonists in John Landis's cult classic The Blues Brothers - claimed they were on a mission from God, the Catholic Church apparently took them at their word.

iPad Mass app hits the church altar (The Australian)

June 19 - AN Italian priest has developed an application that will let priests celebrate Mass with an iPad on the altar instead of the regular Roman missal.

Hinduism

47 dead as prayer boat capsizes in India (ABC News)

June 16 - Indian officials say 47 people have drowned in the River Ganges in northern India when their boat capsized during a prayer ceremony.

Islam

Barcelona plans Islamic veil ban (ABC News)

June 15 - Barcelona plans to be the first large city in Spain to ban the use of the full-face Islamic veil in public buildings.

Celeb sex tape scandal rocks web (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

June 15 - INDONESIAN teen heart-throb Nazril Ariel and his model girlfriend Luna Maya expressed shock Monday over an X-rated video that has appeared on the Internet apparently showing them having sex.

A clash of civilisations

June 18 - Death threats have failed to intimidate an outspoken critic of Islam as she campaigns for a new feminist drive to liberate non-Western women.

Iran cleric says dogs "unclean" and not to be kept as pets (The West Australian, Perth)

June 19 - TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian cleric has decreed dogs are "unclean" and should not be kept as pets -- a move aimed at discouraging Western-style dog ownership in the Islamic state, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Judaism

Orthodox Jews rally against school integration (ABC News)

June 18 - Tens of thousands of ultra Orthodox Jews have staged one of the biggest protests against the Israeli government.

Also: Ultra-Orthodox Jews in mass rally in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (The Australian)

June 18 - PARTS of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv disappeared under a sea of black hats as tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews massed in protest against a High Court ruling ordering children from different groups to study at the same school.

Also: Defiant ultra-Orthodox parents go to jail (The Age, Melbourne)

June 19 - THE parents of 43 ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls have been sent to prison for two weeks after defying a court order over their children's schooling.

Also: Jewish mothers fight jail over segregation (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 19 - JERUSALEM: Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jewish fathers spent their first morning in jail yesterday for defying a school integration ruling by Israel's Supreme Court, a day after huge protests.

Religious Violence

Man burned black church in Obama protest (Adelaide Now)

June 17 - A MASSACHUSETTS man pleaded guilty today to burning down a black church in November 2008 to protest the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American US president.

Shiite Iran's top Sunni rebel hanged (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 20 - Abdolmalek Rigi, head of the Sunni rebel group Jundallah who waged a deadly insurgency in Shiite Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, was executed on Sunday, state media reported.

Other

Mystery of why Sunday school teacher killed girl, 8 (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 15 - A Sunday school teacher who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering a girl in Northern California made a tearful apology to the victim's family on Monday as she was sentenced to prison for the rest of her life.

From the Garden of Eden flows environmental disaster for Iraq (The Age, Melbourne)

June 15 - THE Shatt al-Arab, the river that flows from the biblical site of the Garden of Eden to the Persian Gulf, has turned into an environmental and economic disaster that Iraq's newly democratic government is almost powerless to fix.

Act of God destroys Jesus statue (ABC News)

June 16 - A giant statue of Jesus Christ has been destroyed by lightning in the US state of Ohio.

Also: Parental rebuke - Jesus Christ struck by the lightning hand of God (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 17 - IT APPEARS God has sacrificed his only son. Again.

Heir to throne attacks science, good sense (The Australian)

June 19 – (Opinion: Christopher Hitchens) THIS is what you get when you found a political system on the family values of Henry VIII.

ISLAM

An Australian gift turned the Cat to Islam (The Age, Melbourne)

June 16 - A YOUNG seeker named Cat Stevens ''picked up a couple of very important strands of the mysterious truth'' during his last tour of Australia in 1974.

The touchy nature of human faith (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 19 – (Opinion: Michael Leunig) "A Fatwa on you,'' said the email. A stranger is alerting me to a photograph that may be of interest.

POLITICS

Health Minister Nicola Roxon attacks Tony Abbott on abortion issue (News.com.au)

June 16 - FEDERAL Health Minister Nicola Roxon has launched an attack on Tony Abbott and his religion, accusing the opposition leader of letting his "personal beliefs" in Catholicism affect policy formulation.

Pro-lifers attack Fielding over 'wedge' (The Age, Melbourne)

June 17 - A ROW over late-term abortions threatened to overshadow debate on Australia's first paid parental leave scheme yesterday, as Family First senator Steve Fielding was accused by other pro-life senators of trying to create an ''abortion wedge''.

Also: Fielding hits pay dirt in the gutter (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 19 – (Opinion: Lenore Taylor) Australians finally got paid parental leave this week... So you'd think the lone parliamentary representative of a party called Family First would be happy, right?

Also: We need to reclaim 'family values' from the lingo of extremists (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 19 – (Opinion: Lisa Pryor) Prostitutes and Prisoners sounds like a great theme for a fancy dress party.

Also: Is the senator for real or just plain weird? (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 20 – (Opinion: Paul Daley) Steve Fielding has put his foot in his mouth again, this time turning the paid parental leave debate into one about abortion.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Why can't a woman be more like a man?

June 14 – (Opinion: Barney Zwartz) “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” inquired Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady – a most reasonable yet unanswerable question.

Keeping the faith (The West Australian, Perth)

June 15 - Orthodox and Pentecostal religious groups have weathered the demise of faith over the past 16 years, coming out on top of other followings that had experienced a sharp decline.

Christian groups want ban on 1975 film reinstated (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 16 - CONSERVATIVE groups and senators are launching a legal bid to reinstate the ban on the Italian film Salo.

Shot in the arm for crusade against the fringe religions (The Australian)

June 19 - The raids in South Australia are causing a rethink on protection against so-called spiritual groups

Selling celibacy (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 20 – (Opinion: Dick Gross) Pope Benedict XVI declared the year from June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010 as the "Year of the Priest" and it has just ended with a massive mass at St Peter's in Rome.

Kids need protection from ads - and Bible bashers (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 20 – (Opinion: Leslie Cannold) THIS is James, a NSW scripture teacher: "The great opportunity we have in teaching scripture in our primary schools ... is that we're allowed to teach it up to an hour a week ... I spoke to a ... student ... and I said: 'Did you know that God loves you?' and he said: 'No I didn't.'

OTHER

Freeze widened on Agape Ministries assets (ABC News)

June 16 - A judge has widened a court order which freezes assets belonging to Agape Ministries.