Religion News Selection
May 7 – 14, 2023
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
Failure to defrock Peter Hollingworth undermines Anglican church’s credibility, groups say (The Guardian, Australia)
May 1 – Five leading child abuse prevention organisations have written to the Anglican church to criticise its “inadequate” decision on Peter Hollingworth, saying the failure to defrock him undermines the church’s credibility and fails to reflect the harm done to survivors.
Marist Brothers lose bid to use paedophile’s death as shield against child abuse claims (The Guardian, Australia)
May 6 – A Catholic order has lost its latest attempt to use the death of a known paedophile clergy member to shield itself from allegations of child sexual abuse after a judge found that allowing such a course would “bring the administration of justice into disrepute”.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Judaism
Society exposes us all to anti-Jewish tropes and attitudes. The first step is to notice them (The Guardian, Australia)
May 6 – (Opinion: Jonathan Freedland) For a week now, I’ve been bombarded with variations on the same question: “So what do you think about that cartoon?”
Religious Violence
What we know about the Kenyan starvation cult and the pastors allegedly behind the deaths (ABC News)
May 3 – The bodies of more than 100 people have been found in a Kenyan forest since police began searching in mid-April for the remains of followers of a suspected Christian cult.
Other
The pro-Trump pastors embracing ‘overt white Christian nationalism’ (The Guardian, Australia)
May 1 – A far-right religious group with ties to Donald Trump loyalists Roger Stone and retired Army Lt Gen Michael Flynn, is planning events with pastors in swing state churches in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere to spur more evangelical backing for the former US president’s 2024 campaign.
With staunch religious and political opposition, will same-sex marriage be accepted in India? (ABC News)
May 4 – Since at least 1980, there have been hundreds of stories of same-sex couples in India getting married unofficially by religious rites, according to gender studies expert and author Ruth Vanita.
Seoul’s LGBT festival blocked by Christian concert outside city hall, organisers say (ABC News)
May 5 – Seoul’s city government has effectively blocked South Korea’s largest annual LGBT festival from taking place outside city hall this year after granting a permit for a Christian youth concert instead, the LGBT event’s organisers said this week.
POLITICS
‘He is loved’: Christian crusader Fred Nile supports Alex Greenwich (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 4 – NSW’s long-time Christian crusader Fred Nile has offered an impassioned defence of Alex Greenwich, insisting he wants the openly gay Sydney MP to know he is loved and does not deserve to be subjected to personal attacks based on his sexuality.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
On the lookout for the god within (The Australian)
May 1 – (Opinion: John Carroll) Who will ‘save us’ in this post-religious and increasingly self-satisfied world?
AI ‘could create religion of the future’ (The Australian)
May 4 – The world could soon see the first religion that attracts devotees with sacred texts created by AI, historian Yuval Noah Harari warns.
God, British Empire out … what binds Australians? (The Australian)
May 4 – (Opinion: Bernard Salt) Britain and Christian beliefs brought us closer in the past. While times have changed, there remains a last bastion of Australian togetherness.