Religion News Australia
May 30 – June 6, 2021
Religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
The Catholic Church just overhauled its laws on sexual abuse. What effect will this have? (ABC News)
June 3 – Fundamental changes around how the Catholic Church deals with sexual abuse have been cautiously welcomed in Australia as an important step to addressing this crisis within its ranks.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Abuse
The Pope changes canon law to explicitly criminalise ‘grooming’ and priests’ sexual abuse of adults (ABC News)
June 6 – Pope Francis has made the most extensive revisions to Catholic Church law in four decades, insisting that bishops take action against clerics who sexually abuse minors and vulnerable adults, commit economic fraud or ordain women.
Islam
‘Notre Dame for Muslims’: Will a new mosque mean a new dawn in France? (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 31 – Strasbourg: In a packed, converted hangar in a suburb of Strasbourg, eastern France, a thousand men knelt on mats for Friday prayers as an imam intoned in Turkish.
Other
Pilgrims return to Spain’s ‘El Camino’ path to heal lockdown wounds (ABC News)
June 2 – After a year of being kept in lockdown, soul-searchers hoping to heal wounds left by the coronavirus are following historical trails in the city of Santiago de Compostela.
JUDAISM
If you hate Bibi and Israel, you probably hate Jews (The Australian)
June 6 – (Opinion: Greg Sheridan) The apparent end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year reign is a grand historical moment. So, sadly, is the recrudescence of one of the most putrid hatreds in history.
POLITICS
‘Right-wing backlash’: Church group to make religious freedom an election issue (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 6 – The Morrison government has placed religious freedom back on the political agenda, as Attorney-General Michaelia Cash restarts meetings with key stakeholders and church groups embark on a lobbying blitz to shape and enact the laws before the election.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
I tried to convert myself from gay to straight. It doesn’t work (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 4 – (Opinion: Holden Sheppard) When I was growing up, I didn’t want to let myself exist.
‘Gay conversion therapy roadshow’ hits WA churches with ‘reformed’ gay man at the helm (WAToday.com.au)
June 4 – A ‘gay conversion therapy’ roadshow visiting West Australian churches has sparked outrage and renewed pressure on state and federal governments to outlaw the controversial practice.
Lord save us from the curse of post-religious preachers (The Australian)
June 6 – (Opinion: Janet Albrechtsen ) As Christianity declines, we are forced to listen to the mindless moralising of mission creepers.
