Religion & Society

While the countries of Europe are facing an immigration crisis, with unprecedented numbers of refugees being shipped by people smugglers on rickety boats across the Mediterranean – with many drowning in the process – Australia is at the opposite end of the curve, having stemmed the flow of boatpeople in the last two years. However, the debate rages on around issues of ethics. The 15 years since the turn of the millennium have seen the refugee pendulum swing wildly, largely determined by different immigration policies held by the main political parties in Australia. In 2000, the conservative coalition government led by Prime Minister John Howard faced increasing numbers of refugee boats reaching Australia’s shores without government approval. Pacific Solution There was widespread concern in the Australian community for several reasons. First , such boat arrivals attracted much opposition in the community at large. Second , failure to address this phenomenon allowed people smuggli...

NEWS ITEM: Indonesia’s Constitutional Court recently rejected a request for a judicial review of Article 2 of the 1974 Marriage Law, which effectively forbids interfaith marriage. I lived in Indonesia for several years during the 1980s, and have travelled back regularly to the country since that time. The period of the 1980s was characterised by comparatively relaxed relations between the faiths. Overt expressions of faith were not so pronounced as they are today. At the time few Muslim women in professional or academic positions wore Muslim head-covering. Conversions between the faiths, especially from Islam to Christianity and vice versa, were in evidence and did not attract much comment. Moreover, I witnessed a number of interfaith marriages among colleagues and in the broader community. At the time, interfaith marriage seemed to be almost a non-issue. Today the religious scene in Indonesia is very different. In offices, and in the street, the jilbab headcovering for Muslim ...

The Australian city of Melbourne has recently been voted as the world’s most liveable city for the fourth year in a row. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual liveability survey had Melbourne leading the top 10 cities, which also included Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Adelaide, Calgary, Sydney, Helsinki, Perth, and Auckland. Indeed, Melbourne is certainly an easy city to live in from a material perspective according to the survey’s criteria: healthcare, education, stability, culture and environment and infrastructure. In matters of Christian faith, however, there are a number of challenges which are not considered by the liveability survey. The Council for Christian Education in Schools, also known as Access Ministries, runs Christian Special Religious Instruction (SRI) on behalf of 12 denominations using volunteer instructors in the state of Victoria’s government schools. In 2011, religious instructors were present in 70 per cent of public primary schools in Victoria. This numbe...

A change in my work circumstances has given me more time to pick up my blog again, after a fallow period since 2010. I am about to post an article published in this month's issue of "Evangelicals Now". Also, please note a new book that I have co-edited with Brent Neely, entitled  Islam and the Last Day: Christian Perspectives on Islamic Eschatology .   More to follow...

“Places of worship have become a topic of much dispute around the world in recent years”, said Dr Melissa Crouch at the launch of a new report at the Melbourne University Law School on June 26. “Examples are the Swiss ban on minarets in 2009 and the 2010 Ground Zero mosque dispute in New York city,” she added. Her talk focused on a report entitled “Disputed Churches in Jakarta”, published in Indonesian by the Center for Religious and Cross- Cultural Studies of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and translated into English by the Melbourne Law School. Indonesia has witnessed a significant increase in attacks on churches since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998. An average of fifteen such attacks occurred each year between 1968-98, but a staggering 232 churches were damaged or destroyed between 1999-2001 alone. The new report is based on extensive fieldwork by Indonesian researchers from the Jakarta-based Paramadina Foundation’s Research Team into controversies. It particula...

Is the West experiencing irreversible decline, with other nations and cultures moving to fill the resulting vacuum? This question was considered by Professor Michael Cox of the London School of Economics on 1 September at St Michael’s Uniting Church, Melbourne in the 6th Annual Lecture of La Trobe University’s Centre for Dialogue. Addressing an audience of around 200, Professor Cox began with a challenge. “The consensus is that a significant power shift is taking place,” he said, “but I am somewhat sceptical. Such an approach sees some nations rising while others decline. Isn’t there a better way to think about this?” Speaking of the 1990s, he said “the view was that the West had triumphed over the Soviet Union.” The power shift theory emerged in connection with President George W. Bush’s War on Terror. “Many argued that Bush had gone for broke and had failed.” This foreign policy setback was compounded in 2007/08 with the international financial crisis. “Faith in the American ...

In recent months a Christian-Muslim controversy has preoccupied the population of Sydney. A Muslim outreach group, MyPeace [www.mypeace.com.au/] under the leadership of Muslim Australian activist Diaa Mohamed, has erected a series of large billboards promoting Islam in prominent positions around the city. So far three billboards have been erected, variously declaring “Jesus: a prophet of Islam”, "Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad: Prophets of Islam" and ''Mary and prophet Jesus: read about their lives in the [Qur’an]”. Explaining the motives of MyPeace, Mr Mohamed referred to widespread misunderstanding of Islam among non-Muslims, stating that the billboards were primarily designed to clear away misconceptions. “We've been accused of trying to convert people to Islam and all that sort of stuff. If this was a campaign to do that, I would say it openly,” said Mr Mohamed. “This particular campaign was just to build bridges and extend a hand." Reactions fr...