shalom/salam.

someone asked about jewish contributions to aboriginal land rights. there would be no Mabo were it not for the late ron castan qc.

i agree that it is not good for any faith community to pretend that they are united. i think people have more respect for communities that manage their differences maturely and can have a sensible robust internal debate than communities that pretend to be united whilst their grassroots members are too scared to speak out.

one of the great things that came out of the sheik feiz rape comments is that muslim individuals spontaneously came out and took a public stand. they did not wait for their caricatured spokespeople to do the talking. and that way, ordinary mainstream australians could see that muslim australians are just as mainstream as anyone else.

when people tell me that australia is a christian country, i laugh. i ask them who was our first australian-born governor general. i ask them who is the man behind crazy john, the sponsor of at least 2 major aussie football codes.

jews and muslims are too busy being mainstream to have to worry about justifying what other idiots do in the name of their faith overseas.

the shema and the kalima shahada have the same message. mevlana rumi spoke of loving the same G-d that the musa bin maymum loved. and when muslims speak of the glory of muslim spain, they frequently refer to the genius of musa bin maymun. i once saw a statue of shaykh musa wearing a long arabic-style robe, with his head covered in a cap and turban like a good sufi.

call me a blind optimist, but i look forward to the day when a rabbi can be appointed as physician to a muslim army in the middle east, just as salah ad-din appointed musa bin maymun (moses maimonides) as the physician of his army.

peace to all.

Irfan,
Australian justice and governments were founded upon Westminster Christian models; that has served this nation well. Australian morality and ethics had its roots in Judea-Christian values

philo, what are judeo-christian values?

who was the most prominent and influential jewish theologian of the past 1,000 years? moses maimonides. what language did he write all his books in? arabic. who was he physician to in jerusalem? saladdin.

can you tell me one muslim king or ruler that massacred 6 million jews?

it seems that when it comes to judeo-christian values, the christians always seem to be getting better value.

and what was so christian about a convict colony that massacred indigenous peoples? and what sort of christian values are involved in stealing ean entire generation from their parents? finally, where is the christian value in locking up asylum seekers, many of whom have fled nominally muslim countries after converting to christianity?