Religion News Selection
May 28 – June 4, 2023
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
Police re-open investigation into school’s role in helping Malka Leifer flee Australia (ABC News)
June 4 – Police have re-opened an investigation into the school that was allegedly involved in former principal and convicted rapist Malka Leifer fleeing Australia.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
This tale of true crime is difficult to watch, or to turn away from (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 31 – (Review) In 2004 in the tiny town of Knutby in Sweden, a man and a woman were shot by the 26-year-old nanny of the local pastor.
CATHOLIC CHURCH
Father Brennan tells Albanese and Dutton to find common ground on Voice (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 4 – Rome: One of the Catholic Church’s leading proponents of the Indigenous Voice to parliament fears the referendum will leave Australians divided – no matter the result – and he lays the blame on both sides of politics for not striving harder to find common ground.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Religious Violence
Uganda enacts law imposing death penalty for LGBTQ ‘serial offenders’ (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 30 – Kampala: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed one of the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”, drawing Western condemnation and risking sanctions from aid donors.
Other
Utah school district that banned Bible considers removing Book of Mormon (The Guardian, Australia)
June 4 – A school district in Utah that last week banned the Bible from school libraries is now being asked to consider a further title for removal: the Book of Mormon.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
Psychic scams are swindling Australians out of thousands, but no one is going after the culprits (ABC News)
May 30 – When Nasser Zahr was approached by a man purporting to be a psychic on the main road in Sydney’s Burwood in December 2019, he was at his lowest ebb.
The Hillsong experiment is over. Christianity was never meant to be cool (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 30 – (Opinion: Cherie Gilmour) There is a version of the Bible called The Message by Eugene Peterson.
‘Coming for you’: Man faces court for allegedly abusing ABC broadcaster Stan Grant (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 31 – A self-described right-wing Christian conservative has faced a Sydney court accused of threatening Indigenous ABC broadcaster Stan Grant and his family after the high-profile presenter stepped down, citing a wave of abuse.
At the end of life, no one wishes they worked longer hours (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 4 – “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
