Religion News Selection 25 (June 27

Religion News Selection 25 (June 27 - July 4)

(03 July 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Selection

June 27 – July 4, 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

Melbourne archbishop apologises for sex abusers (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 3 - THE Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne will apologise for crimes of sexual abuse by clergy and will acknowledge the church's shame and failures this weekend in a pastoral letter sent to every parish in the archdiocese.

Also: A distressing time for Catholic faithful (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 3 – (Opinion: Archbishop Denis Hart) The church will do all it can to bring to justice those responsible for abuse.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Absence of malice (The Australian)

July 3 – (Review) Marilynne Robinson says it's time to end the phony war between science and religion.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Churches raided for 'hidden' documents (The Age, Melbourne)

June 30 - FOUR days after a series of police raids of Catholic institutions in Belgium that drew sharp criticism from the Pope, the reason for the unusually aggressive operation emerged: a formal accusation that the church was hiding information on sexual abuse lodged by the former president of an internal church commission handling such cases.

Atheism/Secularism

Brothers at war over belief in God (The Australian)

July 3 – (Opinion: Bryan Patterson) THIS is the tale of two talented and opinionated brothers, born three years apart, who have become known as the Cain and Abel of the modern age.

Buddhism

In search of the real Panchen Lama (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 3 - Exercising the ultimate political control, the Chinese Communist Party manufactured a 'holy' ceremony to appoint its own living god

Islam

Malaysia's got talent: imams take their chants at victory (The Age, Melbourne)

June 28 - Instead of singing pop songs, male contestants on Young Imam chant passages from the Koran to prove they are the best mullah.

Harry Potter actress 'threatened with death' (The Australian)

July 4 - The strict Muslim father and brother of "Harry Potter" actress Afshan Azad have been charged with threatening to kill her because she has a boyfriend.

Other

Holy water professor faces fraud charges (ABC News)

July 1 - A South Korean medical professor who invented a digital device he claimed could transform tap water into holy water is facing fraud charges, Seoul police say.

ISLAM

Islamic hardliners return for Sydney convention after push for ban fails (The Australian)

July 3 - HUNDREDS of Islamic activists are assembling in Sydney for a convention being held by the controversial Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Also: Extremists with caliphate on their minds, not bombs in their belts (The Australian)

July 3 - Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir eschews violence, but it has no problem with incendiary rhetoric about the demise of Western democracy

The conrtroversial 'ban the burka' debate reaches Australian shores (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

July 4 – (Opinion: Des Houghton) AS A controversy, it has some powerful ingredients: religion, racism, identity politics, privacy, male domination and sexual repression.

JUDAISM

Residents draw line over Jewish boundary (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 3 - IT IS A SPIRITUAL boundary made from wire just one centimetre thick but a planned Jewish eruv around St Ives has divided residents of the upper north shore suburb.

POLITICS

MP defends burka ban legislation (ABC News)

June 28 - Independent MP Bob Such is defending his private member's bill in South Australia which could see any face covering banned from some public buildings.

Julia Gillard respects religious beliefs but will not 'pretend' (The Australian)

June 29 - JULIA Gillard conceded today that she is not a "religious person" and declared she would not "pretend" to be for the sake of votes.

Also: PM tells it as she sees it on the God issue (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 30 - Just nine days ago, the prime minister of the time, Kevin Rudd, drew on the words of the 18th-century Christian theologian John Wesley to explain his international view.

Australia lags shamefully on gay marriage (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 2 – (Opinion: Rodney Croome) Gillard's "no" to equal rights for same-sex couples is bewildering.

Senate investigation into tax-free status of churches

Scientology says it's just like Salvos (The Age, Melbourne)

June 28 - The Church of Scientology has compared itself to The Salvation Army, while defending its benefit to the community in a Senate inquiry.

“Taxpayers shouldn’t fund abuse”: ex-Scientologists (The Age, Melbourne)

June 29 - FORMER members of the Church of Scientology have told a Senate committee of the “ruthlessness” of the church and its judicial system, and argued it should not be eligible for tax-free status.

Charity is for rich and poor: priest (The Age, Melbourne)

June 29 - Caring for the rich is as charitable as feeding the poor, and just as worthy for taxpayer funding, a Catholic priest has argued to senators scrutinising tax breaks for religious groups.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Porn industry, Christian lobby unite against .xxx domain (ABC News)

June 28 - The pornography industry and the Christian conservative lobby have united in opposition to a proposal to create a new domain name catering specifically for pornography on the internet.