Islam Blog - markdurie.com

03 Feb A New Law to Contain Islamic Radicalism Threatens French Protestants

Posted at 10:56h in Changing World, Faith and Culture, Freedom, Religious Literacy, Understanding Islam 0 Comments

Six years ago, when I was serving as the pastor of an Anglican church, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission wrote to the parish requesting that it implement measures to stop our church from funding terrorists. Warning a quiet suburban Anglican parish against funding terrorism seems...

18 Dec Macron’s Vain Hope for an Enlightened Islam

Posted at 08:34h in Understanding Islam 0 Comments

In the course of a few weeks, France, which has the highest proportion of Muslim citizens in Europe, has been subjected, once again, to bloody assassinations by attackers shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The first was the beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty, who had been discussing the...

16 Sep The Importance of Understanding Islam

Posted at 20:24h in Leaving Islam, Understanding Islam, Video 0 Comments

This is a presentation I gave for a Melbourne School of Theology Open Day. It is aimed at Christians. This Webinar explains why engaging with Islam is important, how to do it well, and what the fruit can be in terms of Christian mission and social...

13 Aug Joe Biden Courts Islam, not Muslims

Posted at 10:46h in Changing World, Religious Literacy, Understanding Islam 0 Comments

As Muslim communities in Western nations continue to grow in size and influence, politicians will court their vote. In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Muslims had the lowest rate of voter registration of any religious group. This time around, however, the Million Muslim Votes movement is...

25 Jul Mark Durie on Islam’s Crisis of Apostasy

Posted at 14:21h in Changing World, Leaving Islam, Understanding Islam, Video 0 Comments

By Marilyn Stern Mark Durie, Middle East Forum Writing Fellow, and Senior Research Fellow of the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam, spoke to participants in a July 25 Middle East Forum Webinar (video) about the crisis of faith in Islam as disillusioned Muslims...

14 Jun The Hidden History of the Qur’an (video)

Posted at 12:35h in Understanding Islam, Video 1 Comment

The Qur'an tells a 'hidden history' about its own origins, which is different from the conventional account....

20 May Islam, COVID-19, and the Divine Decree

Posted at 14:38h in Understanding Islam 1 Comment

Natural disasters can raise pressing questions for religious believers who believe in a sovereign God. One question which inevitably arises is, “What is God doing in this?” For the almost 2 billion Muslims who make up a quarter of the world’s population, this is an...

07 Jun The Qur’an’s Turn to Violence

Posted at 14:31h in Understanding Islam 0 Comments

The Problem of Peace vs. Violence It is widely recognized that, on the topic of violence, the Qur’an speaks with more than one voice. Some verses speak for peace, and others for war. The conventional explanation is that the difference hinges on the migration of the...