Religion News Selection
May 1 – 8, 2022
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ANGLICAN CHURCH
It’s high noon for Anglicans as a showdown looms (The Australian)
May 8 – The day of reckoning is at hand for Australia’s second-largest church and this much can be said with confidence: the proudly inclusive spirit of Anglicanism may not survive what happens next week.
EDUCATION
Satanist leader faces prosecution over religious education court challenge (Brisbane Times)
May 6 – The founder of a so-called Queensland Satanist temple is facing prosecution for allegedly lying to the Supreme Court in his fight for Satanists to teach religious instruction in state schools.
‘I am livid’: Anglican principals’ fury at edict against gay marriage (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 7 – Leaders of Sydney’s Anglican schools are pushing back against a decree by the Sydney diocese that new principals and directors of its school boards sign a document affirming they believe marriage is between a man and a woman.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Islam
Taliban order Afghan women to cover up head to toe (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 8 – Kabul: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered all Afghan women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public – a sharp, hard-line pivot that confirmed the worst fears of rights activists and was bound to further complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful international community.
Judaism
Apology, 800 years on, for laws that expelled Jews from England (The Guardian, Australia)
May 8 – The Church of England is to apologise for its “shameful actions” in passing anti-Jewish laws 800 years ago that paved the way for the expulsion of Jews from England.
Other
Rare ‘Wicked’ bible that encourages adultery discovered in New Zealand (The Guardian, Australia)
May 2 – An extremely rare medieval bible famous for an unfortunate error that encourages adultery has been discovered in New Zealand.
POLITICS
Prime Minister Scott Morrison doubles down on religious discrimination act (ABC News)
May 8 – Prime Minister Scott Morrison says gay students are not being expelled from religious schools, doubling down on re-introducing the failed religious discrimination act (RDA) without extra protections for gay and transgender students.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
What’s happening in our brains when we meditate? It’s not just a question for neuroscience (ABC News)
May 2 – Whether it’s prayer, meditation, tai chi, or just chanting, every major religion weaves some form of contemplative practice into its rituals.
If God is neither male nor female, should we change God’s pronouns? (ABC News)
May 8 – “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
