Religion News Australia 2011 - 36 (Aug 28

Religion News Australia 2011 - 36 (Aug 28 - Sept 4)

(04 September 11)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

Aug 28 – Sept 4, 2011

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

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

ABUSE

Catholic order 'suppressed report on child sex' (The Age, Melbourne)

Aug 30 - A LEADING child protection expert has urged the Victorian government to hold a public inquiry into the handling of child-sex cases by a religious order after the Catholic Church suppressed a report it asked him to write.

Also: Salesians 'accused journalist' (The Age, Melbourne)

Aug 31 - MEMBERS of the Salesian religious order, under fire for its handling of sexual abuse complaints, tried to discredit a journalist by falsely claiming he had spent time in jail for child sex offences, according to Sydney University law professor Patrick Parkinson.

Church abuse victims call for government to step in (The Age, Melbourne)

Sept 3 - THIRTY victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Melbourne yesterday asked the Victorian government to investigate the church's handling of complaints, claiming it perverted the course of justice and bullied victims.

ANGLICAN CHURCH

Anglicans look to sell St Andrew's tower (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 30 - STILL hurting from the millions it lost during the global financial crisis, the Anglican Diocese of Sydney is considering a proposal to sell its biggest asset, St Andrew's House.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Artful preaching to the perverted (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sept 1 - RODNEY Pople has an unorthodox view of religion. His pictures almost celebrate the venerable grandeur of Christendom, except for one thing: sex in church.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

World Youth Day pilgrims return to Kimberley (ABC News)

Aug 30 - A group of Catholic pilgrims has returned to the Kimberley after attending World Youth Day in Spain.

EDUCATION

Gay sex 'sickest of sins' (Perth Now)

Aug 27 - CHILDREN have been asked whether homosexuality is "the sickest sin" in a school assignment.

The PC brigade kills off Jesus Christ (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

Sept 2 - A DECISION to use politically correct terms - which do not mention Jesus Christ - for dates BC and AD in the new national history curriculum was an act of Christian cleansing, church leaders said yesterday.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Abuse

Reclusive sect's rape gang used cattle sedative in reign of terror (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 30 - A conservative Christian sect is still coming to terms with the predatory actions of a gang of men who used cattle anaesthetic on hundreds of victims in an epidemic of sexual violence that lasted for years.

Fasting polygamy sect leader Warren Jeffs in a coma (The Australian)

Aug 31 - US polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs is in a medically induced coma in critical condition after fasting in the weeks since receiving a life sentence for sexually assaulting underage followers he took as spiritual brides.

Ireland on edge as church sex abuse report nears (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 31 - THE bucolic peace of County Donegal, in the north-west of Ireland, is about to be shattered by a report into the paedophiles, both clergy and laity, who abused children for decades.

Vatican admits failures over abuse scandal (ABC News)

Sept 4 - The Vatican has acknowledged "grave failures" over the handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving priests in southern Ireland, but denied it tried to block investigations.

Buddhism

2 Tibet monks sentenced over immolation (The West Australian)

Aug 31 - A Chinese court has sentenced two more Tibetan Buddhist monks up to 13 years in prison for assisting in the death of a 16-year-old colleague who set himself on fire, penalties aimed apparently at discouraging further such acts.

S.Korea approves religious visit to N.Korea (The West Australian)

Sept 2 - SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea has given leading Buddhist monks permission to visit North Korea, the first religious trip since ties turned icy over the sinking of a warship last year, according to officials.

Islam

Islamic enforcers raid Methodist church (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

Aug 29 - A RAID by state Islamic enforcers on a church function in predominantly Muslim Malaysia has stirred religious tensions and revived fears of growing Islamisation in the multi-ethnic country.

Six women in danger dossier (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 31 - SIX women living in Australia have been linked by US intelligence agencies to an al-Qaeda plot to recruit women for terrorist attacks, according to a diplomatic cable discussing Australian links to the international jihadi organisation.

Indonesia's SCTV blasted for pulling religion film (The West Australian)

Sept 2 - JAKARTA (AFP) - The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission criticised a major television station for giving into Islamists' demands that a film on religious tolerance be pulled.

US Politics

Gaffe-prone Michele Bachmann insists she was not insulting the memory of hurricane dead (The Australian)

Aug 31 - REPUBLICAN presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann has insisted she was "being humorous" when she described the hurricane that killed at least 40 Americans as a wake-up call from God.

Lone star's false prophet hits all the right notes (The Australian)

Sept 3 – (Opinion: Christopher Hitchens) After a protracted arid interval, the state's immodest governor, Rick Perry, announced he was using the authority vested in him to call for prayers for rain.

