Religion News Australia 2010 - 27 (July 11

Religion News Australia 2010 - 27 (July 11 - 18)

(17 July 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

July 11 - 18, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

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

ABUSE

Police probe new claims of sexual abuse against priest (The Age, Melbourne)

July 12 - POLICE in New South Wales are investigating new claims of sexual abuse against Sydney Catholic priest who had separate complaints of sexual molestation upheld by an internal church investigation in 2009.

Church admits liability for school sex abuse (ABC News)

July 12 - The Catholic Church has admitted liability for the molestation of 13 schoolgirls at a primary school on Queensland's Darling Downs.

Also: Child advocate applauds church sex abuse admission (ABC News)

July 13 - A child protection advocate has hailed an admission of wrongdoing by the Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba in southern Queensland as a turning point in the church's handling of sex abuse allegations.

Also: Catholic church must aid sexual abuse victims 'despite cost' (The Australian)

July 15 - TOOWOOMBA'S Bishop believes the church's admission of legal liability for the rape of girls at a Toowoomba school should set a template.

Disgraced priest also abused us, say twins (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 13 - NSW police are investigating new claims of sexual abuse against the Sydney Catholic priest Father Finian Egan, who had separate complaints of sexual molestation upheld by an internal church investigation last year.

Church misleads sex abuse victims (The Age, Melbourne)

July 15 - SEXUAL abuse victims in Melbourne have been receiving misleading letters from the Catholic Church saying that if they accept compensation they can never take further action for any other cases of abuse.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mocking the Mockingbird belittles great message (The Australian)

July 12 – (Opinion: David Burchell) It is one of the simplest, most unaffected, moving and beloved American novels of the past century.

Preaching to the unconverted (Perth Now)

July 17 - WHAT happens when you?re the gay son of a born-again Christian and a devout Roman Catholic?

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Moving heaven and earth (The Age, Melbourne)

July 13 - Saintly sounds are about to hit the stage, writes Jacqueline Maley.

MacKillop sainthood takes the cake (ABC News)

July 14 - A baker is hoping to create a commemorative dessert for Mary MacKillop's sainthood, to offer to pilgrims visiting the south-east of South Australia in October.

Now let us sing to praise St Mary (The Age, Melbourne)

July 14 - AUSTRALIA'S first saint could soon have a hit on iTunes, if a song composed in her honour lives up to the prayers of its writer.

EDUCATION

Churches don't have monopoly on good life (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 13 – (Opinion: David Hill) Every Wednesday morning at Randwick Public School normal classes are suspended so that our nine-year-old son and the other children can be taken off to scripture lessons.

Churches build high school classroom (ABC News)

July 14 - The Greens say the New South Wales Government has allowed evangelical churches to launch a "recruiting campaign" at a public school near Newcastle by letting them build a scripture classroom.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Vatican to publish new child sex abuse rules (ABC News)

July 15 - The Vatican will publish revised rules on the handling of priest sex abuse cases today, according to a source close to the Vatican.

Also: Vatican toughens sexual abuse laws (ABC News)

July 15 - The Vatican has made sweeping revisions to its laws on sexual abuse of children by priests in its latest attempt to tackle a scandal that has shaken the Catholic Church around the world.

Also: Church abuse victims unhappy with new laws (ABC News)

July 16 - The Vatican has revised its rules for dealing with child sex abuse cases within the Catholic Church, but victims groups say the new rules do not go far enough.

Also: Vatican to fast-track sex abuse cases (The Age, Melbourne)

July 16 - The Vatican moved on Thursday to fast-track "urgent" priest sex abuse cases - with some to be handled by the Pope himself - but drew criticism for sidestepping the issue of turning abusers in to the courts.

Also: Church to respect local law on abuse (The Age, Melbourne)

July 18 - The Catholic Church must respect local laws when handling child abuse cases, the Vatican's chief spokesman said on Saturday, two days after the Holy See issued new rules against pedophile priests.

