Religion News Australia 2010 - 38 (Oct 3

Religion News Australia 2010 - 38 (Oct 3 - 10)

(10 October 10)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

Oct 3 - 10, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / anglican church / catholic church / education / international stories / religion & society

ABUSE

Judges 'continually imposing inadequate' child sex sentences (ABC News)

Oct 5 - Child advocacy group Bravehearts says there is too much inconsistency in the sentences handed down to child sex offenders.

ANGLICAN CHURCH

Aborted babies 'being left to die' (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 7 - BABIES that are surviving late-term abortions at Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital might be being left on shelves to die, according to an Anglican minister.

Also: Anglican cleric's call sparks anger (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 8 - ADVOCACY group Women's Health Victoria has reacted angrily to yesterday's Age report that Anglican minister Mark Durie wanted the church's synod to demand answers from the government about late-term abortions at the Royal Women's Hospital.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Mary MacKillop 'back-up' miracle revealed (ABC News)

Oct 6 - A 19-year-old man from Woodend, north of Melbourne, has been revealed as the so-called "back up" miracle in the canonisation of Mary MacKillop.

Priest opposes body art awareness campaign (ABC News)

Oct 8 - A Catholic priest in the New South Wales south east says a proposed body art awareness campaign in the region's high schools could have a negative impact.

Proudly walking in Mary MacKillop's footsteps (The Australian)

Oct 9 - SOME 140 years after Mary MacKillop set up her first school in South Australia, a new generation of sisters is walking in her footsteps.

All roads lead to Rome for 8000 pilgrims on journey of devotion (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 10 - MORE than 8000 Australian pilgrims are expected in Rome this week to celebrate the canonisation of Mary MacKillop - the country's first saint.

EDUCATION

School building nears completion (ABC News)

Oct 6 - A boarding school for indigenous students near Brewarrina will be ready for the start of first term next year.

Trial in Muslim school fraud case begins (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 6 - A trial has begun in a Perth court for a man accused of falsifying student numbers at a Muslim college to fraudulently obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in government funding.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

PNG's Black Jesus guilty of rape (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 8 - Papua New Guinea's infamous "Black Jesus" cult leader has been found guilty of raping young "flower girls" who belonged to his sect.

Catholic Church

Pope stops short of denouncing Mafia (ABC News)

Oct 4 - Pope Benedict has used a mass in Sicily's capital Palermo to denounce organised crime in Italy, but stopped short of condemning the island's Mafia.

Theologian broadened the church with woman's touch (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 6 – (Obituary) There's a story about two European Catholic priests who were visiting St Patrick's Seminary at Manly in the mid-1980s.

Bishop raps Nobel choice (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 6 - A VATICAN official has criticised a decision to award the Nobel prize for medicine to IVF pioneer Robert Edwards, who has brought parenthood to millions of infertile couples.

'Pope week' on Facebook (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 7 - Think you know a thing or two about Pope Benedict XVI? Then log onto Facebook next week and you could be a winner.

Islam

Veiled protest has legs (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 3 - TWO French students have filmed themselves strolling through the streets of Paris in niqabs, bare legs and mini-shorts as a critique of France's new law banning the veil.

Dutch MPs baulk at coalition deal's burqa ban (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 3 - DUTCH Christian Democrats are rebelling over plans to ban the burqa as part of a deal to create a liberal-conservative coalition supported by Geert Wilders, a far-right leader.

Also: Dutch MP rejects hate speech claims (ABC News)

Oct 4 - Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders has remained defiant as he went on trial for inciting racial hatred against Muslims, insisting he was defending the right to free speech.

Also: Dutch anti-Islam MP's trial to go on (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 6 - The hate speech trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, set to become a shadow partner of the next government, will go ahead as planned after a court on Tuesday refused to dismiss his judges for alleged bias.

Also: Geert Wilders defends his 'free speech' rights (The Australian)

Oct 6 - ANTI-ISLAM MP Geert Wilders defended the right to free speech on Monday as his trial for inciting hatred against Muslims made a halting start.

Ahmadinejad thanks Pope for condemning Koran burning (ABC News)

Oct 8 - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to Pope Benedict, thanking him for condemning an American pastor's threat to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

French veil ban is constitutional (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 9 - France's top legal authority has approved a law banning full-face veils in public - defined as not just government buildings and public transport, but all streets, markets and thoroughfares, private businesses and entertainment venues.

Judaism

Rabbis donate Korans to torched mosque (ABC News)

Oct 6 - Two Israeli rabbis have donated a box of Korans to a West Bank mosque that was torched by vandals.

