Religion News Selection

Nov 3 – 10, 2019

A selection of religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

 

 

ABUSE

The lawyers who took on the Catholic Church over Gerald Ridsdale’s abuse — and won (ABC News)
Nov 9 – It was a legal case that opened up one of the nation’s most powerful institutions to a wave of damages claims from survivors of child sexual abuse.

 

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

His Dark Materials: Why HBO’s latest blockbuster has been called the anti-Narnia (ABC News)
Nov 4 – Fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials will be holding their breath today, hoping the premiere of the highly anticipated TV adaptation delivers on expectations.

 

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Australian Catholic Church looking abroad for priests to continue teachings (ABC News)
Nov 8 – With many Australians questioning their Catholic faith, some church leaders are looking abroad to find people to continue their teachings.

 

INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Other

Germany’s Health Minister submits law to ban ‘misleading’ gay conversion therapy (ABC News)
Nov 5 – Germany’s Health Minister has submitted a draft law to ban so-called conversion therapy for minors, as a global movement designed to end discredited practices aiming to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation gathers pace.

This pastor is teaching Democrats how to talk to evangelical Christians. This is why (ABC News)
Nov 9 – Evangelical pastor Doug Pagitt, dressed in a denim shirt and archetypal blue hat, stands in front of a white bus, talking to a camera.

 

ISLAM

Is it OK to pat a dog? The question at the heart of a dispute over Islamic tradition (ABC News)
Nov 4 – Australian travellers returning from overseas barely raise an eyebrow when approached by a sniffer dog at one of our baggage carousels.

Uyghurs are facing ‘cultural genocide’ in China but in Australia they’re fighting for their history (ABC News)
Nov 10 – On a rainy evening in Melbourne, the Collingwood Town Hall comes alive with a whirl of colour.

 

RELIGION & SOCIETY

How we worship (ABC News)
Nov 4 – Religion in Australia is rich and unlike anywhere else in the world, but most of the country believes those who worship should keep their beliefs to themselves.

What Australians really think about religion (ABC News)
Nov 4 – Australians firmly believe that religious people are subjected to discrimination in this country.

Evolution or intelligent design? The story of the bacterial flagellar motor (ABC News)
Nov 4 – Nature abounds with wonders — and the quest to explain them has driven some epic human advances.

Margaret Court’s rocket to Tennis Australia: Treat me like Laver (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 4 – Margaret Court has urged Tennis Australia to “sit and talk with me’’ ahead of the 50th anniversary of her grand slam year, saying she won’t return to Melbourne Park unless she is formally welcomed back and her career achievement properly recognised.

Also: Courting controversy: Sorry Margaret, it’s your own fault (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 4 – (Opinion: Sam Duncan) Margaret Court is yesterday’s hero.

Also: How tragic that Margaret Court’s dogged tenacity is now her undoing (The Age, Melbourne)
Nov 4 – (Opinion: Bill Crews) I once interviewed Margaret Court on my radio program in Sydney.

Also: Dear Mrs Court, honouring a homophobic zealot is problematic for us
Nov 9 – (Opinion: Peter FitzSimons) If only they could make me the media and communications director of Tennis Australia for a day, this is the letter I would send

I was an astrologer – here’s how it really works, and why I had to stop (The Guardian, Australia)
Nov 4 – (Opinion: Felicity Carter) Customers marvelled at my psychic abilities but was that really what was going on when I told their fortune?

Victorians ‘unfairly’ boosting large organisations exempt from rates, local governments say (ABC News)
Nov 6 – Power companies, private schools, poker machine clubs and churches should no longer be exempt from paying council rates, the group representing Victoria’s local governments has said.

Australia’s ‘man drought’ is real — especially if you’re a Christian woman looking for love (ABC News)
Nov 9 – At 32 years of age, Anna Hitchings expected to be married with children by now.

Most modern funerals make you feel worse, but my sister’s was different (Sydney Morning Herald)
Nov 9 – (Opinion: Elizabeth Farrelly) The sun shone bright and hot.

Racist attitudes ‘whitewashed’ modern philosophy. What can be done to change it?
Nov 10 – (Opinion: David Rutledge ) Contemporary academic philosophy is supposed to be about inclusive, open-minded inquiry.

How we die and what we can learn about living from Ranjana Srivastava (The Age, Melbourne)
Nov 10 – I have left myself too little time to get from town to the suburban Eastern Mediterranean diner chosen by oncologist and author Ranjana Srivastava for lunch, so I fire off an apologetic, slightly harried text.

 

 

From the Archive…

Religion News Australia 2019 – 21 (Oct 30 – Nov 3)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 20 (May 12 – 19)

Religion News Australia 2019 – 19 (May 5 – 12)