At a time of travel warning, Encounter celebrates the diversity of Indonesia with the stories of a boxer turned Muslim cleric and a Sundanese celebration of a Muslim saint. And Malaysian scholar Farish Noor characterises Australia's understanding of Indonesia as ridden with contradiction.

Harvard theologian Harvey Cox wrote The Secular City in 1965 in which he argued that God was very much alive and well and living in the secular city, albeit in new and sometimes unrecognisable ways. Today, Cox says we’ve departed the Age of Religion and entered an Age of Faith, where ‘the way’ of Jesus is celebrated over the dogmas of the church. We also hear the author of A History of Charisma, John Potts of Macquarie University, who sees deep patterns of faith in many so-called secular ideologies and movements.

Christianity and Islam have long histories of apocalyptic expectation. But when messianic fervour starts to shape the foreign policy of nation states, how concerned should we be? Encounter this week looks at the United States and Iran.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is a self-confessed ‘radical pluralist’, but he’s come a long way from his days as a passionate member of the ‘settler movement’ in Israel. The popular contributor to Beliefnet speaks to Rachael Kohn at the Parliament of the World’s Religions. We also hear from Christian Sorensen whose Seaside Centre for Spiritual Living revives the 19th Century New Thought movement, inspired by Emerson and Thoreau.

The Global Atheist Convention, being held in Melbourne in March, has drawn a wide range of Australian and international speakers under the theme, 'The Rise of Atheism'. ABC Religion's Margaret Coffey and Gary Bryson are attending the event, and in this blog bring their reports and analysis on the issues which the convention raises. And you're welcome to join the discussion.
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Noel Debien, ABC Radio Religion Unit 2010

At the direction of Vatican, the church is about to publish a new English version of the Roman Missal, that is, the Mass. It is creating quite a stir. Some see it as an attempt by Rome to undermine the advances of Vatican II by reintroducing the hierarchical resonances of the Latin Mass. Others see it as a long overdue remedy; to restore to the English some of the theological rigour lost in the previous translations.
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August 2nd: an Encounter program on the life of an ascetic
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