You're on Arjay. If any independent candidate backed by the Merry Mufti scores more than 1,000 votes against Morris Iemma, I will personally buy you a beer (at your pub of choice in Lakemba or Greenacre).

Check out Irfan Yusuf's sorry account of the fate of the last candidate backed by Hilaly at http://planetirf.blogspot.com/2007/01/hilalys-endorsement-is-poisoned-chalice.html . The Mufti's support managed a swing AWAY from his candidate.

Interesting to note that Hilaly supported a Liberal candidate. Perhaps the Liberal Party is the natural home for all religious conservatives.....

ybgirp, do you know of any way of stopping faith and politics mixing?
I'd prefer to have an option to have the country lead by someone who does not follow an ancient middle eastern shepherd god but right now there don't appear to be any serious contenders for the job. Maybe those who like those things have a greater interest in running others lives than the rest of us.

coach, "Can someone please explain to me how a politicaly charged group like the AOG (disguised as a religion of sort) - with such irreconcilable values to Australia, undermining our society and threatening our national security - could be allowed to exist here let alone compete in the leadership of this country?" good point.

Mostly because if the majority belief was set as the standard for everybody your faith would be gone along with Islam. While many australians are nominally christain only a minority take it the way you do. Should you be allowed to exist here?

I'd like to see a removal of some of the protections and exemptions religions get but not see them outlawed. Make them pay the same taxes and rates as other interest groups. Hold their teachers and leaders accountable under various government acts that bind other operators (trade practice, fair trading, medical review etc) but provided the claims they make can be reasonable backed up with reputable evidence (or carry the appropriate disclaimers) let them do their thing.

For the record I don't really think that the AOG or Islam pose a clear threat to national security.

R0bert

With Judaism or Christianity bringing religion into the realm of government would be barely noticeable since both religious expressions are inherent with in democracy. Democratic precepts are not foreign nor anathema to either religion.

On the other hand democracy is not a precept of Islam. Islam is an expression of totalitarian authority that knows no social boundary. Islam must be actively present in all social forums and institutions.
What you eat. What you wear. Where you live. How you pray. How your educated and what you are to learn. How you are policed. Your courts system. etc. etc.. Most importantly how you think. And if it is found that your thinking outside of the Islamic box immediate steps are taken to reign you in. Muslims are encouraged to ghettoize for reasons of Islamic control. Muhammad said, "any Muslim living with pagans (unbelievers) are exempt from me". Which means they are living outside of Islam and can not be trusted to be good Muslims.

The question is not whether Muslims might bring their religion into government but, rather how to stop Muslims from bringing their Islamic government into Australian politics and general government.

The author of this article is really confused. On the one hand she claims that there are many kinds of Islam. Then she makes the following profound statement:

"On some issues, Iraq being the most obvious example, mainstream political thought is moving closer to the position held by many Muslims."

What the?

RObert has a valid point when he mentions that rather than attacking culture, their "cult" or religion or whatever it is called, there needs to be closer attention to their behaviour.

This week I am really surprised that many of my progressive arts and cafe latte sipper friends are really changing their attitude on this. Not on grounds of ethnicity or religion but behaviour.

Tonight was particularly pointed as an example. We saw the photo of those horrible thugs in the Granville School "club". What did they do after their media appearance causing for concern to the police and Education Department? I can tell you. Guess!

They were at Kings Cross celebrating. I saw 9 of them. I recognised their faces. I just so happened to be at a birthday party in a cafe.

Now with my limited knowledge of Arabic, it was hard not to hear them beefing out: "Australian idiots" and calling a gay couple "Attay Allah" meaning enemy of God. They approached the table with a knife and were stopped by an irate lesbian, yes, correct spelling, not Lebanese, a woman not to cross at the Cross.

All 9 scuttled away like frightened rodents and went on to the next unsuspecting venue. I could hear sex workers out side spitting out "f#*k off towel-heads". They made a few ape sounds and disappeared.

We really do get Islamic trash in this country.

Three well-known artists I saw mentioned "I wish they would just deport those bastards" and a Greens member there said "I will never make a stand for their rights again".

Granville, its the place that finally convinced me we can not live together.
The plan to teach the world to be one is failing, those racist young men are Australians born here and tought to hate by parrents who have gained much as a result of our freedoms.
I spent part of my chilhood in a far different Granville, every family knew every one all doors open to each.
This election if such a candedate stands will only prove we are seperate.
About 5% of well meaning but lost forever non Muslims will vote for them and about 8% of the total of 13% who are Muslim will too.
How long will it be before a mainstream party , sadly likely my ALP runs a candedate from within this group?
It is near certain but why?
We can not forever turn the other cheek to such pure insults and long prison terms must come for these racists

RObert, France has been pretty successful in stopping faith interfering in politics. They have had the courage to outlaw ostentatious signs of religiosity in public – the headscarf, crucifixes, skull-caps etc. {Which attracted loud howls of condemnation from Australia!}The French government supports tolerance of all minorities and severely punishes offenders; however no candidate for elected political office would consider using his religion as a platform. Religious beliefs are not allowed as a defence for criminal acts. Spain, too has had the courage to strip the Catholic Church of its centuries old privileges and overt role in politics, and has joined France in being one of the two most ‘liveable’ countries of Europe. Australia, meanwhile, follows the cringing path it has taken for the last two hundred years – caving in to whoever shouts the loudest. First England, then the U.S.A., always Christianity, and soon Islam. This country has never been independent and never will be.
Democracy – even the watery version we have here, contains the seeds of its own destruction. It only lasts until the first politician opens his mouth, it then becomes a demagoguery.
The AOG and Islam may not pose a threat to national security, but they pose a threat to the mental wellbeing of millions of Australians.
Aqvarius, there is absolutely nothing democratic about the organisations of either Judaism or Christianity. They are hierarchical, male dominated dictatorships.
Saintfletcher… unfortunately, your latte crowd and the artists do not represent the majority. Most Australians are uninformed because the media are controlled by a few powerful men who like things as they are, and callously manipulate information to attain their ends. They are the ones who decide the outcome of Australian elections, not the puppet voters.
As long as mainstream Christian organisations are permitted to maintain or increase their annual profits of several billions of tax-free dollars, they are not going to rock the boat.