Religion News Australia 2010 - 29 (July 25

Religion News Australia 2010 - 29 (July 25 - Aug 1)

(31 July 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

July 25 – Aug 1, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

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

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Dads you don't need (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

July 26 – (Opinion: Alan Howe) LET'S talk about Mel Gibson.

Full Circle (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 31 – (Review) Double lovely in some respects and starchy and unpalatable in others, Full Circle: How the Classical World Came Back to Us casts an anthropological eye over various aspects of Western society and concludes that in certain important regards our habits, enthusiasms and preoccupations are those of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The voice of a saint and a singer (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 1 - OPERA soprano Joanna Cole is making a habit of playing persecuted – and then exonerated – Australian heroines.

EDUCATION

Queensland students taught humans coexisted with dinosaurs (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

Aug 1 - PRIMARY school students are being taught that man and dinosaurs walked the Earth together and that there's fossil evidence to prove it.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Catholic Church

Pope's book on Jesus 'edited out' women (The Australian)

July 29 - THE Pope is at the centre of a new controversy after church campaigners accused him of demeaning the role of women in Jesus's life in a children's book, The Friends of Jesus.

Catholics must pay to attend Pope events (Adelaide Now)

July 29 - CATHOLICS will have to pay as much as STG25 ($43) to attend one of the two public events in England to be led by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit in September, church officials said today.

Islam

Muslims party on despite religious crackdown (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 26 - Dusk has fallen and the party is just beginning for 29-year-old Asyikin, one of the many young Malay Muslims who hang out in Kuala Lumpur's vibrant Bukit Bintang nightlife district.

Indonesian clerics forbid TV gossip shows (The Age, Melbourne)

July 28 - Indonesia's highest Islamic body has followed up a series of contentious fatwas with a new edict banning Muslims from watching TV gossip shows or having sex-change operations.

Hamas bans lingerie displays (ABC News)

July 29 - Gaza's Hamas rulers have ordered shops in the Palestinian enclave to cover up their mannequins in their latest campaign to enforce Islamic public morality.

Muslim parents keep kids from swim class (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 30 - Officials in the Swiss city of Basel have fined five Muslim families for refusing to allow their daughters to attend compulsory swimming classes in school, Swiss news agency ATS reports.

Church to burn copies of Koran to mark 9/11 (Adelaide Now)

July 31 - A FLORIDA church was yesterday promoting an event where it will burn copies of the Koran to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the U.S.

Judaism

Jerusalem hosts subdued gay pride march (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 30 - Thousands of Israelis marched calmly on Thursday in Jerusalem's longest gay pride parade despite opposition from anti-gay demonstrators.

Religious Violence

Iraq car bombs in holy city kill 21 (The Age, Melbourne)

July 27 - Twin car bombs killed 21 people in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala in southern Iraq on Monday.

Four arrested over Austria attack plot (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 29 - Austrian police have arrested four Indian men suspected of planning an attack that could be linked to a deadly shooting at a Sikh temple in Vienna last year, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

Nine hurt in Ukraine church bombing (The Age, Melbourne)

July 29 - A homemade bomb exploded in a church in Ukraine on Wednesday, wounding nine people on the last day of a controversial visit to the country by Russia's Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I, security forces said.

Claims of killings in a divided Hamas (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 31 - GAZA CITY: At 2am on July 16 last year, Mohammed Warshara was woken by a phone call from Hamas, the militant Islamic resistance movement that controls the Gaza Strip.

Other

'Unholy mix' at holy site on river (The Age, Melbourne)

July 28 - CHRISTIAN pilgrims should be banned from entering the River Jordan at the site where Jesus is believed to have been baptised because of dangerous levels of pollutants, according to Israel's Ministry of Health.

Georgia university tells student to lose religion, lawsuit claims (Adelaide Now)

July 28 - A GRADUATE student in Georgia is suing her university after she was told she must undergo a remediation program due to her beliefs on homosexuality and transgendered persons.

Church going to the dogs (WAToday.com.au)

July 28 - An Anglican church in Canada has become the focus of controversy after a vicar gave Holy Communion to a dog.

Man who faked illness jailed for 2 years (The Age, Melbourne)

July 28 - An Auckland churchgoer who admitted fraud charges after gambling away $NZ252,510 ($A205,250.97) fellow parishioners thought they had donated for his medical treatment has been jailed for two years three months.

Mexican capital aims to be oasis for gays (The Age, Melbourne)

July 29 - Mexico City's gay community has in recent decades turned the capital into a relative oasis in a strongly Catholic country reknowned for its conservatism and machismo.

Vicar tells churchgoers to swear more (The Australian)

July 31 - A CHURCH of England vicar told his flock to get more "streetwise" and swear more.

Tokyo's oldest man had been dead 30 years (The Australian)

July 31 - DESPITE his claim to fame, old Sogen Kato had always been remarkably reclusive.

Reverend Alex Brown jailed for conducting hundreds of sham marriages (Adelaide Now)

July 30 - A CHURCH of England vicar has been convicted of running Britain?s biggest ever sham marriage fraud, which allowed hundreds of illegal immigrants to stay in the country.

