Brought up a christian ,went to school at a christian college went to church as a christian,was instructed as a young boy,and when I became a man,as to what it means to be a christian,that the human race is one,that there is no heathen,there is no infidel,there is neither jew or gentile,there is no white,there is no black,we are all children of one GOD,WHO CREATED ALL IN HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS let that be your passport I was told for the journey through life,do not hate your brother or sister,because we are all children of GOD,this is my principles wereby I live my life.

Bashir,
This is one of the best articles I have read by a Muslim to appease Western minds. It presents clear arguments that every Muslim ought to understand.

However ideas are only acceptable if given reality. It would appear you are "a voice crying in the wilderness", and the person identified by this alluding [John the Baptiser 33AD] was beheaded by religious legal extremists for identifyng the sins and failures of the law enforcers.

However the Muslim mind must have a spiritual awakening and learn to reject some aspects of the Kor'an as spurious or irrelavent for today and give the life of Mohamet deeper scritiny as not having all authority to represent God by his words and exampled behaviour.

The Koran has as much authority when it comes to history and revelation as the book of Mormon; both claim to be handed down directly from God by the angel Gabriel. Both opening with the ideas to demonise any who would challenge or doubt its words, which is a literary give away of its genuineness and sincerity.

As stated ideas mean nothing unless lived in reality. A religion of peace and tolerance does not mean a thing unless it is demonstrated. However in the minds of many Muslims peace means the absence of opposition, and discenting voices. That is why they cannot accept democracy is the principle designed by Allah. In their mind it is evil and must be eradicated. Relationship to God is not theology, it is the attitudes demonstrated by the life. Joseph learned to live in an Egyptian culture, Daniel in a Babylonian and Jesus in a Greco-Roman and none tried to overthrow the system only the religious deception and enslavement.

The current agenda by moderate Muslims is to make their religion plauable to Western minds. The ultimate agenda will be set by the fundamentalists enforcing all to submit to the laws of Allah [shari'ah].

just because there are some people out there who like to get the point across, the only way they can do it by force make all us muslims bad to you. You don't see us judging other religions by just a few people. You all say that you believe in GOD then why don't you prove it, instead of worrying what us muslims are doing to ourselves why not worry about how you all betray yourself. You say that we are violent and killers but again you are doing worse by the actions you are doing.
Yes muslims are starting to become more angry and more up tight but what do think we should, just sit back and take all your racism. You as a person can take so much. In any religion it states, that you should defend, your religion and we are doing just that. But to you all we are just terrorist, we don't believe in our religion and we don't believe in GOD (swt).
WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE US, THE JUDGEMENT YOU GIVE US TODAY, WILL BE WHAT YOU WILL GET, ON JUDGEMENT DAY BUT WORSE. So if you wish to judge is then do it because been judged by you now is better then been judged by ALLAH. Let us see who will save US when we are all been questioned in the grave, about our lives. Because every minute of the day should be thanking ALLAH, and worshiping him. As it says in our book, onto your religion on to us our religion. This here is nothing to what a muslim faces every day of our lives, it takes a strong person in heart to be a Muslim not just anyone can do it. There are people who say they a muslim just by name but not by action, there is a difference. Have a nice day.

R0bert,

You wrote: "coach... you must be gnashing your teeth at this article as it show the face of Islam that you don't want seen...."

Don't be silly !!

1. That article is NOT "the face of Islam". Only fools like you believe that.

2. It is a wonderful work of a single moderate. Seemingly a true moderate. Probably an isolated one.

3. It's DEEDS that count, not WORDS. If beautiful argument like those do not sink in the mind of Muslims, then sorry, all it'd do is fooling naive people like you.

4. There may be a death threat against Bashir Goth some time. He may not even be regarded as a Muslim by some.

The population of Muslims is so huge, a mere handful of reformists is already a gross indictment of the religion. One very rare dissenting voice and your pathetic analytic mind takes you over the moon.

I don't attack that article at all. I welcome it. But please get Bashir Goth to take his teachings to a mosque, ANY MOSQUE, and see how far he'd go... before you gratuitously criticise those who have seem the TRUE face of Islam, for a much longer time than you have even heard about Islam.

Experience no longer count these days, does it? It's all about naive youthful exuberance.

GZ Tan - "Experience no longer count these days, does it? It's all about naive youthful exuberance"

It is the naive youthful experience that is needed in order for change to happen. And change is what is really needed. Experience only counts if it is used as a basis for learning.

My experience of Australian Muslims is very different from yours. My Muslim friends and colleagues are genuinely kind and caring individuals with values, views and lifestyles very similar to my own - so does my experience count?

sajo,

You wrote: "It is the NAIVE youthful EXPERIENCE..."
My goodness!! How do you reconcile being NAIVE and being EXPERIENCED

You then wrote: "Experience only counts if it is used as a basis for learning".
In other words you mean- Experience does NOT count if it is NOT used as a basis for learning.

I don't think you even know what you're talking about.

You wrote: "And change is what is really needed. "
So put together a bunch of naive people like yourself (and R0bert), the Islamic world will change for the better... you think? Ooop... or perhaps it is our world that needs changing and improving to accomodate the intolerance and violence coming from Muslims? Or change both at the same time??

You have some experience with Muslims. So based on your local experience, can you figure out why Australian Muslims may be 'different' from Muslims in another Islamic states?

If your experience is to be your shining light of guidance, then you'd better be able to tell.

Whether change or not, WISDOM is needed. Not being NAIVE. And wisdom partly comes from experience.