Religion News Australia 2011 - 3 (Jan 9

Religion News Australia 2011 - 3 (Jan 9 - 16)

(17 January 11)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

Jan 9 - 16, 2010

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

anglican church / arts & entertainment / catholic church / education / international stories / religion & society / other

ANGLICAN CHURCH

'Worldwide Anglican family' supporting Qld flood relief (ABC News)

Jan 14 - The Anglican Church says parishes across Queensland are doing what they can to help with the flood relief effort.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A revolt in art (The Age, Melbourne)

Jan 15 – (Review) Bodily functions, bestiality, evolution, atheism, tennis courts - expect explorations of the lot when self-made millionaire David Walsh's $80 million private museum and ideological playground opens in Hobart next week.

Faith and good works (The Australian)

Jan 15 - (Review) [I]t is inaccurate to consider most religious art as propaganda, which implies a conscious attempt to inculcate a belief in others that one may not share oneself.

Reasonable people politely showing God the door

Jan 15 – (Review) - The Australian Book of Atheism - MY perception of contemporary atheism is strongly coloured by its high-profile proponent Richard Dawkins.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Special mass for flood victims (ABC News)

Jan 14 - The Catholic Church in Tasmania will hold a special Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Hobart tonight to pray for those who have died or are missing in the Queensland flood disaster.

Also: First church service offers comfort to flood-affected (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 16 - More than 400 people today attended an emotional first church service since the devastating Lockyer Valley floods.

Strange names a burden (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

Jan 16 - [T]he Catholic archdiocese of Sydney is advising parents against giving their children celebrity-inspired names.

EDUCATION

Catholic schools cheaper to run, funding review told (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 15 - CATHOLIC schools operate with far fewer resources than other non-government schools, despite teaching more students with high educational needs, the Catholic sector has told the federal government's review of school funding.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Catholic Church

Pope says sex education an 'attack on religious freedom' (ABC News)

Jan 11 - Sexual and civic education in schools in Europe is an "attack" on religious freedom, Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday in a traditional annual address to foreign diplomats to the Vatican.

Pope calls on world to keep Christians safe (ABC News)

Jan 11 - Pope Benedict has asked governments to do more to ensure Christians can practice their faith without discrimination or violence.

Pope calls on Pakistan to scrap blasphemy (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 11 - Pope Benedict XVI has called on Pakistan to scrap a controversial law against blasphemy, saying it served as "a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities".

Pope blasts star names (The Age, Melbourne)

Jan 12 - The Pope has warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration.

Vatican silent over Egypt row (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

Jan 12 - THE Vatican has declined to comment after Egypt said it was recalling its ambassador to the Holy See.

Pope John Paul to be beatified (ABC News)

Jan 14 - The late Pope John Paul II has moved a major step closer to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church, after his successor approved a decree attributing a miracle to him.

Also: John Paul II steps closer to sainthood as Pope backs miracle (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 15 - VATICAN CITY: The Pope has approved a miracle attributed to Pope John Paul II's intercession and set May 1 as the date for his predecessor to be beatified.

Also: John Paul II to be beatified May 1 (The West Australian, Perth)

Jan 15 - VATICAN CITY (AFP) - The late pope John Paul II is on the fast track to sainthood and will be beatified on May 1, the Vatican said Friday, to the joy of supporters and alarm of clerical abuse victims.

Vatican appoints Protestant to lead science body (The West Australian, Perth)

Jan 16 - VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI named Saturday Nobel laureate Werner Arber, a Protestant, to head the Vatican's scientific academy, the first time a non-Catholic is heading the centuries-old body.

Hinduism

More than 100 dead in Indian pilgrimage stampede (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 15 - More than 100 Hindu devotees were killed after a road accident triggered a stampede among thousands of pilgrims returning from an Indian religious festival, officials said Saturday.

Islam

Look past 'Muslim rage' (The Age, Melbourne)

Jan 10 – (Opinion: Pankaj Mishra) Western concerns about Islamic states rely on a series of false assumptions.

Pakistan loses its tolerance (Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

Jan 13 – (Opinion: Nahal Toosi) DAYS after the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, one of the few politicians openly challenging the onslaught of religious extremism, Pakistani moderates are facing a new and troubling reality: Pakistan is a country where fundamentalism is becoming mainstream, leaving even less room for dissent, difference and many once-prevalent leisures such as public music, dance parties or other social contact between the sexes.

Senegal turns to Islam to stop begging by child 'disciples' (The West Australian, Perth)

Jan 15 - DAKAR (AFP) - Senegal is increasingly turning to Islamic texts and the powerful sway of religious leaders to prevent thousands of children being sent to beg by their Koranic teachers in the name of religion.

Politics makes convicting Pakistani assassin difficult (The West Australian, Perth)

Jan 16 - RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - The brother of a Pakistani police guard who assassinated a liberal politician for opposing the country's anti-blasphemy laws is optimistic he will never be prosecuted -- and he probably has good reason to be.

US Politics

Palin cops flak for term offensive to Jews (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 14 - LOS ANGELES: In saying her critics ''manufactured a blood libel'', Sarah Palin used a phrase linked to the false accusations made for centuries against Jews, often to malign them as child murderers who coveted the blood of Christian children.

Religious Violence

Egypt policeman shoots Christian (The Age, Melbourne)

Jan 12 - An off-duty policeman has boarded a train in southern Egypt and opened fire, killing a 71-year-old Christian man and wounding five others, including the victim's wife and three other women, the Interior Ministry says.

Parents 'killed daughter in violent exorcism' (ABC News)

Jan 14 - Two Russians have been arrested on suspicion of killing their 25-year-old daughter in a violent exorcism session, Russian investigators said.

Iraqi religious heads call for Christians' protection (The West Australian, Perth)

Jan 14 - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Muslim and Christian religious leaders on Thursday called for a united front in protecting Christians following a spate of attacks against them.

Egyptian handed death sentence for Copt killings (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 16 - A Muslim man was condemned to death in south Egypt on Sunday for the January 2010 slaying of six Copts after Christmas mass, a year before a suicide bomber killed 21 people outside a Coptic church.

Haunted by violence, Iraqi Christians flee to Turkey (The West Australian, Perth)

Jan 16 - ISTANBUL (AFP) - Terrorised by mounting extremist attacks, more and more Iraqi Christians are fleeing in panic to neighbouring Muslim-majority Turkey, among them lone minors sent away by desperate parents.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Grabbing their little souls (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 10 - (Opinion: Dick Gross) We are all so concerned about nabbing the hearts and minds of our littlies.

A modern hero - once he scores a Test ton (Sydney Morning Herald)

Jan 10 – (Opinion: Tanveer Ahmed) Usman Khawaja was rightly celebrated as the first Muslim to play for the Australian cricket team.

Cleric fears rise of home-grown radicalism (The Australian)

Jan 15 - THERE is one point on which ASIO and Australia's most controversial Muslim cleric, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali agree: home-grown extremism is on the rise.

Child to remain in remote 'cult' (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

Jan 16 - A GIRL, 14, will continue to live with her father in a north Queensland religious community, labelled a destructive cult by her mother, after a Family Court ruling.

Flood searches yield another grim find, as Queensland death toll rises to 17 (The Australian)

Jan 16 - EMOTIONAL church services have been held in the flood-ravaged Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, as the discovery of another victim raised Queensland's death toll to 17.

OTHER

Salvos' small loss is no retreat (The Age, Melbourne)

Jan 12 - THE Salvation Army, one of Australia's largest welfare providers, has declared a small trading loss for the 2009-10 financial year after the federal government cut funding for its unemployment services.