Religion News Selection 21 (Oct 20 - Nov 3)

Religion News Selection

Oct 20 – Nov 3, 2019

A selection of religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

ABUSE

Child sex abuse still being hidden, warns watchdog (Sydney Morning Herald)
Oct 31 – Victoria’s commission for children fears many cases of abuse are still being kept secret, despite religious groups reporting 88 cases of sexual and physical abuse in the past financial year.

ANGLICAN CHURCH

Newcastle Anglican diocese hoses down talk of a split over same-sex marriage (ABC News)
Oct 24 – The Anglican Dean of Newcastle has rejected comments by the Archbishop of Sydney that supporters of same-sex marriage should leave the church, saying differing views deserve respect.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Should this tree have the same rights as you? (The Guardian, Australia)
Nov 3 – (Review) On 26 February 2019, a lake became human.

EDUCATION

Why Christian students persist with walk-up evangelism on campus, despite the criticism (ABC News)
Nov 3 – Step onto campus at the University of Sydney, and within 10 minutes there’s likely to be more than three different societies waiting to sign you up to the latest political or social campaign.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Islam

Social integration has been abandoned, says former government tsar (The Guardian, Australia)
Nov 3 – Community cohesion has been effectively abandoned by the government, according to a former integration tsar who says the approach is typified by the prime minister comparing Muslim women wearing burkas to “letter boxes”.

Judaism

School principal fired for saying ‘I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual event’ (The Guardian, Australia)
Nov 1 – A high school principal in Florida has been fired after telling a student’s parent “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened”.

Religious Violence

Who was Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? (Sydney Morning Herald)
Oct 28 – Baghdad: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Iraqi jihadist who rose from obscurity to declare himself “caliph” of all Muslims as the leader of Islamic State, has keen killed during a US special forces raid in Syria.

Also: IS names Baghdadi’s successor (The Australian)
Nov 1 – Islamic State names Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi as its replacement for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Indonesian cleric who helped draft caning law, Mukhlis bin-Muhammad, flogged for adultery (ABC News)
Nov 3 – A Muslim cleric in Indonesia has been caned 28 times in public for breaking a religious law on adultery that he helped draft.

Other

Florida teacher condemns ‘hypocrisy’ of school that fired her for being gay (The Guardian, Australia)
Nov 3 – A Florida teacher has attacked the “hypocrisy” of a private Christian school that fired her for being gay, then insisted she stick around to teach one more class after giving her a lecture about the sin of homosexuality.

And did those feet … 15 pilgrim trails in the UK and Europe (The Guardian, Australia)
Nov 3 – Walkers of any faith or none will be inspired by our pick of historic, uplifting and long-distance pilgrimages, with transport links and places to rest weary legs each night.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Why it’s important to keep diversity in mind when reading the Bible (ABC News)
Oct 23 – (Opinion: Dr Gareth Wearne) We tend to assume the Bible has some place — for better or worse — in debates about morality and social values.

Tahirih was an early Baha’i, Persian feminist pioneer we don’t hear enough about (ABC News)
Oct 29 – During the 1800s in Persia, it was a sin to even look at the shadow of a woman.

The end of Uluru’s long, quiet conflict which baffled both sides (Brisbane Times)
Nov 1 – (Opinion: Tony Wright and Alex Ellinghausen) [I]n the creation stories of the Anangu, that ridge was the route taken by their ancestors, the Mala (rufous hare-wallaby). It is thus given sacred status.

We need to develop a more nuanced understanding of cultural diversity (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 1 – (Opinion: Dimitria Groutsis, Jane O’Leary and Cathy Brown) Labor MP Andrew Giles recently called for our national census to be updated to give an accurate picture of ethnic diversity and help identify the population’s untapped potential.

It’s time to put down our swords in the culture wars and talk about the Bible (ABC News)
Nov 3 – (Opinion: Mark Stephens) “We might be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us.”

From the Archive…

Religion News Australia 2019 – 20 (May 12 – 19)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 19 (May 5 – 12)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 18 (Apr 28 – May 5)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 17 (Apr 22 – 28)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 16 (Apr 14 – 22)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 15 (Apr 7 – 14)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 14 (Apr 1 – 7)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 13 (Mar 24 – 31)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 12 (Mar 17 – 24)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 11 (Mar 10 – 17)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 10 (Mar 3 – 10)