Religion News Selection
August 27 – September 4, 2023
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
ADF leadership ‘protected’ air force chaplain’s abuser, royal commission hears (The Guardian, Australia)
August 30 – When the Rev Dr Nikki Coleman wanted to complain about the abuse and bullying she had experienced as an air force chaplain, she was told to deal with it herself.
ANGLICAN CHURCH
Black holes, singularities and God: An archbishop on science (Sydney Morning Herald)
Sept 3 – A hymn echoes through the halls of St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Islam
France bans Muslim abayas in schools, sparking fresh secularism debate (ABC News)
August 29 – The French government’s state-run school ban on long, loose-fitting robes, worn mainly by Muslim women, has sparked fresh political debate about the country’s secular rules.
Religious Violence
‘People are freaking out’: Ugandan arrested on anti-gay charge punishable by death (Sydney Morning Herald)
Sept 3 – Ugandan prosecutors have lodged charges of “aggravated homosexuality” against a 20-year-old man – a crime punishable by death – in one of the country’s first applications of a provision included in one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
Can you be religious and wealthy at the same time? Here’s what three major religions say (ABC News)
Sept 3 – Major religions have a lot to say about wealth, and much of it is cautionary.