Religion News Selection 34 (Aug 28

Religion News Selection 34 (Aug 28 - Sept 4)

(04 September 16)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Selection

August 28 – Sept 4, 2016

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.

ABUSE

Archbishop Roger Herft thought 'abuser' had repented, royal commission into child sex abuse hears (Brisbane Times)
Aug 29 - The Anglican archbishop of Perth says alarm bells should have rung amid allegations a senior NSW clergyman had his "own group of boys" and had abused a priest's son.

Child sex abuse royal commission: Hunter paedophile priest 'was like Jekyll and Hyde' (ABC News)
Aug 31 - A child sexual abuse survivor has broken down while recounting to a royal commission how he was repeatedly molested by a New South Wales priest who "was like Jekyll and Hyde" and warned him "nobody will believe you because I am a priest".

'There would be thousands of victims': how the crimes of Brother Paschal Bartlett were kept quiet (Sydney Morning Herald)
Sept 4 - The sex crimes of Brother Paschal Bartlett were as numerous as they were horrific.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Anglican Church

Gay bishop Reverend Nicholas Chamberlain gets Church of England’s support after coming out (news.com.au)
Sept 4 - A BISHOP has become the first in the Church of England to announce he is gay and in a same-sex relationship.

Fourteen gay Anglican priests urge bishops to take lead on inclusion (The Guardian, Australia)
Sept 4 - Fourteen Church of England priests who have married their same sex partners have urged Anglican bishops to be bold and take the church forward in its stance on homosexuality and gay marriage.

Catholic Church

Mother Teresa: Is the Nobel peace laureate from Albania a worthy saint? (ABC News)
Sept 4 - Mother Teresa will today be canonised in recognition of her work with poor people in the slums of Kolkata in India, adding saint to her list of titles alongside Nobel peace laureate.

Islam

America accepted me – an Algerian Muslim – in a way France never did (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 31 – (Opinion: Melyssa Haffaf) I was born in Algeria in the mid-1980s in a middle-class, secular family deeply attached to democratic values.

Burkinis? Here’s why we should fight them on the beaches (Brisbane Times)
Sept 3 – (Opinion: Allison Pearson ) On a bathing platform in Turkey, I found myself sunbathing next to a Muslim family.

Burkini ban suspended in Nice after defiance in French city
Sept 4 - A Nice court has finally suspended the burkini ban after authorities in the French Riviera resort had defied a ruling by the country's highest administrative court.

Other

How did a sinner like Donald Trump become a saint? (Brisbane Times)
Sept 3 – (Opinion: Paul McGeough) A thrice married bankrupt claws his way to the top of the political pile with the help of a thrice married bankrupt who clawed her way to the top of the churchy pile – in black stilettos.

ISLAM

Can you be a practising Muslim and identify with the Australian way of life? (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 31 – (Opinion: Hass Dellal) With growing concerns over national security, and the increased threat of those wishing to divide us, there has been recent public discussion about the future of our immigration program, and whether the values and customs of some migrant groups have a place in the Australian way of life.

JUDAISM

Canberra to see new Jewish war memorial and museum, rabbi says (Brisbane Times)
Sept 3 - A $6.3 million upgrade and expansion to the national Jewish community centre, 650 metres from Parliament House, would make it a home for national religious events and represent Australian Jewry, says Rabbi Alon Meltzer.

POLITICS

Religious leaders stage prayer protest in Turnbull's electorate office over offshore detention centres (ABC News)
Aug 30 - Seven religious leaders who staged a prayer protest inside Malcolm Turnbull's Sydney electorate office over offshore detention centres have said they were "arrested" by police after refusing to leave.

Australian Quakers call for PM to legislate on same-sex marriage, ditch plebiscite (Sydney Morning Herald)
Sept 4 - The Australian arm of the Quaker society has broken ranks with other religious groups and called on the federal government to legislate for same-sex marriage, warning of a damaging and extreme plebiscite campaign.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Questioning the 'miracles' of Mother Teresa (ABC News)
Sept 3 – (Opinion: Philip Almond) In 2002, the Vatican officially recognised as a miracle the healing of an Indian woman's cancer of the abdomen.

I took Scientology’s personality test, and the results weren’t good (news.com.au)
Sept 3 - I’M sat at a wooden desk answering multiple choice questions with a pencil, occasionally erasing my answers and colouring in a different circle.

From the Archive…

Religion News Australia 2016 – 34 (Aug 28 – Sept 4)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 33 (Aug 21 - 28)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 32 (Aug 14 - 21)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 31 (Aug 7 - 14)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 30 (Aug 1 - 7)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 29 (July 24 - 31)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 28 (July 17 - 24)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 27 (July 10 - 17)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 26 (June 26 – July 10)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 25 (June 19 - 26)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 24 (June 12 - 19)