Religion & Society

  As Australian churches entered the New Year, the attention of the church media was devoted to several pressing issues of debate, both domestic and international. The “same-sex marriage” debate The push in Australia for the somewhat euphemistically named “same-sex marriage” has been increasing in momentum in recent times. Opposition is coming from various quarters, including the different Australian churches, in partnership with other faith communities. During 2015, religious leaders from diverse religious traditions in Australia wrote a public letter to the then Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, calling on him to stand against attempts in Federal Parliament to redefine the meaning of marriage. The letter included the following statements: “As leaders of Australia’s major religions we write to express the grave concerns that we, and those who share our various faiths, share regarding Bills that have or will be introduced into the Federal Parliament to change the definition o...

For today's radio interview on Vision Radio with Neil Johnson, presenter of "Twenty20", click here .

Last year I had the opportunity to pay two visits to France for teaching purposes. I am quite a Francophile and so when such visits come around, I take some time out to enjoy the special charms that the country offers. On both occasions last year I was able to return to an old haunt: the Abbaye Notre Dame, a cloistered Benedictine monastery for nuns in the small village of Wisques in northern France, not far from Calais. I have been visiting that particular monastery since October 1998. So have countless other people who share with me a particular fascination for the attractions of the monastic environment. Notre Dame is a splendid 19 th -century construction but, in addition to its main buildings, it also includes outside the cloister an eight room hostel, called St Charles Hostel, which can accommodate over a dozen guests. One of the nuns I spoke with pointed out that all visitors come seeking something, yet seeking very different things. There are pilgrims who are walking the l...

There is a central idea driving Muslim youth radicalisation: young Muslims travelling this path are following a particular conceptual role model that praises activism for Islam, jihadi militancy and death for the sake of Allah. A number of intersecting elements underlie this core idea. The first element reinforcing such a role model is the influence of radical preachers in some mosques, as revealed in the “ Undercover Mosque ” documentaries produced in the UK some years ago. The subversive role of such preachers is exacerbated by easy access to radical Islamic websites and social media sites. These create the ingredients for a further key element: a peer group of real life and virtual radicalised youth which adds fuel to the pressures on young Muslims. Sadly, parents sometimes also provide a radicalised role model. The father of one of the much discussed 15-year-old jihadi brides from Bethnal Green was filmed participating in one protest led by the notorious radical preacher An...