# Roundup: Sharing sacred texts, sexual abuse, Christians in Syria, celebrity culture, church membership, belief and exorcism

> Exorcism and demonic possession, human nature and belief, church membership trends, art and artists, religious freedom in Syria, anti-bigotry strategy.

19 May 2011 · News

Canonical: https://insights1.uca.org.au/articles/roundup-sharing-sacred-texts-sexual-abuse-christians-in-syria-celebrity-culture-church-membership-belief-and-exorcism/

## [Christians, Muslims, Jews to share sacred texts](https://www.abpnews.com/content/view/6400/53/)

Christian clergy across the United States will organise readings from the Quran and other sacred texts Sunday, June 26, as part of an initiative to counter anti-Muslim bigotry and negative stereotypes of Islam.

## [US Catholic Church study blames 1960s permissiveness for rise in sexual abuse](https://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/19/us-catholic-church-sexual-abuse-report)

Report claims less than 5% of abusive priests were paedophiles as critics accuse it of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ exoneration.

## [Syria’s Christians fear for their religious freedom](https://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/05/18/syria-christians-fear-for-their-religious-freedom/)

Syria’s minority Christians are watching the protests sweeping their country with trepidation, fearing their religious freedom could be threatened if President Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic but secular rule is overthrown.

## [Celebrity and iconicity](https://theotherjournal.com/2011/05/16/celebrity-and-iconicity-some-preliminary-sketches/)

By drawing attention to the phenomenon of celebrity, an artist hopes to investigate a nagging suspicion that something fundamental is missing in present enthusiasms surrounding the role of art and artists in the contemporary church.

## [Loose connections](https://christiancentury.org/article/2011-05/loose-connections)

What’s happening to church membership?

## [Belief in religion is ‘simply a universal part of human nature’](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386533/Belief-religion-simply-universal-human-nature.html?ito=feeds-newsxml)

Humans are naturally inclined to believe in gods and an afterlife, according to a major [three-year study](https://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/12/religious-belief-is-human-nature-huge-new-study-claims/).

## [What’s behind the return of the exorcist](https://www.uscatholic.org/church/2011/05/theyre-baaack-whats-behind-return-exorcist)

After a decades-long absence, interest in demonic possession—and the ritual to defeat it—is on the rise.