Ire as PM backs new citizens' oath to Jewish state (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 8 - JERUSALEM: Caving in to pressure from far right members of his coalition, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has backed a new law requiring prospective citizens of Israel to swear an oath of allegiance to a ''Jewish, democratic'' state.

US Politics

US Christians lose faith in President (The Australian)

Oct 6 – (Opinion: Michael Gerson) MANY religious conservatives have fled into the arms of the ultra-right Tea Party.

Religious Violence

West fails on terror: Blair (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 8 - TONY Blair has called for a ''revolution in thinking'' on international counterterrorism, saying the ''paucity'' of the West's efforts have left it ''outspent, outmanoeuvred and out-strategised'' by Islamist extremism.

Nine killed in teen suicide attack at Pakistan shrine (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 8 - Two teenage suicide bombers blew themselves up at a Sufi shrine in Karachi killing nine worshippers, including two children, as Pakistan battles a new wave of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence.

Other

A glimpse into the future of controversial site (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 6 - NEW YORK: Conceptual sketches of the controversial Islamic centre planned two blocks from Ground Zero envision a futuristic building wrapped in a honeycomb of abstract shapes, with a core containing far more space for secular pursuits than religious worship.

US hate church tests limits of free speech (ABC News)

Oct 7 - The United States Supreme Court is testing whether the right to free speech protects a religious group that pickets the funerals of American soldiers.

Also: Funeral picketers Westboro Baptist Church tests free speech in US Supreme Court (The Australian)

Oct 7 - THE US Supreme Court is considering whether an anti-gay religious group can picket military funerals with signs that read "Thank God for dead soldiers".

Adelaide sect members fear man will be killed for beliefs (The Australian)

Oct 8 - ADELAIDE members of the Islamic movement the Saviours of Mankind fear one of their Australian members is being held by the Egyptian Government accused of being a terrorist and faces being killed for announcing his religious views.

Gay community sends YouTube video message: it gets better (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 8 - David Valdes Greenwood was 15 when he climbed to the highest arch of a bridge in his small Maine town and got ready to jump.

Kingdom in the clouds (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 9 – (Travel) Peter Myers meets adventurers and holy men on a modern pilgrimage through the Middle Earth mountains of Bhutan.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Sucker or succour city? (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 4 – (Opinion: Dick Gross) This little atheist entered and emerged from the miracle town of Lourdes with a more equivocal impression than I thought I would have.

Euthanasia question needs wider discussion (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 8 – (Opinion: Andrew Cameron) Australians are overwhelmingly in favour of euthanasia. Who can resist the will of the people? So goes the pro-death argument for this sweeping social change.

Government's moral compass gone awry in tawdry, offensive ad campaign (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 8 – (Opinion: Morag Zwartz) Christian values and rites are being subverted in Daylesford promotion.

Legal win for gay suicide support group (Sydney Morning Herald)

Oct 8 - A gay youth support group is celebrating after a Victorian court upheld a discrimination complaint against a Christian Brethren-run business that refused its attempt to book accommodation because of the church's stance on homosexuality.

Also: Church camp found guilty of discrimination (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 10 - A YOUTH camp owned by the Christian Brethren church has been ordered to pay $5000 compensation for discriminating against a suicide prevention group for young gays.

Entering into spirit of things (The Age, Melbourne)

Oct 9 - LEWIS Shobbrook, 20, is the first to admit that when it comes to religion, he's far from a Gen Y stereotype.

Let there be light (The Australian)

Oct 9 – (Review) ‘Here on Earth: An argument for Hope’ by Tim Flannery; ‘Judgment Day’ by Paul Collins: Two leading thinkers explore the moral dimensions of the climate debate.

The halo effect: the appeal of saints in a secular world

Oct 10 – (Opinion: John Elder) HARRY Potter's close friend, Hermione Granger, may have been throttled by a plant, hassled by a werewolf and left dateless at a Hogwarts house party, but that's small beans compared to the many horrors endured by Saint Hermione of Ephesus.

From the Archive…

Religion News Australia 2010 - 37 (Sept 25 – Oct 3)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 35 (Sept 5 - 12)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 34 (Aug 29 – Sept 5)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 33 (Aug 22 - 29)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 32 (Aug 15 - 22)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 31 (Aug 8 - 15)

Religion News Australia 2010 - 30 (Aug 1 - 8)

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

Religion News Australia 2010 - 28 (July 18 - 25)

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

Religion News Australia 2010 - 26 (July 4 - 11)