Religious Violence

Suicide bomber kills 28 in Baghdad, says official (Sydney Morning Herald)

Aug 29 - A suicide bomber killed 28 people including a member of parliament and wounded 37 others at a Sunni mosque in western Baghdad on Sunday.

Also: Victims of Baghdad mosque attack buried (The Age, Melbourne)

Aug 30 - Dozens have gathered at Baghdad's biggest Sunni mosque for the funeral of one of at least 28 people, including a politician, killed in a suicide blast that has been blamed on al-Qaeda.

Islamist says 'sorry' for killing US airmen (The West Australian)

Aug 31 - FRANKFURT (AFP) - A 21-year-old man from Kosovo apologised in court Wednesday for killing two US soldiers at Frankfurt airport as they headed to Afghanistan, saying he had been influenced by Islamist propaganda.

Also: Kosovan confesses to shooting U.S. airmen in Germany (The West Australian)

Aug 31 - FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A 21-year-old Kosovo Albanian man confessed to shooting dead two U.S. airmen and wounding two more at Frankfurt airport in March, telling a packed German court Wednesday he was swayed by Islamist lies and could not undo what he had done.

9/11 colouring book too black and white (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sept 1 - A colouring book aimed at teaching children about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 has generated controversy for its depiction of Muslims and interpretation of the events.

Vandals deface Jewish memorial in Poland (ABC News)

Sept 2 - Vandals have defaced a monument to victims of a World War II pogrom against Jews in Poland, covering it with racist inscriptions and swastikas in green paint.

Also: Holocaust site vandalism sparks outrage in Poland (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sept 3 - VANDALS have desecrated a monument marking the spot in Poland where hundreds of Jews were burnt alive during World War II, scrawling ''they were flammable'' and a swastika on the memorial.

Libya commander plays down Islamist past (The West Australian)

Sept 3 - The rebels' military commander in Tripoli once led an Islamic militant group and claims he was tortured by CIA agents at a secret prison seven years ago, but says he holds no grudges against the West and shares its desire for a new Libyan government free of religious extremism.

Also: Tripoli commander denies al Qaeda links - report (The West Australian)

Sept 4 - PARIS (Reuters) - A senior Islamist rebel in charge of controlling Tripoli since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi denied links to al Qaeda and said he had been tortured by U.S. intelligence officers in 2004, French daily Le Monde reported on Saturday.

Other

Indian state mulls ban on black magic, witchcraft (The West Australian)

Sept 4 - MUMBAI (AFP) - Chanting to cure snakebites, claiming to be a reincarnated spouse to obtain sex, and charging for miracles could soon be banned by an Indian state seeking to stop charlatans preying on the vulnerable.

ISLAM

Victorian Police have power to demand Muslim women remove face veils (news.com.au)

Aug 29 - VICTORIAN police have the power to demand that Muslim women remove face veils, the State Government has ruled.

Fire on Muslim holy day in detention (NT News)

Aug 31 - EMERGENCY service workers have reported a demountable and a shade cloth were burnt in the fire at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre this morning.

Imam disputes al-Qaeda connection

Sept 1 - A SYDNEY sheikh accused by ASIO of links to one of the world's most wanted men - the al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki - has complained to Australia's security service, saying it has linked him to a man he has no connection with.

Radical Islam has nothing to do with us, says Aussie migrant family (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

Sept 4 - FATHER-OF-SEVEN Neil El-Kadomi used to call Australia "the land of opportunity" for himself and his family.

JUDAISM

When the barriers between public and private space blur (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sept 1 – (Opinion: Cathy Sherry) Plans to establish a Jewish eruv in a Sydney suburb has raised questions about the lines between the freedom of groups to live as they want and wider community norms.

POLITICS

Wilkie accuses clubs of bullying Salvos (ABC News)

Sept 1 - Federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie has accused some sections of the poker machine industry of bullying the Salvation Army into opposing his gambling reforms.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Keeping quiet allows intolerance to thrive (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sept 1 – (Opinion: Elizabeth Farrelly) I was shocked to attend my first bar mitzvah in Sydney's eastern suburbs and find the room formally segregated by gender, with potted monstera thicket between.

Artist Stephen Sawyer gives Jesus the Chuck Norris makeover (Perth Now)

Sept 2 - IF JESUS were here today, what would he look like?

OTHER

A little nook of calm (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sept 4 – (Travel) AS A former Catholic schoolgirl, it's slightly unnerving to be staying overnight at Mary MacKillop Place.