Vatican child rights report 13yrs late (The Age, Melbourne)

July 15 - The Vatican has failed to send the United Nations a report on child rights that is now almost 13 years overdue, the head of a UN panel has told The Associated Press.

First woman Lutheran bishop quits (The Age, Melbourne)

July 17 - The world's first female Lutheran bishop resigned on Friday after abuse accusations in her northern German diocese of Hamburg, the latest casualty of a scandal to have rocked the church.

Google search for Vatican directed to 'paedophile' site (ABC News)

July 18 - An Internet search for the Vatican through Google threw up a link to a website called www.pedofilo.com, the Italian word for paedophile.

Anglican Church

Anglican female bishops given equal status (ABC News)

July 13 - The Church of England in Britain has taken another step towards allowing women to serve as bishops, despite warnings from traditionalists that they will leave the church in protest.

Catholic Church

Ordination of women as bad as child abuse in Vatican's eyes (The Australian)

July 16 - THE Roman Catholic Church elevated the ordination of women to one of the most serious crimes in Canon Law yesterday.

Also: Ordination of women a crime: Vatican (The Age, Melbourne)

July 16 - The ordination of women as Catholic priests is a "crime against the faith," the Vatican has said while it issued a raft of new disciplinary rules.

Also: Vatican's announcement shows great incompetence (The Age, Melbourne)

July 17 – (Opinion: Barney Zwartz) IT USED to be said of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that he never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It could certainly apply to the Vatican with the announcement linking women's ordination and paedophile abuse as grave crimes.

Also: Women's ordination a 'crime' (The Age, Melbourne)

July 18 – CATHOLICS around the world were in shock yesterday after the Vatican linked the ordination of women with paedophile abuse by priests as both being ''grave crimes''.

Priest suspended over World Cup-themed mass (ABC News)

July 17 - A priest in the Netherlands has been suspended for holding a special orange-themed mass in support of the national football team before the World Cup final last Sunday.

Hinduism

Hindu gods can't trade in shares - court (Adelaide Now)

July 17 - AN Indian court has ruled that Hindu gods cannot deal in stocks and shares, after an application for trading accounts to be set up in their names.

Islam

Blonde meets sharia law: when the tourist becomes the attraction (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 12 - Despite covering up, Courtney Trenwith finds herself the centre of attention in Indonesia's only province that applies sharia law.

Celebrity sex-tapes case a test for Indonesia's anti-pornography law (The Australian)

July 12 – (Opinion: Gerhard Hoffstaedter) INDONESIA has recently been in the thrall of its first celebrity sex-tape scandal.

French MPs vote to ban the burka (ABC News)

July 14 - The lower house of the French parliament has voted to ban the Islamic face veil in public spaces.

Also: Bill to ban burka passes France's lower house of parliament (The Australian)

July 14 - FRANCE'S lower house of parliament has voted overwhelmingly to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public spaces.

Tycoon will pay fines for veiled women (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 16 - PARIS: A French property tycoon enraged at his government's plans to ban women from wearing the full veil in public has promised a fund of €1 million ($1.4 million) to help any Muslim who is fined for wearing the niqab in the street.

Majority of Brits want burkas banned (ABC News)

July 17 - Two-thirds of British people would support a ban on Muslim women wearing face-covering veils in public, similar to the one approved by French lawmakers this week, a poll has found.

Bangladesh orders author's books removed (The Age, Melbourne)

July 18 - The Bangladesh government has ordered tens of thousands of mosques and libraries to remove books written by the controversial founder of an Islamic party, an official said on Saturday.

Religious Violence

What jihadis are wearing this year (The Australian)

July 13 - EVER wondered how to make a bomb at home, what to pack for a jihad or how to communicate in encrypted messages?

Ugandan blasts linked to Somali Islamist group (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 13 - KAMPALA: Ugandans woke this morning to the sobering reality that international terrorism had ripped apart their capital city and any sense of security, with at least 64 World Cup revellers killed and scores more injured.

