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Section: Religion

  • RELIGION

    Vindicating Islam

    • Herman Roborgh
    • 30 March 2011
    9 Comments

    Two political leaders in Pakistan were murdered for speaking out against blasphemy laws that had been used to oppress religious minorities. Disturbingly, many Muslim intellectuals stayed silent regarding this injustice. Why were they so defensive?

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  • RELIGION

    Twelve Steps to healing an abusive Church

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 23 March 2011
    32 Comments

    I received a letter from a former student. Ten years ago, he had suddenly vanished without warning or further communication. Now he was about to reveal the reasons for his disappearance. It was the sort of story I had heard often before.

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  • RELIGION

    Japan's gods of nature

    • Catherine Marshall
    • 21 March 2011
    5 Comments

    In Japan's relief centres and obliterated streets, there is no news of looting or violence, no shouts of blame, no demands for immediate evacuation and coronial inquests. 'Shinto is a nature religion,' says my guide Yoshiko. 'We give thanks to everything we have.'

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  • RELIGION

    Christian reverence for science

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 17 March 2011
    7 Comments

    When Christianity and science come together, the meeting place is often like a battlefield. That is a pity because the central Christian belief – that in Jesus Christ God’s reason entered the world – demands that science be given an independent and honoured place.

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  • RELIGION

    In defence of same-sex unions

    • Frank Brennan
    • 09 March 2011
    53 Comments

    There are homosexual persons who enter into loving, faithful and committed relationships. It is difficult to characterise a law that gives non-discriminatory protection to such couples as 'so harmful to the common good as to be gravely immoral' as Benedict has previously done.

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  • RELIGION

    A spiritual reading of the Egyptian Revolution

    • Henri Boulad
    • 08 March 2011
    2 Comments

    It is an absurd confrontation. On one side, a man with empty hands; on the other, a well organised force equipped with batons, helmets and shields. I can still see the young man, like a lion, throw himself against the wall of shields, face tensed, eyes flashing, heart steeled.

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  • RELIGION

    A truce between science and religion

    • Ashleigh Green
    • 06 March 2011
    17 Comments

    Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking's book The Grand Design purported to explain why a creator is unnecessary. John Polkinghorne, a Cambridge University theologian and scientist, has shed light on a new complementary model of science and religion.

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  • RELIGION

    The trouble with iPad Confessions

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 03 March 2011
    9 Comments

    New communications technology is shaping Church practices, and in the process is raising more fundamental questions about them. The Church holds that faith should be expressed in bodily and communal ways, but it is increasingly difficult to argue this.

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  • RELIGION

    Australian Catholics facing disaster

    • Paul Collins
    • 03 March 2011
    46 Comments

    The troubles facing Australian Catholicism have been documented in a new report. When people focus on this most think of sexual abuse. In fact this is more a symptom than the actual core of the problem. 

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  • RELIGION

    In bed with Fred Nile

    • Irfan Yusuf
    • 27 February 2011
    26 Comments

    In the past, Christian Democratic Party leader Fred Nile saw conservative Muslims as allies. Now he, like the Australian Christian Lobby, prefers to play sectarian wedge politics. Most homophobic Muslims would rather stay silent on gay marriage than support sectarian bigots.

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  • RELIGION

    Vatican targets Caritas

    • Duncan MacLaren
    • 21 February 2011
    24 Comments

    In an extraordinary move, the Vatican has denied approval for Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight to stand for a second term. There is outrage in the Confederation, and with good cause. 

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  • RELIGION

    Fixing the priesthood

    • Michael Kelly
    • 20 February 2011
    41 Comments

    In earlier generations, Australian priests were treated as tribal heroes. But the sexual abuse scandals and their inept management by Church authorities have dealt lethal blows. The paradigm is broken and needs a full review.

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