Friday, December 24, 2010

Divine dispatches: a religion roundup (Contribution)

At the end of the year it is customary to look back, and also to pontificate on the 12 months ahead. 

I'm not one to sneer at tradition. 

Welcome to Divine dispatches.

✤ The Huffington Post claims 2010 was much like 2002 – sex abuse scandals engulfing the Roman Catholic church and fear and loathing of Muslims in the US. 

It also has a separate stab that is a little more diverse, devoting at least 20 words to religious repression in China and anti-Buddhist violence in Burma.

There is also an appeal for the top 10 religious stories of the decade. Suggestions include 9/11 and the return of religion" (which sounds like a bad/lost Tolkien book), the new atheism, all change at the Vatican, the interfaith movement (the mind boggles) and the Dalai Lama taking on China. Over at the Religious Newswriters Association there is a poll of religion stories of 2010

I only mention this organisation because a) I wonder whether we should have something like it in the UK b) it has run this survey for 30 years and c) it takes itself very seriously. It has awards. With cash prizes. 

If the Brits tried this we'd hand out high-street vouchers and something knitted.

✤ Officially bored of what the US thinks, I turn my attention to an organ closer to home. 

According to the Telegraph, the most important story of 2010 was a papal overture.

Down with this sort of thing

Yes, that was a clip from Father Ted. 

More seismic than a pastor grabbing the world by its throat and screaming "Look at me, I'm gonna burn the Qur'an" was the launch of the personal ordinariate – a structure for Anglicans who didn't want to be 110% Anglican anymore but didn't want to be 110% Catholic either.

✤ The UN high commissioner for refugees said last week at least 1,000 Christian families had fled Baghdad and Mosul since September following a series of militant attacks. This persecution was not confined to Iraq, it also occurred in Egypt

The violent attacks caused alarm among many and highlighted a shameful loss of perspective among others.

✤ One story that only got a little pick-up was the ordination of Margaret Lee, a grandmother of five and former chemist, in the diocese of Quincy, the final frontier for female clergy.

It was the last of the Episcopal church's 110 dioceses to ordain a woman. Better late than never, and well done that woman.

✤ In Israel there were intense, complex debates about conversion. The first was about a law that would govern the way converts to Judaism were treated – including who was recognised as a Jew and who could get married or buried as a Jew. 

The Jewish Chronicle said the legislation – intended to make conversion easier – angered liberal and reform Jews, who said that a particular clause meant Israel would only recognise local conversions performed under the auspices of Orthodox rabbis. 

This row preceded another one – about conversions in the military. Anshel Pfeffer at the Jewish Chronicle gives the background and the ramifications of this proposal.

✤ Away from POTB (people of the book, since you ask), Hinduism gained an A-list devotee in the shapely form of Julia Roberts and its first state-funded school in the UK. 

A small group attacked the religion's failure to keep control of a key export – yoga – and there was a collective sigh of relief when the much-feared violence and an uprising did not really materialise following a verdict on a disputed site in Ayodhya.  

Haridwar hosted the Kumbh Mela, drawing 10 million people on one day alone.

✤ What for 2011? 

Here are some starters. 

It's the year of the census and the British Humanist Association's campaign is lobbying to affect the outcome of the religion question. 

In January there will be more movement on the UK personal ordinariate front. 

The Church of England General Synod meets in February – for a shorter session than normal – when it grapples with the divisive matter of the Anglican covenant

Speaking of divisive, there is an Anglican communion primates pow-wow in Dublin. 

Not that the Gafcon bunch will be in tow. 

Neither will I, reeling as I am from the farce of Alexandria

There will be another Hindu state school opening – this time in Leicester. The usual volatile mix of people doing/saying/demanding outrageous/horrific things should keep everyone – you and me included – busy.

SIC: TG/UK