Religion News Australia 2012 - 9 (Feb 26

Religion News Australia 2012 - 9 (Feb 26 - Mar 4)

(03 March 12)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2012

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / arts & entertainment / education / international stories / politics / religion & society / uniting church

ABUSE

Inquiry push over clergy abuse cases (The Age, Melbourne)

Mar 1 - A PUBLIC investigation into how religious organisations in Victoria such as the Catholic Church have handled child abuse allegations is a step closer after a groundbreaking report found it should proceed.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Expression in repression (The Age, Melbourne)

Mar 3 – (Review) The Islamic Revolution has been good for Iranian film .

EDUCATION

Teach kids all faiths - parents fight 'Sunday school' monopoly in primary schools (news.com.au)

Feb 29 - PARENTS have launched a landmark legal bid to end Christianity's ruling role over religious studies in government schools.

Also: Parents slam religious 'segregation' (The Age, Melbourne)

Mar 1 - CONTROVERSIAL religious instruction classes are three times more likely to be taught at government primary schools in Melbourne's eastern suburbs than in the ethnically diverse west.

Also: Religious education 'discriminatory' tribunal told (ABC News)

Mar 1 - The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has been told the State Education Department is discriminating against children whose parents do not want them taught religious education.

Also: Bible study divides classes (The Age, Melbourne)

Mar 2 - CHILDREN who opt out of special religious instruction (SRI) in state primary schools are being discriminated against because other children see them as different and because they do not work under proper instruction while others attend the classes, a tribunal was told yesterday.

Also: Parents fight to end religious classes which leave out their children (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

Mar 3 - A PRIMARY school boy was allowed to read a Footy Record during class time after his mother opted him out of religious instruction, a tribunal judge heard yesterday.

Bloodyminded Bible bashing of ethical choices (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

Feb 29 – (Opinion: Sarrah Le Marquand) FOR those who prefer their reading material spiced up with a little blood and gore, the Bible is quite the page-turner.

Religious classes in state schools must be about teaching, not preaching (Sydney Morning Herald)

Mar 3 – (Opinion: Stan van Hooft) Children should learn about all major faiths and have a genuine choice about what to believe.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Islam

Malaysia bans Erykah Badu show over tattoo (Sydney Morning Herald)

Feb 29 - Muslim-majority Malaysia has banned a planned concert by Erykah Badu after a photograph appeared showing the Grammy-winning singer with the Arabic word for Allah written on her body.

Saudi women push for the right to play sports (The West Australian)

Feb 29 - JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - The image of 24-year-old Nour Fitiany resting courtside as the pounding of basketballs and thumping of feet reverberated around her wouldn't merit a second glance in most countries.

Report finds mosques flourishing across US (The West Australian)

Mar 1 - WASHINGTON (AFP) - Mosques are taking root across the United States "at a tremendous rate," but there's no proof that radicalism is brewing among young Muslim Americans, a report published Wednesday says.

Libya's Muslim Brotherhood sets up political party (The West Australian)

Mar 3 - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Muslim Brotherhood teamed up with other Islamists on Friday to establish a new political party that is set to be a leading player in the country's first elections since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

US Politics

Santorum caught and cornered (The Australian)

Feb 28 – (Opinion: Kathleen Parker) Obama and Santorum share the same prayer: that Santorum be the Republican nominee.

U.S. Senate heads for showdown over contraceptives (The West Australian)

Mar 1 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Senate is expected on Thursday to defeat a largely symbolic measure that would exempt employers such as Roman Catholic hospitals, universities and charities from a controversial White House rule requiring free birth control coverage.

Also: Obama calls student as contraception fight takes nasty turn (The West Australian)

Mar 3 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called a law student on Friday after she was branded a "slut" by right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh for her outspoken support of Obama's new policy on contraception.

Religious Violence

More killed amid growing Afghan fury over Koran burning (Sydney Morning Herald)

Feb 28 - AFGHAN anger over the US military's inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran shows no signs of lessening after six days of violence, with a suicide attack on a regional airport killing at least nine people yesterday, and another, in the capital of Uruzgan province, killing three.

Also: Afghan clerics demand trial for Koran burners (ABC News)

Mar 3 - Senior Afghan clerics say the burning of Korans at a NATO base last month is an "evil act" that must be punished, a demand that could deepen widespread public anger over the incident.

Also: US probe 'blames five for Koran burnings' (The West Australian)

Mar 4 - A US military investigation into the burning of Muslim holy books in a rubbish pit in Afghanistan last month has found that several enlisted soldiers had misinterpreted an order to dispose of the books, two officials say.

Iraq Sunni insurgents keep fighting after U.S. pullout (The West Australian)

Feb 29 - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's main Sunni Muslim insurgent groups have rejected laying down their arms to join the political process and will keep fighting, nearly three months after the last U.S. troops withdrew, a senior security official and militant leaders said.

Other

Hijab quip sees Fireman Sam creator detained at airport (The Age, Melbourne)

Feb 27 - Airport security detained the creator of popular children's character Fireman Sam after he made a remark about a woman wearing a hijab, British media reports.

Row over Church's Jesus cancer-healing claims (news.com.au)

Feb 29 - A NEW Zealand church has erected a billboard saying "Jesus heals cancer", after claiming six of its members had been cured.

POLITICS

Sex Party blasts LNP for sacking swinger (news.com.au)

Feb 26 - THE Liberal National Party (LNP) has only hurt its own election chances by sacking a candidate who attended a swingers' shindig, the Australian Sex Party says.

Christian soldiers to slay civil unions (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

Feb 29 - CAMPBELL Newman could be forced to scrap civil unions if the party's Christian candidates are elected on March 24.

Kevin Rudd and the Glory of the Martyrs (ABC News)

Mar 2 – (Opinion: Scott Stephens) Kevin Rudd has now lost everything there is to lose in politics - everything except his seat, of course.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Christian paper to 'counter' atheists (Brisbane Times)

Feb 27 - THE front-page headline screams in capital letters something most newspapers tuck away discreetly, if they admit it at all: "I WAS WRONG!"

Stuck in a drain by the grace of God (The Age, Melbourne)

Mar 2 – (Opinion: Steve Carter) MY WIFE and I were visited by Jehovah's Witnesses on Sunday morning.

Jehovah's Witnesses church leader 'poisoned' by rival (news.com.au)

Mar 3 - THE Adelaide Hills Jehovah's Witnesses community has been rocked by the alleged poisoning of a church official and his young family by a rival.

UNITING CHURCH

Church adoption apology (The Age, Melbourne)

Feb 28 - THE Uniting Church has apologised for its involvement in the forced adoption of babies born to unmarried mothers last century, as the Senate prepares to hand down the results of an inquiry into the practice.

Ousted church minister defies sacking (ABC News)

Feb 28 - Cairns Minister Reverend Hedley Fihaki says he will not allow "threats" from others in the Uniting Church to stop him from serving his congregation in the far north Queensland city.