Religion News Selection
March 22 – 29, 2020
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
Edmund Rice education director apologises for supporting former St Kevin’s College principal (ABC News)
Mar 27 – The head of the organisation that oversees St Kevin’s College says he now regrets publicly supporting the former principal of the school in the wake of a grooming scandal revealed by the ABC’s Four Corners in February.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Catholic Church
Coronavirus cases surge in Italy, Iran, US while Pope calls for prayer (Brisbane Times)
Mar 22 – Soave, Italy: Italy, Iran and the United States reported soaring new death tolls as the coronavirus pandemic marched relentlessly across the globe on Sunday, prompting a scramble in hard-hit regions to set up more hospital beds and replenish the dwindling medical supplies needed to keep health workers safe.
Religious Violence
The Brighton jihadists: bullied brothers who went into battle (The Guardian, Australia)
Mar 22 – Much has been written about Britons who fought in Syria, but little truly explains who these characters were, what made them tick.
For Christchurch survivors, killer’s sudden guilty plea is an answer to prayer (The Guardian, Australia)
Mar 26 – Those injured or bereaved in the Christchurch attacks on 15 March only found out about the court hearing when their phones started buzzing with calls and messages after it had finished.
From Xinjiang to Germany: how did Islamophobia become a global phenomenon? (The Guardian, Australia)
Mar 28 – (Opinion: Faisal Devji) The mass incarceration of Uighurs in China. Rohingya terrorised and driven out of Burma. Indians hacked to pieces and burnt alive in Delhi.
JUDAISM
Prayer groups defy coronavirus lockdown restrictions (The Age, Melbourne)
Mar 27 – Groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews have held prayer meetings in Melbourne this week in defiance of strict social-distancing rules designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
About Last Night: The dog-eat-dog world (Sydney Morning Herald)
Mar 28 – (Opinion: Maureen Matthews) Q: Sitting at home with my family, watching the effects of this pandemic unfold has shown me that civilisation is a thin veneer, and we’re always only days away from descending into a dog-eat-dog world where only the fittest survive, and greed and selfishness rule.
