How hilarious John Stone having a posting under Religion & Spirituality.
I would suggest John has the spiritual consciousness of a rock.
Apologies to rocks of course!

Fixed ideas and associated bigotry are not amusing, and certainly contribute nothing to rational debate.

Oh no. No, John, you didn't. Seriously. What? Let me read this again. Wait, yep, yeah you did.
Oh no.

I honestly don't know where to begin with the problems with this article, this paranoid outlook.
War with Islam? For crying out loud, thats a billion people. If you're already willing to class them as the enemy we're well and truly buggered.
'Our muslim problem' is nothing compared to gang warfare that has occurred overseas, yet we're already getting hysterical. You want 'quasi religious hysteria' there's your example.

And yet you're not the least bit worried about climate change? Even the most pronounced skeptics concede that it is occurring, they just claim it's part of the natural cycle, not a result of greenhouse gases - that being said it is happening, regardless of whether you believe the emissions line. So... John thinks we should ignore that?

It really scares me that this person is in a position to make serious decisions.

Good to have John Stone back writing common sense.

"Western society" gullible John Stone.
The wheel of time turns relentlessly.
I hear the echoes of WW2 when we couldn't risk the "safety" of the West, and locked up those evil, scheming, terrorist Japanese nationals, who had the temerity to adopt a new lifestyle and new friends in a new country.

Next, we had "reds under the beds".

Then, we failed to ban the Communist Party from operating in the Australian political sphere.
Three strikes and you're out, so let's find the next demons.

Aaah hah!
Those pesky, prolific Muslims!
They're a good target for our philistine frenzy - they're not Christian, so they're DIFFERENT!
How dare they not conforn to OUR culture and values, so we'll state that because of this, we have a problem.
That ought to be good enough reason for our national management to sit down and write up declarations and undertakings which all non- Australian arrivals should sign.
That'll keep the country safe.
If they're really good little Muslims, we'll even give them a fridge magnet.

Wake up, John - live in the present, accept reality, and also accept that every other being has the same feelings, hopes, and makeup as you. They also have the same right to respect.
We've had hundreds of years of futile wars trying to assert that one set of beliefs is better than another.
Now, how about hundreds of years of positive, co-operative striving to ensure that every being is accepted and respected?
Don't let your craving ego get in the way of your happiness.

Perhaps the two issues are not that separate. If John Stone wishes to address what he perceives as a “Muslim problem” in Australia he may want to look towards supporting the country in developing energy products that are not dependant on Middle East oil. Less pressure by our government to force the hand of Middle East oil could reduce the anger of religious leader in the region. The same leaders who possibly stir the spirits of their Australian brothers and sisters.
At the very least if Australia does develop and apply some energy alternatives then there is less need and reliance on Middle East oil. Perhaps to Stone’s mind this equates to less money equals less bombs?
In any event a plan for a countries government to become freer from the yoke of world oil gives greater political and economic power to that country.
What the media is doing regarding the recent words of one Muslim Cleric is helping the country re-evaluate its sense of identity; something that is organic and changing.

Garbie