Religion News Selection
June 6 – 13, 2021
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
The church stripped bare: high rate of domestic abuse among Anglicans exposed (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 12 – (Opinion: Julia Baird) The Anglican Church has a serious, dangerous problem with women.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Christchurch mosque attack film will focus on ‘heroes’, says producer (The Age, Melbourne)
June 12 – Christchurch: The New Zealand producer of a film about the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attacks has defended it against accusations of “white saviourism”, saying it will instead acknowledge a host of heroes.
Monica Dux blows figurative raspberries at the Catholic Church (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 12 – (Review) In 1993, I was cast as Mary in my pre-school’s nativity play as a four-year-old with no English and an Asian face.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Abuse
The disgraced priest, the children’s shelter and a fight for justice in East Timor (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 7 – Singapore: The road up to the village of Kutet in East Timor’s western enclave of Oecusse is so rough that most highlanders walk the jungle trail when they need to visit the coast.
Other
Did Trump destroy evangelical Christianity? (The Australian)
June 12 – (Opinion: Greg Sheridan) In a tragic and bitter irony, American Christians are deeply divided in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Riz Ahmed calls for urgent change in ‘toxic portrayals’ of Muslims on screen (The Guardian, Australia)
June 12 – Riz Ahmed has announced a new initiative to combat the “problem of Muslim misrepresentation” on screen, saying: “The Islamophobia industry is one that measures its cost in blood.”
POLITICS
Nicolle Flint slams Liberal membership move as ‘undemocratic’ amid party tensions (ABC News)
June 13 – South Australian Liberal MP Nicolle Flint has slammed her party’s state executive, describing a decision to deny memberships to some recent applicants as the “most extraordinary and undemocratic act” in her time in politics.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
Michael Kirby warns against ‘excessive protection’ of religious freedoms (The Guardian, Australia)
June 11 – The former high court justice Michael Kirby has warned against the “excessive protection” of religious freedom that could diminish the rights of non-believers and minorities, as a report reveals 70% of Australians say religion is not personally important to them.
Do Australians trust religious leaders? (ABC News)
June 13 – Trust in religious leaders is dropping, but some Australians say they’ve never been ‘closer to God’. So what’s going on?
An 800-year-old carved goddess was stolen from a Kathmandu Valley temple (ABC News)
June 13 – An international tug-of-war is continuing over a religious carving stolen from one of Nepal’s oldest temples, which is now a prized exhibit at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) in Sydney.
‘It’s complicated’: My faith guides me without containing me (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 13 – (Opinion: Anu Krishnan) During a visit to emergency, the triaging nurse asked what religion I belonged to.
Scientology should lose charitable status over its attacks on mental health: McGorry (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 13 – Two of Australia’s top mental health advocates and researchers have described Scientology’s anti-psychiatry campaigning as dangerous and harmful to the community and said the church should be stripped of its tax-free status.
