Religion News Australia
July 31 – August 7, 2022
Religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ANGLICAN CHURCH
Charming and unapologetic: Sydney’s Anglican archbishop isn’t afraid to be out of step with the times (Sydney Morning Herald)
Aug 5 – Kanishka Raffel’s election as Archbishop of Sydney broke the mould.
EDUCATION
King’s School forced to explain spending on plunge pool, flights to British regatta (Sydney Morning Herald)
Aug 4 – The King’s School has been forced to explain planned spending on a plunge pool for the headmaster’s residence and business-class flights for senior staff to attend a prestigious British rowing regatta.
Sydney private schools go on $100 million buying bonanza (Sydney Morning Herald)
Aug 6 – Some of Sydney’s most expensive private schools have emerged as the most prolific home buyers of the post-pandemic property boom, as the schools look to their next door neighbours’ homes to meet their expansion plans.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Anglican Church
Sandi Toksvig says ‘lives at stake’ after anti-gay Anglican church declaration (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 5 – The lives of LGBTQ+ people are at stake, the broadcaster and author Sandi Toksvig has said, after the archbishop of Canterbury affirmed the validity of a 1998 resolution that gay sex is a sin.
Catholic Church
What might a Pope Francis retirement mean for the Catholic church? (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 5 – Almost a decade has passed since Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff for 600 years to retire rather than die in office.
Religious Violence
What we know about the US strike on Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (ABC News)
Aug 2 – Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a CIA drone strike in Afghanistan on Sunday, the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder, Osama bin Laden, was killed by a US operation in 2011.
Also: Killing a blow to terrorists’ network (The Australian)
Aug 2 – The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri marks the biggest blow to al-Qa’ida since the US assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Also: It was personal: justice for victims of 9/11 (The Australian)
Aug 3 – Ayman al-Zawahiri was bound to make a mistake sooner or later. So when the world’s most wanted terrorist stepped on to the balcony of his Kabul house, the Americans were waiting.
Also: Killing a blow to terrorists’ network (The Australian)
Aug 3 – The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri marks the biggest blow to al-Qa’ida since the US assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Also: ‘Flying ginsu’ missile likely (The Australian)
Aug 3 – Photos of the house where terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed point to the use again by the US of the macabre Hellfire R9X missile.
Also: US Hellfire attack proves Taliban shelters terrorists (The Australian)
Aug 3 – Ayman al-Zawahiri had been given freedom of movement after moving to the safe house where he was killed.
Also: Assassination a win, but the war goes on (The Australian)
Aug 7 – (Opinion: Cameron Stewart) Ayman al-Zawahiri’s death marks the end of the Osama bin Laden era of terrorism but it raises questions about what comes next. It has exposed the lies of the Taliban government and raised fears that history might repeat itself.
Saudi sisters found dead in Sydney told acquaintance queer women ‘live in fear’ in their homeland (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 5 – Two Saudi sisters found dead in their beds in Sydney attended a girls-only queer event in January where they told acquaintances gay women “live in fear” in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Qaida chief’s killing comes as group gains ground in African conflict zones (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 5 – It was one of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s last victories.
Afghanistan: bomb in Kabul shopping street kills eight people (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 7 – A bomb exploded in a busy shopping street in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Saturday killed eight people and injured at least 22, hospital officials and witnesses said.
Other
Fears over building works at Afghan Buddhas of Bamiyan site (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 2 – The Taliban have launched construction work on a tourism complex just metres from the cliff that held the Bamiyan Buddha statues, which archeologists and experts warn could cause permanent damage to the sensitive world heritage site.
The next Dalai Lama (ABC News)
Aug 7 – Death. It is unpredictable yet inevitable.
Bus crash in Croatia kills 12 Polish pilgrims travelling to shrine (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 7 – Twelve Polish nationals have died and 30 others were injured when a bus bound for Zagreb veered off a motorway in northern Croatia.
JUDAISM
The billionaires, the Rabbi and their unlikely passion project (The Australian)
Aug 5 – Property magnates Sam and Christine Tarascio’s alliance with a Melbourne Rabbi stirred their philanthropic passions at the same time as their son survived a life-threatening episode.
POLITICS
Labor’s newest senator Fatima Payman is blazing trails and she hopes others will follow (ABC News)
Aug 7 – Tucked away in Parliament House office, once occupied by Tony Abbott and Clive Palmer, now sits the 47th Parliament’s youngest new member.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
Once a diamond mine, forever a sacred site (ABC News)
Aug 2 – Argyle was not the first to discover diamonds in Western Australia’s east Kimberley.
Rex credits God and government assistance in update (The Australian)
Aug 2 – The airline’s chairman has credited God, government assistance, staff and customer support for its survival in an effusive trading update.
