Religion News Australia 2012 - 20 (May 20

Religion News Australia 2012 - 20 (May 20 - 27)

(26 May 12)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

May 20 - 27, 2012

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / arts & entertainment / catholic church / education / international stories / religion & society

ABUSE

School guard will face trial (The Age, Melbourne)

May 22 - A FORMER security guard at a Melbourne orthodox Jewish school accused of sexual assault has been committed to stand trial.

Also: Call to stand down Yeshivah teacher (The Age, Melbourne)

May 25 - A MELBOURNE Jewish boys' school is under pressure to stand down one of its teachers after a magistrate found it was ''unfathomable'' he was unaware of sexual abuse at the time it allegedly occurred.

'Sex games' kept quiet to 'protect victim', bishop claims (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 25 - A hostel warden accused of ordering boys to strip to their underwear and "wrestle" him – in what has been described as simulating sex - did not deny the allegation when confronted, the then-chair of the hostel board has told a special inquiry.

Also: Victim tried to kill abuser (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

May 25 - A YOUNG victim of sexual abuse at a state-run boarding hostel in Western Australia says he tried to kill the warden who indecently assaulted him.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

An act of good faith (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 26 – (Review) In telling his own story, a popular former bishop laments the injustices of 'bad religion' and the lack of spirituality in the modern world.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

MacKillop legacy honoured in new convent (ABC News)

May 22 - A new convent is being built in Penola in South Australia's south east next to the site where Mary MacKillop established her first school.

EDUCATION

Union opposes religious schools (The Age, Melbourne)

May 23 - The public sector teachers' union has urged the ACT government to block proposals for three faith-based schools to build new campuses in Canberra's north and west.

Also: Protest builds against school plans (The Age, Melbourne)

May 24 - Opposition is growing to bids by three religious schools to expand into Canberra's northern and western suburbs.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Buddhism

China 'wants Dalai Lama's blood' (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

May 21 - CHINESE agents are secretly collecting samples of the Dalai Lama's blood, urine and hair, the Tibetan government in exile has claimed.

Catholic Church

Priest 'beat politician to death' (news.com.au)

May 23 - POLICE in Croatia have arrested a Catholic priest on suspicion of beating to death a local politician in a row over a cemetery.

Vatican police 'involved in kidnap, sex parties' (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 24 - A TEENAGE girl whose disappearance in Rome has remained a mystery for 30 years was kidnapped for sex parties by a gang involving Vatican police and foreign diplomats, the Roman Catholic Church's leading exorcist has claimed.

Vatican publishes fake visionaries rules (news.com.au)

May 24 - FACED with modern-day claims of visions of the Virgin Mary and apparitions of long-dead saints, the Vatican published rules overnight to verify religious supernatural phenomena.

Vatican bank chief ousted (The West Australian)

May 25 - The Vatican says the head of its bank, who is being investigated in a money laundering case, has been ousted after receiving a unanimous vote of no-confidence from bank overseers.

Pope's butler arrested for spilling holy secrets (ABC News)

May 26 - One of the Pope's butlers has been detained by the Vatican, accused of leaking secrets about the Holy See.

Also: Pope's butler Paolo Gabriele caught with secret Vatican documents (The Australian)

May 26 - THE Pope's butler has been arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal, adding a Hollywood twist to an already remarkable tale of power struggles, intrigue and corruption in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance.

Also: Lifting the lid on the man behind 'Vatileaks'. (ABC News)

May 27 - The Catholic Church has been thrown into crisis by the arrest of one of those closest to Pope Benedict - his butler, Paolo Gabriele.

Also: The butler did it? Fresh twist in Vatican whodunit (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 27 - An on-again, off-again scandal the Italian press has called VatiLeaks burst into the open on Friday with the arrest by Vatican police of a man identified in news reports as Paolo Gabriele, the Pope's butler, who the Vatican said held confidential documents and was suspected of leaking private letters, some of which were addressed to Pope Benedict.

Also: Pope's butler held for Vatican leaks (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 27 - VATICAN police have arrested the Pope's personal butler after an inquiry into the leaking of sensitive church documents.

Islam

Pakistan blocks access to Twitter (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

May 21 - PAKISTAN blocked Twitter yesterday, saying it had refused to remove posts promoting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

Indonesia's radical shift (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 22 – (Opinion: Michael Bachelard) WHEN I wrote a story in March about the Indonesian religious affairs minister wanting to ban mini-skirts because he believed them to be "pornographic", one comment on the Fairfax website stood out from the rest.

Egypt poll's salute to hope (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 25 - After dominating the parliamentary elections in November and December by capturing 43 per cent of the vote, it appeared [the Muslim Brotherhood's] fortunes had faded after a lacklustre performance since it took control of both houses of government.

