Religion News Australia
April 17 – 24, 2022
Religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
Former Esther Foundation residents claim they faced mistreatment and abuse (ABC News)
Apr 21 – A rehabilitation facility at the centre of mistreatment and abuse allegations has gone into voluntary administration, effective from Wednesday.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Three miracles: how you should read the NGV’s radiant new acquisition (The Age, Melbourne)
Apr 21 – One mustn’t complain that Lavinia Fontana’s Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, just acquired by the NGV, is a rather small picture.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Anglican Church
Boris Johnson criticism of archbishop of Canterbury ‘a disgraceful slur’ (The Guardian, Australia)
Apr 21 – Boris Johnson’s criticism of the archbishop of Canterbury over his comments on the UK government’s Rwanda asylum policy is a “disgraceful slur”, a senior Church of England official has said.
Religious Violence
Blasts near Kabul schools kill several people including students (Sydney Morning Herald)
Apr 20 – Kabul: Explosions targeting educational institutions killed at least six people, including students, and wounded 17 on Tuesday in a mostly Shiite neighbourhood of Afghanistan’s capital city, police said.
Dozens killed in mosque bombing in Afghanistan, Taliban says (WA Today)
Apr 23 – Kabul: A Taliban official says a bombing at a mosque and religious school in northern Afghanistan on Friday night (AEST) killed at least 33 people, including students of a religious school.
Other
Tattooed ‘throuple’ upset Christian neighbours with relationship (news.com.au)
Apr 21 – A throuple living in a Christian community have detailed the abuse they suffer at the hands of their neighbours who have claimed their unusual relationship is “not what god intended”.
ISLAM
Why Muslims fast during Ramadan and how a purification ritual can ‘cleanse your sins’ (ABC News)
Apr 24 – It’s Ramadan, and Shazma Gaffoor hasn’t eaten or drunk for seven hours when we speak.
‘Huge issue’: The athletes juggling faith and sport (The Age, Melbourne)
Apr 24 – Hakeem al-Araibi quietly arrived at St Albans Saints Soccer Club training after sunset, holding a date and a drink.
POLITICS
NSW Nationals candidate tells congregation of her aim to ‘bring God’s kingdom’ to politics (The Guardian, Australia)
Apr 21 – The National party’s candidate for the marginal northern New South Wales seat of Richmond told worshippers at a Pentecostal church that her “ultimate goal” in politics was to “bring God’s kingdom to the political arena”.
Australian Christian Lobby faces complaints about flyers targeting MPs (The Guardian, Australia)
Apr 23 – Australian Christian Lobby flyers targeting moderate Liberals who crossed the floor to amend the religious discrimination bill to protect LGBTIQ+ people have prompted complaints to the charities regulator that argue the material breaches rules on political campaigning.
Not ‘blessed’, but privileged: Why Morrison’s election debate comment angered so many this week (ABC News)
Apr 23 – Autistic disability rights advocate Michelle Swan was frustrated when she heard Scott Morrison say he was “blessed” that his children hadn’t had to deal with a disability in Wednesday’s leaders’ debate.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
Hillsong: scathing internal letter denounces church response to Brian Houston’s leadership (The Guardian, Australia)
Apr 22 – A senior member of the Hillsong church has written an explosive letter to the church’s global board criticising the handling of complaints against its former head Brian Houston and his leadership style.
Sunshine Coast doctor on multiple rape charges felt he was entitled to sex, court told (ABC News)
Apr 22 – A Sunshine Coast doctor accused of raping multiple women, including two he met on a religious dating website, told one of his alleged victims he would “teach her” how to have sex before he repeatedly sexually assaulted her, a court has heard.
Push to liberate religious swastika in NSW from its ‘indoor prison’ (Sydney Morning Herald)
Apr 23 – Surinder Jain has a dream: to normalise the swastika in Australia.
Ukrainian refugees find comfort and chance of a new life in Australian Orthodox Easter (The Age, Melbourne)
Apr 24 – On a sunny Sunday morning in Melbourne’s inner-north, Svitlana Solovey and her family marked Orthodox Easter thousands of kilometres from home.