Gary Bouma

Gary Bouma AM (1942) is an author and a professor of sociology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is a citizen of both the United States and Australia. His primary research interests have been related to the topics of multiculturalism and religious pluralism. He is also a priest in the Anglican Church. Bouma works to promote communication and respect between religious communities. He commenced with Monash University in 1979 and has served in leadership roles in the World Conference of Religions for Peace and the Christian Research Association. In an interview in 2004 he said:

The situation in the Middle East won’t be resolved until there is a religious solution. And groups like Al Qaeda, which are puritanical Muslims with a religious agenda, will continue their efforts until stopped by those Muslims who disagree with the aims of Al Qaeda, just like Cromwell in England.

In 2011, Bouma described the Special Religious Instruction (SRI) Victorian curriculum developed by Access Ministries as "just appalling", and described their volunteers as "Christians out there trying to train the next generation [but] putting them off with the kind of crap they serve." Bouma stated that if children were being taught in a particular religion, all faiths should be offered, with parents having to opt in; at the time about 96 per cent of SRI in Victoria was run by Christian volunteers and parents had to opt out.