Also: In the world of al-Shabab, simply playing football is a satanic act (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 13 - MOGADISHU: On a police base in this war-scarred capital, the players in the Somalian under-17 national football team practise in mismatched attire for a match against Egypt.

Four dead after religious riots in Nigeria (ABC News)

July 15 - At least four people have been killed in the northeastern Nigerian state of Taraba after security forces opened fire to quell clashes between Christian and Muslim youths.

Also: Mosques and church burnt in clashes in Nigeria (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

July 15 - FRESH clashes between Muslims and Christians have erupted in Nigeria, killing eight and leading to the burning of six mosques and a church in the country's east.

Also: Muslim attack on Christian village (The Age, Melbourne)

July 18 - Muslims attacked a Christian village in central Nigeria on Saturday, axing eight people to death and burning seven houses and a church in fresh religious violence, an army spokesman said.

Brothers jailed for attack on Mohammed artist (ABC News)

July 16 - A Swedish court has sentenced two brothers to jail for fire-bombing the home of Swedish artist Lars Vilks after he depicted Islam's Prophet Mohammed as a dog.

Other

Argentina legalizes gay marriage in first for Latin America (The Age, Melbourne)

July 15 - Argentina on Thursday became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, following a landmark Senate vote which stirred controversy in the majority Roman Catholic nation.

Suicide singer won't get full burial (The Age, Melbourne)

July 16 - The Romanian Orthodox Church will not give a full burial service for a popular singer because she committed suicide.

Serial killer Son of Sam gets an evangelical Christian makeover (The Age, Melbourne)

July 17 - While serving his sentence of 25 years to life, the murderer David Berkowitz has been anything but alone.

ISLAM

Muslims happy to be here (Brisbane Times)

July 12 - AUSTRALIAN-Muslim families have good relations with other Australians, and feel safe and happy here.

POLITICS

Religious Right's attack on PM (The Australian)

July 13 - A MELBOURNE preacher has savaged Julia Gillard as being unfit to be Prime Minister because, if elected, she would live out of wedlock.

Unmarried Gillard wedded to a notion that upholds injustice (The Age, Melbourne)

July 17 – (Opinion: Samantha Stevenson) When Julia Gillard became Prime Minister, many of us were triumphant at this ultimate smashing of the glass ceiling in Australian politics.

Will atheism spell trouble for Gillard? (The Age, Melbourne)

July 18 - The PM's admission that she doesn't believe in God has divided religious leaders

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi calls for burqa ban (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

July 18 - LIBERAL senator Cory Bernardi has called for Australia to follow the lead of France and ban the burqa, describing it as ``the most public symbol of fundamentalist Islam''.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Pokies approval disappoints Salvos (ABC News)

July 13 - The Salvation Army says it is disappointed by the decision to allow 30 poker machines at the Foundry Hotel in Golden Square.

A word to the Y's: our name is just fine as it is (The Age, Melbourne)

July 14 - Y FIX it if it ain't broke?

Does existentialism exist? I think not (The Age, Melbourne)

July 14 – (Opinion: Simon Castles) At the start of the meeting of the Existentialist Society, the convener said the society did not really exist.

There's more to faith than tolerance (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 15 – (Opinion: David Messieh) The complexity of religion seems to escape understanding by modern writers.

It was wrong of me to oppose gay marriage (The Australian)

July 16 – (Opinion: Derryn Hinch) I WAS an opponent of gay marriage for years. I doggedly followed the ignorant, almost homophobic line without really thinking it through.

OTHER

Council approves church upgrades (ABC News)

July 14 - Newcastle councillors have increased a cap on congregation numbers for a Hamilton church and also approved a kitchen training facility for the site.

Superstitions, sport and a fortune-telling octopus (WAToday.com.au)

July 15 - While most soccer fans and sporting buffs were using past team performances, game style and technical attributes to determine the outcome of World Cup matches, some were relying on an octopus.