Religion & Society

On Sunday June 25 I was interviewed by Clayton Bjelan on  89.9 LightFM , Australia's largest community radio station. The programme, "In conversation with Clayton", can be found here .

     Readers of Religion and Society blog posts may wish to connect with the resources of the Interface Institute.      The Interface Institute is a new resource which provides the public with resources to understand the nexus between society and religion, particularly in relation to monotheistic religions.      After a phase in western history when a dominant assumption was that spiritual influences were in decline, we find ourselves launched into what Richard John Neuhaus already in 1997 called ‘the approaching century of religion’.      It is becoming increasingly clear that multiple social and political challenges are being brought on by profound global shifts in religious identity and allegiance, yet many feel ill-equipped to respond to these challenges.  The Interface Institute assists people to understand global religious currents and their impact on areas such as public policy, human ri...

     The attacks in London on Saturday are the latest in a series of terror strikes that have led to the deaths of over 30 civilians of various nationalities. British PM Theresa May has expressed the outrage of most British people, declaring that “we cannot allow this ideology the safe space that it needs to breathe” and calling for the regulation of cyberspace to prevent the internet being used so effectively by terrorist groups to disseminate their poisonous ideology. These declarations by the British prime minister conceal a scandal. The signs of Britain’s current predicament were visible decades earlier, and successive prime ministers and cabinets proved incapable of anticipating the extent of the threat from Islamist terrorism.         A harbinger of Britain’s present problems was evident almost thirty years ago. In 1989, Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of British author Salman Rus...

( Vision Radio )   A Christian academic says the targeting of young people in the fatal terror attack in Manchester shows the terrorists’ intent to inflict the greatest possible offence against their opponents.    The Manchester attack killed 22 people and injured 59 others after a pop concert at Manchester Arena.    Professor Peter Riddell, a Professorial Research Associate in History at the University of London, has told our newsroom, while he believes the targeting of young people was deliberate, the extremists operate from an ‘us and them’ mentality – whereby they see the lives of any non-Muslims as being of lesser value.    He says while there are Koranic verses that talk about the value of human life, there are references in both Koran and associated literature that prioritise the support, defence, and advancement of Muslims.    Professor Riddell says the extremists use such parts of their religious texts to justify their attacks, a...

Some things will never change in New Zealand. The spectacular scenery in the South Island, so graphically captured in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy of films, will remain for the benefit of future generations, as will the more subtle but equally appealing beauty of the country’s North Island. Similarly, but less desirable, the country’s location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, will remain for posterity. Rapid change However, society is changing rapidly and with it the religious identity of New Zealand. Census statistics are useful in painting a portrait of that change. Between the censuses of 2006 and 2013, the proportion of New Zealanders declaring themselves as Christian dropped from 51.7% to 44.9%. The greatest challenge to Christian identity in this rapidly secularising nation comes from those who declare themselves to be without religion: 32.2% in 2006 and 38.5% in 2013. It is quite possible that the proportion of those without f...