Islam and Christianity in Australia

What is true of Australia is also true in the UK and the US. The Media generally hate Christianity. The video is an interview with Dr. Mark Durie and Anglican pastor and theologian. He's one of the good guys. You can find out more about him here and here. There may be issues with the latter 

I cannot post the video, but you can follow the link to see it here. 


Dr Mark Durie is a theologian, human rights activist, Anglican pastor, a Shillman-Ginsburg Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and Adjunct Research Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Other Faiths at Melbourne School of Theology. He has published many articles and books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, Christian-Muslim relations and religious freedom. A graduate of the Australian National University and the Australian College of Theology, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, MIT, UCLA and Stanford, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992.

Essentially, he knows what he is talking about! 

More on Boko Haram - it isn't just the girls.

Prominent Anglican blogger Cranmer has two powerful posts on Boko Haram's war in Nigeria.

Firstly, this one where lays out his point in words. Then he posted this one where his pictures speak for themselves.



As I said in my previous post, the war between Islam and Christianity in Nigeria has been going on for years.

Australian cleric, the Rev. Dr. Mark Durie has posted an interview in which he exposes the ancient Islamic roots of Boko Haram. You can listen to the interview below or read his additional; material by following the previous link to his blog.

He is not alone in declaing this information. Over at The Omega Letter, J.L. Robb has posted an article doing much the same thing but also enumerating the effects of Sharia law on women. Here is a sample of that list.

• Adultery is a capital crime, punishable by whipping and then death, often by stoning.
• Apostasy (saying or thinking something uncomplimentary about Islam or Muhammad) is a capital crime to be punished by death. Apostates are to be “killed wherever they may be found.”
• Female genital mutilation to make sure sex isn’t too enjoyable for the women.
• Women are considered inferior to men. Court testimony by a woman only counts for half of the testimony by a man. Women receive only half the inheritance that a man receives. A woman’s vote, if she is allowed to vote, counts one-half of a man’s vote.

It carries on in the same vein.

The excellent 'Barnabas Fund' has been involved in the campaign in the US to get Boko Haram registered as a terrorist organisation. The following is part of the article on their website.

"Our honorary director in the US, Bishop Julian Dobbs, worked with others to petition the State Department and other government agencies to designate Boko Haram as an FTO. On one occasion Bishop Dobbs was assisted by the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church in Nigeria who made the case in the corridors of power on behalf of suffering Nigerian Christians. 
Bishop Dobbs, who is an Anglican missionary bishop of the Church of Nigeria, said the FTO designation was significant for three reasons:

Firstly, it shows that the US government has realised that it’s a serious situation and is concerned about it. Secondly, the FTO label enables certain US resources, such as military and intelligence, to be involved in circumstances like we are seeing now with the kidnapped girls. And thirdly, it helps us to heighten awareness about our brothers and sisters in Nigeria suffering at the hands of what we can now call a terrorist organisation.

He said that the US government continues to dismiss the religious motivation of Boko Haram, insisting that it is an ethnic and social issue:

The next step is to get all Western governments to recognise the clear religious motivation of Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia across all of Nigeria and rid the country of any Christian presence. Our brothers and sisters in the North continue to suffer on a daily basis as a result of the group’s atrocities."

According to  UK national newspaper 'The Daily Mail', Boko Haram have links to the Nigerian Army, which could well explain why this is all taking so long, see here.

Britain and the US have both sent teams and equipment to Nigeria.

The abductions have triggered a worldwide social media campaign under the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, and prompted the U.S., Britain, France and Israel to offer help or send experts to Nigeria.
The U.S. has already sent military, law-enforcement and development specialists.
Two U.S. officials said on Tuesday a mix of manned and unmanned American surveillance aircraft were being used to aid the search for the missing girls.

One U.S. official identified the drone as a Global Hawk, which is a high-altitude, unmanned spy plane manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

Britain has also offered Nigeria a surveillance plane and a military team to help with the search for the missing schoolgirls, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday.
'Today I can announce we have offered Nigeria further assistance in terms of surveillance aircraft, a military team to embed with the Nigerian army in their HQ and a team to work with U.S. experts to analyse information on the girls' location,' he told parliament.
The Ministry of Defence clarified that one Sentinel plane would be sent.
The new offer of help comes after Britain Britain last week sent a team of experts to Nigeria including officials from the ministry of defence.
Mr Cameron's spokesman said on Monday they had met Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan.
Britain's minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, is also travelling to the Nigerian capital today for talks on further assistance, the Foreign Office in London said.

I don't know what the French are doing, but 'Israel Today' has reported that Israeli security forces have joined the effort to free the girls, see here.

Boko Haram are not some crazy African terrorist gang, but part of a back-to-basics Islamic reformation that takes its example from Islam's founder, see here and here. 

Rev. Doctor Mark Durie's video: 

 

Catching up with Australia.

This is a follow-up to my previous post. I emailed Daphne Anson (see blog list) and she replied with a link to an Anglican vicar, the Rev. Mark Durie. He's another Australian and it turns out  also associated with the same School of Theology as Elizabeth Kendal, whom I referenced in the previous post. I intend to add their sites to my blog list. They are too good to miss.

The Melbourne School of Theology fascinates me, because I studied at the, now defunct, Birmingham Bible Institute (UK). The Australians achieved everything that BBI wanted to be. The vision of their founder Re. C H Nash is practically identical to the vision of the Rev. H.Brash Bonsall , founder of BBI.

1. Biblical knowledge. The essence of training is to provide a thorough working knowledge of the Bible as the one dependable revelation from God. It is the chief equipment for the Christian worker.
2. Equal opportunity for all Christians. Training is open to people of all ages and levels of educational background, whether they are pursuing full-time paid Christian ministry, or seeking to be better equipped to serve the church and the world.
3. Practical relevance. There is great emphasis on the application of truth to daily life.
4. Spiritual growth. The encouragement of personal spiritual growth in Christ is a major objective that permeates the total program of the College.
5. Training in community. There is a strong emphasis upon students learning, sharing and worshipping together, discovering in depth the meaning of fellowship in Christ and the loving service of others.
6. Interdenominational unity. One of the great appeals of MST is its denominational diversity. It's exciting and, at times, challenging to learn to express our deep unity in Christ in the midst of our many different backgrounds.
7. Flexibility in the program. MST is continually seeking to appropriately adapt its teaching and learning methods to a fast-changing educational environment, while remaining committed to the unchanging gospel.
8. Evangelism and mission. One of MST's great emphases is the training of men and women for evangelism and cross-cultural mission. It is imperative that all students have a clear understanding of the gospel and the uniqueness of Christ as Lord and Saviour in a pluralistic world.
9. Leadership. MST seeks to equip its graduates for leadership in the church, mission and market place, so that they will be people who influence others in their thinking and behaviour. It is also our passion to equip people for key leadership roles, and to continue to assist their professional growth and development through in service programs.

BBI (UK) would have signed up to all of this. It is a sad reflection on the state of Christianity in the UK that the college lost its vision, its student applications and eventually ceased its ministry.

Nevertheless, in its heyday I spent three happy years there studying the Bible, training for Christian service and enjoying the fellowship.