Grateful what is all this "Sources nonsense? If I put my hand in a fire I know what would happen, I do not need some over paid fancy pants to tell me.
I see Islam right now, in front of my very eyes, murdering and oppressing. Muslims invariable do not work which is why they did not kill all the Jews. The Jews all worked and earned and your muslim mates fed off them.
In the west the Umaa invariably live off our welfare and whine and whine and whine!
Quick aside, the NSW cops have a "Middle East Crime Squad" any ideas why that is?

So Shadow Minister, coming back to your statement:

"Islam was spread by the sword in exactly the same way that Christianity was, the problem is that the intolerance of the conquistadors in Western society has given way to liberal tolerance, whilst for Islam, they are stuck in the middle ages"

I can take it that, since you agree with Bernard Lewis (i knew you'd like him) and decline to repeat or support your statement that you realise just how false it is.

Also, thanks again for your apology, now that we have established that the Oxford History of Islam is sponsored, hosted and endorsed by the University of Oxford's Islamic studies website.

Grateful, what absolute rubbish.

The Oxford History of Islam is published by a branch of Oxford University press in New York, and put together by an American in America. It has bugger all to do with Oxford university.

And thanks for link to Bernard Lewis showing just how intolerant Islam was towards non muslims living under Islamic oppression, which continues today in the middle east.

JBowyer says “Grateful what is all this "Sources nonsense?”
It’s about finding out whether there are grounds for the opinions expressed or whether it is driven by pure prejudice; the opposite of a “fair go”.

The question should be: Why do you reject the need to support opinions that fuel violence and hatred?

The answer: You have no sources that would justify your views. It’s pure bigotry.

Having no sources to declare does not imply no sources and the unwillingness to expose actual sources (and leaders) to public scrutiny betrays awareness that they would not withstand public scrutiny. Such people are intellectually dishonest and cowards.

JBowyer wrote: “Quick aside, the NSW cops have a "Middle East Crime Squad" any ideas why that is?”

Yes. Firstly, according to the Middle East Crime Squad it has nothing to do with religion:

“The question is often asked - where does religion fit? Deb Wallace, the head of the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, says police make no record of religious background when arrests are made.

As she and other officers see it, religious faith has no bearing other than to further reflect migration patterns. Earlier mobsters like the Bayehs were Christian Lebanese. Many of the later pretenders are Muslim. The Karam/Kanaan mob were a mix of both Christian and Muslim.”

from: "Middle Eastern crime connections", by Chris Masters, The Daily Telegraph, April 09, 2010 12:00AM . http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/middle-eastern-crime-connections/story-fn2mt2ft-1225851600458

The article goes on to detail the factors underpinning the violence. If you speak to Lebanese themselves they will narrow the geographical source of the problem down to a small part of Lebanon itself.

Shadow Minister says “The Oxford History of Islam is published by a branch of Oxford University press in New York, and put together by an American in America. It has bugger all to do with Oxford university.”

What shadow Minister does NOT say is the Oxford History of Islam is republished online in full for subscribers to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies which “is a recognised Independent Centre of the University of Oxford, England”
See: http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/book/islam-9780195107999/islam-9780195107999-miscMatter-6

Shadow Minister says “In fact it was oppression.”

What he does NOT tell you is that Lewis did not say this and Shadow Minister himself has failed to provide one eminent historian who would support such a statement

Grateful,

That is probably the single most feeble and tenuous link I have ever seen. The Oxford History of Islam is linked to Oxford because it gives a discount to students of an INDEPENDENT center for Islamic studies, which is itself only loosely associated with Oxford university.

Bernard Lewis described system and institutionalized discrimination against non muslims which is by definition oppression. You should look it up. That massacres were rare is not a huge mitigating factor.