ISLAM

Muslim students meet sporting heroes (ABC News)

July 29 - Federal Police have taken a group of Muslim students on a tour of Football Park in Adelaide as part of a community engagement program.

Christianity can combat conservative Islam threat (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

July 30 - AYAAN Hirsi Ali is shivering in the teal, wool coat that envelopes her on this wet winter day in Sydney.

Couple kept sham marriage to stop violent reprisals (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 31 - Centrelink unwittingly revealed a clash between Islamic laws and Western life

POLITICS

Sacked Liberal stands by anti-Muslim comments (ABC News)

July 25 - The sacked Liberal party candidate, David Barker, says he stands by anti-Islamic comments he made about his opponent in the Sydney seat of Chifley.

WA Liberal MP defends Gillard attack (ABC News)

July 25 - West Australian Liberal MP Don Randall is under fire over comments he made about Julia Gillard's religious views.

Internal row over Liberals' endorsement process (The Australian)

July 26 - DUMPED Liberal candidate David Barker was never grilled by a full preselection panel and was interviewed only by phone before being chosen.

Election ignores marginalised: Anglicare (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 28 - The poor and marginalised will be left out of this year's election debate as leaders focus on middle Australia, the Christian charity Anglicare says.

Family First seeks preferences deal with Australan Sex Party (Perth Now)

July 28 - CONSERVATIVE "family values" party Family First has approached the Australian Sex Party - which advocates gay marriage, prostitution and abortion - for a preference deal in the federal election.

Also: Politics makes for strange bedfellows (Adelaide Now)

July 29 – (Opinion: Editorial) THE so-called minor parties... would have us believe they are immune from vote-chasing backroom deals with those who advocate opposing views just for the sake of their own benefit.

In the political realm, birds of a feather don't necessarily flock together (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 29 – (Opinion: John Dickson) Much has been said about the ''Christian vote'', an expression often associated with those nasty-right-wing-religious-nuts imposing their morals on a secular society.

Atheist Gillard says she respects church (The Age, Melbourne)

July 29 - Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she respects the church and other religious groups in the wake of comments from a Catholic archbishop suggesting Christians might not vote for her.

Also: Gillard says she respects the church (The Age, Melbourne)

July 29 - Julia Gillard has highlighted her respect for the Catholic Church and other religious groups, as Tony Abbott distanced himself from the comments of a Catholic leader.

Also: Julia Gillard dismisses fears her atheism could threaten church privileges (The Australian)

July 29 - JULIA Gillard says she respects the Catholic church, after an archbishop suggested her atheism could be a threat to privileges afforded to churches.

Also: Atheists can be ethical: Anglican archbishop (The Australian)

July 31 - PERTH Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft has clashed with his Catholic counterpart over Julia Gillard's atheism.

Also: Perth's Catholic Archbishop stirs fears about atheism (The Australian)

July 31 - PERTH Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey has suggested Julia Gillard's atheism could cost her votes.

Deadly sin to forget voters worship in a broad church (Canberra Times)

July 29 – (Opinion: Phillip Thomson) The religious beliefs of Australian voters can be likened to life inside a little timber church on a hill at Tilba Tilba in Australia's most important electorate.

Main parties low on NSW Senate ballot (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 30 - Liberal politicians are against Muslim immigration but are not allowed to voice their true opinions, former Liberal candidate and Senate aspirant David Barker says.

Faith's role as a political potato (Adelaide Now)

July 30 – (Opinion: Tory Shepherd, Emma Chalmers) RELIGION keeps hovering around the edges of this election campaign, but it could still end up centre stage.

Candidate victim of pedophile smear (Adelaide Now)

Aug 1 - PROFESSOR Rick Sarre, the Labor candidate for the seat of Sturt, gave a character reference in court for a convicted pedophile who repeatedly molested children at church camps.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

It's your chance to pray for pay (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

July 26 – (Opinion: Paul Syvret) HALLELUJAH. Praise the Lord. Allah Akbar and all that. After decades of unashamedly godless hedonism I have finally seen the truth and the light.

Sex: the Bible says go for it (The Age, Melbourne)

July 26 - WOMEN'S and girls' magazines are full of advice on better sex, from how to catch and hold your man down to detailed instructions on sexual techniques.

Also: The good book's guide to great sex (The Age, Melbourne)

July 27 – (Opinion: Kamal Weerakoon) Sex is God's gift to humanity and healthy sexual behaviour should be the church's gift to the world.

Ditch the clap-happy, get churched my way (The Australian)

July 29 – (Opinion: Mandy Sayer) I'VE decided I want to start my own church. If Brian Houston can open Hillsong and collect 50 million tax-free dollars around the world, well, hell then, so can I.

Internet filter puts the common good first (Sydney Morning Herald)

July 31 – (Opinion: Jim Wallace) With the countdown on to election day, the debate about ISP-level internet filtering has continued apace in recent weeks as misnamed "internet civil libertarians" and those with vested commercial interests again demand that the internet be free of any safeguards – even when it comes to the most horrific material.

OTHER

Church plans spark community fears (ABC News)

July 27 - Controversial plans to transform a block of flats into a church in Lake Cargelligo have been amended in the wake of residents' concerns.