Dear Foxy,

<<Religious laws have no legal status in this country.>>

Neither are the laws of physics:

- Apples are not legally obliged to fall down to the earth rather than fly to the moon.
- Light will not get a speeding ticket if it goes faster than 299,792.458 km/second.
- No two perpendicular sides of a triangle will be prosecuted if the sum of their squares would not be equal to the square of the triangle's hypotenuse.
- Man is not legally obliged to die, ever.

So in fact, many laws operate in Australia, even if only few of them have a legal status.
Moreover, we are accountable to many of these laws: for example, if we dive into an empty pool then we can expect to break our head on its floor.

As for obeying authorities, I think you may like this reference: http://www.angelfire.com/hi/littleprince/framechapter10.html

The radical Muslim cleric Ben Brika was asked in an
interview on the "7.30 Report," "But don't you think
Australian Muslims - Muslims living in
Australia also have a responsibility to adhere to
Australian law?"

To which he answered. "This is a big problem. There are
two laws - there is an Australian law and there is an
Islamic law."

Peter Costello tells us in his book, "The Costello
Memoirs," that -

No, this is not a big problem. There is one law we are all
expected to abide by. It is the law enacted by the
Parliament under the Australian Constitution.

Religion instructs its adherents on faith, morals and
conscience, but there is not a separate system of law
derived from religious sources that competes with or
supplants Australian law in governing our civil
society. The source of our law is the democratically
elected legislature. Our State is a secular State. As such
it can protect the freedom of all religions for worship.

Dear Foxy,

This Costello guy was speaking for himself: he said "There is one law we are all expected to abide by" - it is by himself. He, Mr. Costello happens to expect everyone to abide by his kind of laws - so what? these are his private expectations. I don't have any such expectations, nor does Ben Brika, nor many others.

<<there is not a separate system of law derived from religious sources that competes with or supplants Australian law in governing our civil society.>>

Looking from the other side, it is rather the Australian law that attempts to compete with and supplant all natural and religious laws with its ambition to create a civil society and force it down the throats of all the inhabitants of this continent.

<<The source of our law is the democratically elected legislature>>

Speak for yourself please. It could be, at this point in time, the source of YOUR laws, not mine.

<<Our State is a secular State.>>

Again, speak for yourself please. I don't own any states, I just happen to be their victim, nor do I have a desire to control other people and tell them how they should live.

<<As such it can protect the freedom of all religions for worship.>>

When I want the cat to guard my cream, then I'll go and ask him to.

A huge part of why people are becoming more tolerant of queers are because society is becoming too messed up with political correctness.

I think at some point peer pressure is being traded for political correctness.
The youth had a different idea of what was accepted once but now things are a whole lot different.
Things were different before mobile phones and the internet.

PC has fragmented what once was peer-pressure and now we have a huge plethora of different social groups all with different moronic social agendas.

The information age has been balanced with just as much disinformation and bs that people are losing their way.

Peer pressure isn't there in the way it was to keep them on the straight and narrow.

And that's why men have become effeminate whining skirt wearing pansies with social agendas.

Dearest Foxy,

"Peter Costello tells us in his book, "The Costello Memoirs," that -

"No, this is not a big problem. There is one law we are all expected to abide by. It is the law enacted by the Parliament under the Australian Constitution.

"Religion instructs its adherents on faith, morals and conscience, but there is not a separate system of law derived from religious sources that competes with or supplants Australian law in governing our civil society. The source of our law is the democratically elected legislature. Our State is a secular State. As such it can protect the freedom of all religions for worship."

Spot-on ! In Australia, we have achieved a separation of church and state, with state laws always prevailing. The problem with Islam (well, one major problem) is that they cannot recognise the separation of church and state, since the Koran is supposed to be the perfect word, unchangeable for all time, of Allah. Hence they cannot recognise even the existence of a State separate from Islam, and most certainly not in competition with it: by definition the modern state is thus kafir.

With that belief, there is bound to be 'tension' between Islamic believers and the Australian state, no matter how often politicians say there is no such 'tension'.

Lots of love,

Joe

Armchair Critic,
It's not 'political correctness'. It's a combination of live-and-let-live and greater understanding (ie. empathy) and compassion.

Political correctness is a term of derision, which is all that many have.