Religion News Selection 5 (Jan 23 - 30)
(29 January 11)by Greg Spearritt
Religion News Selection
Jan 23 - 30, 2011
A selection of religion news stories from Australia.
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.
Elton feels like 'second-class citizen' (The West Australian)
Jan 25 - Sir Elton John is "fed up" with being a treated like a "second-class citizen" in the U.S.
Ricky Gervais's fundamental error was to attack God (The Australian)
Jan 25 - What caused real grief at NBC, the network that broadcasts the Globes, and among those of the organisers who leaked that Gervais had "crossed a line" was the presenter's final quip as he exited.
CATHOLIC CHURCH
Catholics need more than ads to come home (Sydney Morning Herald)
Jan 28 – (Opinion: Eric Hodgens) Cardinal George Pell is thinking about adopting Catholics Come Home - a TV advertising program launched in Chicago in December 2009.
EDUCATION
Challenging the $220m chaplains (Daily Telegraph, Sydney)
Jan 30 – (Opinion: Maralyn Parker) THE battle against chaplains in public schools today reaches the High Court of Australia as a brave Queensland parent claims the national school chaplain program is illegal and a misuse of taxpayer money.
Also: Man 1, God 0 in school chaplains case (news.com.au)
Jan 28 - A FATHER won the first round in his historic battle yesterday to have government-funded chaplains thrown out of the nation's public schools.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Islam
Muslim birth rate falls, population to grow more slowly (The West Australian)
Jan 27 - PARIS (Reuters) - Falling birth rates will slow the world's Muslim population growth over the next two decades, reducing it on average from 2.2 percent a year in 1990-2010 to 1.5 percent a year from now until 2030, a new study says.
Judaism
US rabbis call on Murdoch to act (The Age, Melbourne)
Jan 29 - FOUR hundred rabbis, including the leaders of all the main branches of Judaism in the US, have signed an open letter calling on Rupert Murdoch to sanction the head of Fox News and one of the channel's most famous hosts.
Religious Violence
Pakistan has "disastrous year" for human rights in 2010: HRW (The West Australian)
Jan 25 - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Taliban violence and religious extremism grew in Pakistan in 2010, with the government doing little to improve the situation and often making things worse, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday.
Priest's words spark scuffle at funeral of gay activist (The Age, Melbourne)
Jan 30 - Scuffles erupted at the funeral of a murdered Ugandan gay rights activist after the presiding priest charged that homosexuality is ''evil and will be punished by God''.
Other
Anti-abortion movement finds renewed energy (ABC News)
Jan 25 - Buoyed by conservative victories in the mid-term elections, the pro-life movement is renewing its aggressive anti-abortion agenda in Washington.
Church folk feel wrath of lenders (The Age, Melbourne)
Jan 27 - THE house of God has become the latest victim of the property crunch.
High time to be your own guiding star (The Age, Melbourne)
Jan 29 – (Opinion: Annie Stevens) AN ARTICLE in a Minneapolis newspaper recently sent ripples of fear and dread around the world.
POLITICS
As the left sides with Muslims, Christians search for support (The Age, Melbourne)
Jan 25 – (Opinion: Paul Sheehan) [Coptic Orthodox and other Christian] communities are tilting away from Labor, perceiving it as the party of appeasement of Muslim belligerence, and the party that has turned Australia's refugee program into a Muslim immigration program, while Christian communities are bludgeoned in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon.
Doyle at Scientology function (The Age, Melbourne)
Jan 30 - MELBOURNE lord mayor Robert Doyle was a guest speaker at the opening of the Church of Scientology's multimillion-dollar headquarters in Ascot Vale yesterday, which drew more than 50 protesters.
From the Archive…
Religion News Australia 2011 - 5 (Jan 23 - 30)
Religion News Australia 2011 - 4 (Jan 16 - 23)
Religion News Australia 2011 - 3 (Jan 9 - 16)
Religion News Australia 2011 - 2 (Jan 2 - 9)
Religion News Australia 2011 - 1 (Dec 26 – Jan 2)
