Religion News Australia
July 2 – 9, 2023
Religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
EDUCATION
Why a Sydney private girls’ school had to hastily redesign its garden (Sydney Morning Herald)
July 6 – A private girls’ school has been forced to redesign a garden bed it accidentally built in the shape of a penis.
Parents have just started their own school in Sydney — this is part of a long tradition in Australia (ABC News)
July 6 – Last week, The Australian newspaper reported some parents have been prompted to start their own schools to give their children the type of education they want.
How to help children learn: the evidence is in (Sydney Morning Herald)
July 8 – (Opinion: Ross Fox) The report from the Teacher Education Expert Panel 2023, authored by Mark Scott, has important insights into how to make teachers highly effective.
Local Catholic schools object to Barker upgrade because it limits their own growth (Sydney Morning Herald)
July 9 – An exclusive Anglican private school’s proposed $121 million redevelopment is being fought by local Catholic schools because it would limit their own growth and lure away potential students.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Religious Violence
Taliban announce ban on beauty salons in Afghanistan in latest crackdown on women’s rights (ABC News)
July 6 – The Taliban are banning women’s beauty salons in Afghanistan, the latest curb on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls.
Other
Caste out: how Kerala’s food parcel scheme tackles poverty and prejudice (The Guardian, Australia)
July 7 – It’s a cliche that food cooked with love is the best, but in Kerala thousands of women have proved that cooking with a sense of shared humanity can produce a delicious meal.
POLITICS
Labor’s ideological war on faith a threat to dignity, morality (The Australian)
July 9 – (Opinion: Julian Leeser) Andrew Hastie is a shining example of how faith equips a person with the courage to stand apart from the mob.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
I should never have married, but my Sydney church left me few options (Sydney Morning Herald)
July 9 – (Opinion: Steph Lentz) On the morning of my wedding day, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling rose in my mum’s spare room, following its concentric circles of colour and ornate moulding.
The preacher, the wife and the husband who hired a hitman at Bunnings (Brisbane Times)
July 9 – You can get almost anything at Bunnings.
What’s in a name? God reveals himself to us in what we call him (Brisbane Times)
July 9 – (Opinion: Barney Zwartz) Names in human history have often had a particular significance that goes beyond personal identification but expresses someone’s nature or achievements. Think William the Conqueror or Jesus (in Hebrew: Yeshua, God saves).
