Religion News Selection 22 (June 3

Religion News Selection 22 (June 3 - 10)

(09 June 12)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Selection

June 3 - 10, 2012

A selection of religion news stories from Australia.

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

Inclusion here does not endorse the veracity or quality of any particular item – it just means
I found it worth reading and reflecting on (even if badly conceived or poorly written).

If you’re after the unexpurgated (and reasonably unbiased) version,
see Religion News Australia which appears weekly on our website.

Please note: This weekly roundup of religious news from Australia will be
in abeyance for a few weeks and will resume on Sunday, July 14.

ABUSE

An unbearable secret (The Age, Melbourne)

June 6 - As a child and young man, Tony Hersbach was regularly sexually abused by a Catholic priest.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Pop star's early illness prompted him to look at life's serious questions (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 3 - THE long spiritual journey of Yusuf - the artist formerly known as Yusuf Islam, and before that as Cat Stevens, and somewhere in the mists of time as plain old Steven Georgiou - began when he fell ill at the height of his first blaze of fame in the late 1960s.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Nuns versus the Vatican? I know which side I'm on (The Age, Melbourne)

June 9 – (Opinion: Martin Flanagan) I'm not a Catholic as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's thought police, would see it.

Critic bishop exits church (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 10 - A DISSIDENT Catholic bishop who criticised the church's ''authoritarian'' nature and doctrines on celibacy and female priests has resigned.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Catholic Church

Vatican criticises nun's book on sexuality (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)

June 5 - THE Vatican has sharply criticised a book on sexuality written by a prominent American nun, saying she has a "defective understanding" of certain core church teachings on issues like masturbation, homosexuality and marriage.

Also: Of noble nuns and a venal Vatican (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 10 – (Opinion: Maureen Dowd) It is hard to say what is weirder: a Sister of Mercy writing about the Kama Sutra, sexual desire and ''our yearnings for pleasure''; or the Vatican getting so hot and bothered about the academic treatise on sexuality that the Pope censures it, causing it to shoot from obscurity to the top tier of Amazon.com's bestseller list six years after it was published.

Butler quizzed on Pope papers theft (The Age, Melbourne)

June 7 - VATICAN investigators have begun interrogating the Pope's butler on suspicion of stealing confidential documents, as it was claimed he had been acting as a ''double agent'' to help officials uncover others involved in the scandal.

Vatican bank-money, mystery and monsignors (The West Australian)

June 8 - VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - For a financial institution whose ATMs offer Latin as a language option, whose offices are below the pope's windows and where tellers work under the gaze of crucifixes, one might assume the Vatican bank would have a dispensation from earthly travails.

Also: Post your pro-pope postcard to "sad" pontiff now (The West Australian)

June 8 - BERLIN (Reuters) - German Catholics upset about media attacks on Pope Benedict over the "Vatileaks" scandal can now show solidarity with the German-born pontiff by sending pre-printed postcards bearing the message "We are with you!"

Also: Vatican bank's ex-boss fears for his life (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 9 - The former head of the Vatican bank compiled a secret dossier of compromising information about the Holy See because he feared for his life, it has been claimed.

Islam

Tweeter gets 10 years for prophet insult (Adelaide Now)

June 4 - A LOWER court in Kuwait sentenced a Shiite tweeter to 10 years in jail today on charges of insulting Islam's Prophet Mohammed, his wife Aisha and companions, his lawyer Khaled al-Shatti said.

Police blush over nail polish row (news.com.au)

June 4 - A SAUDI religious police officer ordered a woman to leave a mall because she was wearing nail polish.

Wider world opened to Saudis studying abroad (The West Australian)

June 6 - RIYADH, Jun (Reuters) - Wearing the black face-covering veil favored by Saudi women, Maha Mazyad looked through leaflets for prospective jobs with some of the Islamic kingdom's largest companies at a recent career fair in Riyadh.

Judaism

Ritual circumcision kills two boys (news.com.au)

June 8 - A JEWISH ritual in which a circumciser sucks blood from a newborn's penis has killed two babies in the past decade, US authorities said overnight.

Religious Violence

Distrust fuels anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar (The West Australian)

June 6 - SITTWE, Myanmar (AFP) - An eruption in religious tensions in Myanmar has exposed the deep divisions between the majority Buddhists and the country's Muslims, considered foreigners despite a decades-long presence.

Drones "inhumane", dead al Qaeda man's family says (The West Australian)

June 7 - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The brother of al Qaeda's second-in-command, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike, said Washington's use of the remote-controlled weapons is inhumane and makes a mockery of its claims to champion human rights.

Kony kidnapping children (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 8 - JOSEPH Kony's Lord Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted more than 600 child soldiers and sex slaves over the past two years, the United Nations says.

Other

Women's religious lock-up (Adelaide Now)

June 5 - A study on how cultures control women's infidelity… found religion helps, because the major religions all have some way to bridle potentially wayward women.

China says saves children from illegal preachers in Xinjiang (The West Australian)

June 6 - BEIJING (Reuters) - Police in China's far western region of Xinjiang have rescued 54 children from illegal preachers, state media said on Wednesday, in what an exiled rights group said was a violent raid on a school teaching the Koran.

New Danish law lets homosexuals wed in church (The West Australian)

June 8 - COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark passed legislation that permits homosexual couples to be married in full church ceremonies, not just via the brief blessings or civil registration of partnerships allowed earlier.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Jehovah girl remains in hospital (Adelaide Now)

June 3 - A JEHOVAH'S Witness girl who was granted medical treatment by the Supreme Court despite her parents' objection remains in hospital.

Rundle Mall sermons are 'a lost cause' (Adelaide Now)

June 3 - CHURCHES need to learn from their controversial pasts and preach messages of love instead of guilt and shame, a visiting New York minister says.

Christians slam gay marriage support (Sydney Morning Herald)

June 7 - THE Australian Christian Lobby has complained to the media regulator about the involvement of Channel Seven's Sunrise program in a campaign for same-sex marriage.

Also: Christian lobby slams Seven's Sunrise for supporting GetUp! campaign on gay marriage (The Australian)

June 7 - THE Seven Network has been accused of betraying its audiences by allowing its flagship morning show Sunrise to support a campaign launched this week in support of marriage equality for same sex couples.

Christian Lobby analysis reveals strong gay focus (The Age, Melbourne)

June 9 - The Australian Christian Lobby has been criticised for its relentless campaigning on gay issues by other members of the Christian community after data revealed the group raised LGBT issues almost five times more than any other issue.

From the Archive…

Religion News Australia 2012 – 22 (June 3 - 10)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 21 (May 27 – June 3)

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

Religion News Australia 2012 – 19 (May 13 - 20)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 18 (May 6 - 13)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 17 (Apr 29 – May 6)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 16 (Apr 22 - 29)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 15 (Apr 8 - 22)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 14 (Apr 1 - 8)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 13 (Mar 25 – Apr 1)

Religion News Australia 2012 – 12 (Mar 18 - 25)