Religion News Selection

October 4 – 17, 2021

A selection of religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

 

ABUSE

Hillsong founder Brian Houston to plead not guilty to concealing sexual abuse charge (The Guardian, Australia)
Oct 5 – The Hillsong founder Brian Houston will plead not guilty to charges alleging he concealed child sexual abuse by his late father in the 1970s.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

How Leonard Cohen mined sacred texts for lyrics to his songs (The Guardian, Australia)
Oct 17 – (Review) “She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah…”

EDUCATION

JobKeeper payments made to school linked to ‘extremist cult’ (Sydney Morning Herald)
Oct 17 – A private school linked to the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a group once described as an “extremist cult” by former prime minister Kevin Rudd, has received an estimated $9 million in JobKeeper payments.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Abuse

Report finds 216,000 children have been sexually abused by French Catholic clergy since 1950 (ABC News)
Oct 5 – An investigation into sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church has found an estimated 216,000 children have been victims of abuse by the clergy since 1950.

Islam

Inside an Afghan madrassa as the economy withers under Taliban rule (ABC News)
Oct 5 – In a school in a remote corner of the Afghan capital, a cacophony of children’s voices recite Islam’s holiest book.

JUDAISM

Eddie Jaku, holocaust survivor who called himself ‘the happiest man on Earth’ dies aged 101 (ABC News)
Oct 12 – Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku, who described himself as “the happiest man on Earth”, has died, aged 101.

Australia to back international definition of anti-Semitism (Sydney Morning Herald)
Oct 17 – Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised an international forum on anti-Semitism that the Australian government will formally endorse an international working definition of discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group.

POLITICS

‘Not some fringe religion’: Gonski, Piccoli defend Catholic Perrottet (Sydney Morning Herald)
Oct 5 – David Gonski, the businessman and university chancellor who designed Australia’s school funding equity framework, has defended incoming Premier Dominic Perrottet against accusations he is too religiously conservative for the top job.

Women’s groups call on Dominic Perrottet to put aside religious beliefs on reproductive rights (Sydney Morning Herald)
Oct 6 – Women’s groups have welcomed Dominic Perrottet’s pledge to be the “family Premier” but’ some are calling for a guarantee that he will not use his religious beliefs to restrict women’s reproductive choices and access to abortions.

Liberals fear influence of right-wing church ahead of preselection (The Age, Melbourne)
Oct 7 – Fears are growing within parts of the Liberal Party that members of a radical church accused of historic links with gay conversion therapies are making a bid to enter Victorian politics.

Labor elder John Watkins urges MPs to oppose assisted dying bill (Sydney Morning Herald)
Oct 14 – Australia’s largest Catholic health and aged care organisation is lobbying NSW MPs to oppose voluntary assisted dying, with a concerted push to stop NSW becoming the final state in the country to legalise euthanasia.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Churches and mosques in Sydney delay reopening to avoid having to turn away the unvaccinated (ABC News)
Oct 13 – Mosques, churches and temples in NSW are allowed to open once again but some religious leaders are keeping their doors closed, fearing a backlash from unvaccinated people.