This week, the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne is holding its annual conference.

As the Rudd government approaches its first anniversary, Encounter explores one of the trickiest, most sensitive and potentially controversial intersections in Australian public affairs - the relationship between religion and politics. Taking as a starting point Kevin Rudd's long essay declaring Dietrich Bonhoeffer his hero, the program tracks the influence of religion on Labor and Coalition policies. Father Frank Brennan, accused by some politicians as being "the meddlesome priest" describes how his first meeting with Kevin Rudd ended in furious argument and how their relationship later developed into friendship. Tom Frame, former bishop to the chaplains of the ADF talks of how he saw John Howard's religious beliefs evolving in office.

He became known as the Luther of medicine for his reformist medical practices, but Paracelsus, who was born in Switzerland in 1493, was also a religious man.

In Papua New Guinea, the health care system is vastly under resourced and the contribution of church organisations to health care is vital. At a small hospital and mission station in the remote west of PNG, where the white evangelical missionaries first arrived about 60 years ago, the faith of these missionaries and the ancient Indigenous belief systems are still coming to terms with each other.

Featured on The Spirit of Things on June 1st and 3rd, the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, Israel has just been named a World Heritage Site by by UNESCO.
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Compass goes green, exploring faith and the environment.
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