Religion News Australia 2015 - 27 (July 19

Religion News Australia 2015 - 27 (July 19 - 26)

(25 July 15)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

July 19 - 26, 2015

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

arts & entertainment / education / international stories / islam / religion & society

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Blake Prize for religious art finds salvation in western Sydney (Brisbane Times)
July 23 - Threatened with damnation after it was deserted by sponsors last year, Australia's top prize for religious art has found a saviour.

Sex, death and Islam the issues in Osamah Sami’s Good Muslim Boy (The Australian)
July 25 - Melbourne-based actor, writer and comedian Osamah Sami is only 32 but has led an eventful enough life to fill several long memoirs.

EDUCATION

Schools track students' social media for signs of extremism (Brisbane Times)
July 23 - Australian schools are watching their students' every move on school-supplied computers or tablets to spot signs of radicalisation.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Religious Violence

Suspected Islamic State suicide bomber kills 30 in Suruc, Turkey (Sydney Morning Herald)
July 21 - Suruc: A suspected Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 30 people, mostly young students, in an attack on a Turkish town near the Syrian border on Monday.

Could it be that Islamic State is transforming into a functioning state? (Sydney Morning Herald)
July 23 - Istanbul: The Islamic State uses terror to force obedience and frighten enemies.

US kills top Bin Laden aide (The Australian)
July 23 - Muhsin al-Fadhli was plotting to use a western commercial aircraft for a terrorist attack on US soil.

‘Evil’ West influences jihad narrative (The Australian)
July 25 – (Opinion: Frank Furedi ) The culture of victimhood is key to the appeal of Islamic State propaganda.

Turkey launches air raids against IS militants in Syria; re-opens front with PKK in Iraq (ABC News)
July 26 - Turkey has launched a third wave of raids against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, and a new campaign to bombard camps of Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

Other

Tim Farron avoids saying whether he considers gay sex as a sin (The Guardian, Australia)
July 18 - The new Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, on Friday night repeatedly avoided answering whether he regarded gay sex as a sin during a live television interview.

Koran manuscript is among world's oldest, University of Birmingham says (ABC News)
July 23 - A British university says fragments of a Koran manuscript found in its library are from one of the oldest surviving copies of the Islamic text, possibly written by someone who might have known the Prophet Mohammed.

Also: Koran fragments found in Birmingham are from the time of Muhammad, test shows (Sydney Morning Herald)
July 23 - London: Fragments of what researchers say are part of one of the world's oldest manuscripts of the Koran have been found at the University of Birmingham.

ISLAM

Epping Boys High School student investigated by counter-terrorism police (ABC News)
July 24 - A year 12 student at a Sydney high school is being investigated by counter-terrorism police over allegations radical Islam is being preached in the schoolyard.

Australian Adam Brookman, who claims he was forced to join IS, denies wrongdoing (Brisbane Times)
July 24 - When I spoke to Adam Brookman in May, I asked him if he anticipated being charged or jailed over his time in Syria and stint working with the Islamic State.

Also: Alleged Islamic State nurse extradited to Victoria after appearing in Sydney court (ABC News)
July 26 - A Melbourne nurse who voluntarily returned from Syria after allegedly working with Islamic State (IS) militants has been extradited to Victoria, after appearing in a Sydney court on Saturday.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Racial cohesion facing its greatest threat in 30 years (ABC News)
July 21 - The president of the Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales says racial cohesion in Australia is facing its greatest threat in 30 years and that a situation similar to the Cronulla riots is not "off the plan", after a weekend of racially charged anti-Islamist rallies around the country.

Also: Gun seized from Reclaim Australia-bound protester prompts safety concerns amongst police (ABC News)
July 26 - Police are concerned about the growing threat to their safety at anti-Islam rallies after a gun was seized from a protester last weekend.

Authorities escort asylum seeker boat off WA coast from Australia waters (Brisbane Times)
July 21 - Refugee advocates believe a suspected asylum seeker boat being escorted away from the WA coast by the Australian Navy was carrying women and children among a group of Vietnamese Catholics escaping persecution.

Thousands turn out for Hillsong’s Europe Conference 2015 (news.com.au)
July 25 - THE backstage corridors of London’s O2 arena are a hallowed place, lined with pictures of Jay Z, Beyonce, The Who and Dolly Parton — legends who have packed the venue and left a signed picture or hoody as tribute.