Also: 'Worst of outcomes' in Egyptian poll. (The Age, Melbourne)

May 27 - EGYPT faces a presidential runoff vote between the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood and a former leader of the old regime, leaving the young liberal activists who overthrew president Hosni Mubarak asking: ''What happened to the revolution?''

Also: Small Muslim Brotherhood lead in early Egypt vote. (news.com.au)

May 25 - PARTIAL results from Egypt's first genuinely competitive presidential elections announced today showed the candidate of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood leading narrowly in the five-way race.

Also: Religious rift may rend Egypt's presidential race (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 26 - EGYPT'S Muslim Brotherhood claimed last night that its candidate, Mohammed Mursi, will face Ahmed Shafiq, a former military chief and prime minister under dictator Hosni Mubarak, in a presidential runoff.

Doubt cast on Corby's parole bid (ABC News)

May 25 - The governor of Kerobokan prison in Bali has cast doubt on Schapelle Corby's chance of winning parole.

Thousands pray for Istanbul landmark to become mosque (The West Australian)

May 27 - ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Thousands of devout Muslims prayed outside Turkey's historic Hagia Sophia museum on Saturday to protest a 1934 law that bars religious services at the former church and mosque.

US Politics

Obamacare could backfire on Barack (The Australian)

May 23 – (Opinion: Michael Gerson) IN a blowout US presidential election, a few large issues dominate.

Religious Violence

No death penalty for Bali bombmaker (The Australian)

May 21 - INDONESIAN prosecutors have asked for a life sentence rather than the death penalty for Umar Patek, the bombmaker accused of being behind the Bali attacks that killed 202 people.

Sunni clashes kill two (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 22 - BEIRUT. Clashes between Sunni factions left at least two people dead and more than 12 wounded in Beirut after Lebanese army soldiers shot dead a Sunni cleric in the country's north.

Suicide blast massacre (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 23 - SANAA. A suicide bomber killed dozens of people in Yemen's capital yesterday at a military parade rehearsal near the presidential palace.

Gaga still in the dark on gig (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

May 25 - LADY Gaga is as confused as anyone about whether she will be allowed to perform in Indonesia.

Freed Islamist says Lebanon can't snub Sunnis over Syria (The West Australian)

May 25 - ALBIREH, Lebanon (Reuters) - A Lebanese Islamist whose arrest on suspicion of helping arm Syrian rebels sparked deadly sectarian fighting in Lebanon says his release shows Lebanese authorities cannot afford to anger Sunni Muslims who back their co-religionists fighting in Syria

Tunisian Salafi Islamists riot, clash with police (The West Australian)

May 26 - TUNIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of Salafi Islamists attacked bars and shops and clashed with security forces in a Tunisian town on Saturday in the latest incident to raise religious tensions in the home of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Qaeda-linked suicide bomber kills 12 in Yemen (The West Australian)

May 26 - SANAA (Reuters) - Two al Qaeda-linked suicide bombers targeting Shi'ite Muslims blew themselves up at a school and a protest march in northern Yemen on Friday killing at least 12 people, the defence ministry said.

Other

Ex-nanny sues actress Sharon Stone (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)

May 24 - A FILIPINA former nanny of Sharon Stone is suing the US film star for wrongful dismissal and harassment, including by allegedly making derogatory remarks about her ethnicity and religion.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Couples rejecting church weddings (Herald-Sun, Melbourne)

May 21 - MOST couples used to want the big church wedding - now they want the big wedding without the church.

World's End the road to eternal rest (ABC News)

May 23 - A Christian group has been given exclusive ownership of a parcel of land off the World's End Highway in South Australia's Mid North to use as a cemetery for its brotherhood.

Bird's eye view of how we go tweet, tweet, tweet (The Australian)

May 23 - BEER lovers, fans of Justin Bieber, evangelical groups and Adelaide foodies are among the most isolated groups on Twitter.

GWS recruit Israel Folau visits prisoners at Parklea Correctional Centre (Adelaide Now)

May 24 - IT wasn't until Israel Folau reached the cold hard steel security gates and razor wire of one of Sydney's maximum security prisons that it hit him - this may not be a good idea.

Is society rediscovering its virginity? (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 25 – (Opinion: Katherine Feeney) No sex before marriage, the new normal?

Virginity's unwitting casualties (The Age, Melbourne)

May 25 - A woman's virginity has long been a cultural fixation.

Speak out against gay marriage at your peril (The Australian)

May 26 – (Opinion: Angela Shanahan) FREEDOM of speech has been dealt yet another whack by the gay lobby determined to get its way on same-sex marriage and, what is worse, it was done in the name of human rights.

Also: Let's do away with demonology on both sides of the gay marriage question (The Australian)

May 27 – (Opinion: Frank Furedi) IS it possible to have a forthright but respectful disagreement on the question of gay marriage?