Religion & Society

     Indonesia’s moderate Muslim President, Joko Widodo, has raised eyebrows amongst a strange assortment of civil libertarians, human rights activists, and radical Islamists, with a recent presidential decree declaring that groups which do not adhere to Indonesia’s national ideology will be banned. By doing so he has attracted accusations of being an old-style dictator, determined to suppress individual freedoms in the process.      There is a very clear subtext to this debate. In the early years of the 21st century, radical Islamist groups in Indonesia used newfound political freedoms to try to win a significant presence in the nation's parliament. However, in national elections of 1999, 2004, and 2009, such groups struggled to garner more than 10% of the popular vote. While this gave them some parliamentary representation, it was insufficient to move them forward in their stated desire to turn Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, into an Islam...

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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...