Religion News Selection
May 15 – 22, 2022
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Anglican Church
Archbishop champions vote for euthanasia (The Australian)
May 16 – A former archbishop of Canterbury has written to every member of the NSW upper house urging them to vote for voluntary assisted dying this week.
Islam
Female Afghan TV presenters ordered to cover face on air, as women’s rights further diminish (ABC News)
May 20 – Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have asked television broadcasters to ensure that female presenters on local stations cover their faces when on air, officials say.
POLITICS
How religious beliefs inform voter preferences (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 15 – (Opinion: Barney Zwartz) Election commentators, if they talk about the Christian vote at all, often regard it as monolithic (and conservative).
Faith, politics and Australia’s ‘run of religious PMs’ (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 19 – Australia’s Catholic leaders can have a powerful voice in politics, if they choose to exercise it through their pulpits and schools.
[Leaders] pictured wearing scarves bearing symbol used by Hindu ultra-nationalist group VHP India (ABC News)
May 20 – Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese have been photographed wearing saffron scarves bearing the symbol used by a right-wing Hindu nationalist group from India that has been accused of orchestrating brutal attacks on Muslims and Christians.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in JobKeeper went to a group of private schools (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 20 – Most private schools that took JobKeeper increased their income during the first year of the pandemic, including some of Australia’s most exclusive schools.
Could ‘the Christian lobby’ make the second safest LNP seat of Groom not so safe? (ABC News)
May 20 – Groom in southern Queensland is held by the Liberal National Party by a more than 20 per cent margin, but this might change tomorrow.
Assisted dying bill is a victory for compassion and common sense (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 20 – (Opinion – Editorial) While the federal election has dominated the media, NSW parliament has, with little fanfare, just passed a bill which shows that many of the most fundamental issues are decided at state level.
‘My anxiety is at an all-time high’: How the election affected transgender families (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 21 – The federal election campaign has taken its toll on trans and gender diverse kids, with experts reporting an escalation in the number of physical and verbal attacks and parents struggling to cope with the fallout.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
Unconverted (ABC News)
May 17 – A young girl sits, waiting in hope that the demons will leave her body.
Mayor concedes more thought should have gone into prayer room after interest from satanists (ABC News)
May 18 – Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate says he should have thought twice before converting a disused office at council chambers into a prayer room, following attempts by a group of satanists to use it for a blessing.
Also: Satanic leader faces perjury charge after allegedly lying in ‘political stunt’ court case (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 20 – The founder of a so-called Queensland Satanist temple will fight a potential perjury charge after a Supreme Court judge referred him for prosecution on Friday.
This is how Tom Tilley left the religious community that was his whole life (ABC News)
May 22 – Growing up in the country, Tom Tilley spent his childhood running wild in the outdoors, attending camps with church friends every holiday, and enjoying the security of a close-knit congregation.
