Faith is fixed, meaning that it can fix the brain on one idea, even murder.

Reason is superior to faith, because it encourages you to search like a detective, often not even then believing, but to carry on enquiring - even as faithful Christians, St Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, and Immanuel Kant gave support to.

It is not certain to what extent religion affects politicians’ views as much as the media wants us to accept. One does not need to be a religious to see that extracting a living infant out of its mother’s womb and murdering it… constitute a crime against humanity.

The marriage of politics and religion however is really interesting when “Caesar” is both the State and the Religion of the day. (Hence the Christian reformation).

This is why Islam and liberal democracy cannot co-exist. Judging from the recent escalation of attacks in Iraq – Islamists are prepared to go to any length to prevent Democracy taking precedent on the rulings of Allah..

Secularism is anathema in an Islamic State. Citizens are either Muslims or second-class kafirs (unbelievers).

The word “secular” does not exist in the Islamic lexicon. So what does an Islamic party in Australia really hoping to achieve if not replacing democracy with Islam ?

An Islamic party is the next nail in the coffin of our liberal democracy. Give Islam a little and before you know it it’s too late to retrieve our once free country.

There is no place for a Religious parties in Australian politics – being Christian or otherwise. (We) on the other hand need Christians in politics to protect our inherent Christian values on which our laws and society have been built.

To throw Christianity out of policy making is to create a moral and ethical vacuum that can be replaced temporarily by nothingness (Atheism, Humanism) but will soon be devoured by amorality (Islam). This is what is happening in most parts of Europe today.

Allah causes people to do good and to do evil; therefore Muslims have no moral control (law) over their actions. It’s all as Allah wishes and he (Allah) knows best, and he is the master of deception.

That explains why a terrorist is also a hero in Islam, a martyr for the cause of Allah. Killing innocent people is the sure ticket to paradise.

There are no moral consequences. How could Islam govern or even compete in our political systems?

Interesting and thoughtful piece, I think it brings out the subtleties of some of the issues very well.

As a Christian, I can’t and shouldn’t lay my faith perspectives aside when I enter the ballot box. But nor am I bound to accept the assumptions of those who would conflate their own political ideologies with the demands of their faith, whether the “family values” agenda of the right or the “social justice” agendas of the left

It is us Germanic barbarians who have forced Islamists to escape down into their own Dark Age, even after it was a wonderful union between Islam and Greek philosophy that enabled St Thomas Aquinas to spread the message lifting Christianity out of its own Dark Age. A message that was also wonderfully scientific, making us Westerners what we are today.

As an Iranian female Justice of the Peace mentioned a year or so ago. If only the barbarian West with its craving for Middle East oil and hegemonic global positioning, would leave the Middle East alone, its people would eventually form their own style of democracy.

Surely we can take lessons from Malaysia, Vietnam, and even possibly Indonesia, which in the long run with the help of India and China, might prove as good or even superior to our smart-a-se Western selves.

Tony_said:

1/ [The first is that most religions preach a world view that influences a way of living. This "way" tends to permeate a sincere believer's life, including their politics, either as citizen or politician.]

2/ [The second truth is that the point of religion is essentially different from that of politics.]

Amen Brutha! yes.. and I might emphasise that Tony_Coady is NOT an alias of BD, but he is on the same_page. There is a difference though, and that difference is my further emphasis on the actual nature and basis of the 'WAY' of Islam as it impacts the believing Muslim.

Tony says that 'way' permeates the believers life 'INCLUDING' politics. Islam is totally political by nature. To be Muslim is to be "Islamically Political".

The example and basis for that political 'way' is found in Mohammad's life.

"I have been commanded to FIGHT against people so long as they do not confess that there is no God but Allah". Hadith Muslim book 1 number 30 ...is a recurring theme in the Hadith Literature. It is so strong, and with so many different chains of narration that it must be recognized as a central aspect of true Islam.

It does not make a scrap of difference that various posters to this forum claim that such things are taken out of context (they are not) or that they are 'selective' (that they are). What matters is how they support the reality of early middle and late (current) Islam and how this is being translated into real world actions NOW.

CHRISTIANITY and POLITICS. "IF" the true and basic teachings of Christ are followed, and his wonderful example, the Church will NOT be a political organization, but it WILL have an impact on the choices governments make. It will be a prophetic voice calling people to account for their actions. Why ? check this out:

II Chron 12:1
After Rehoboam's position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel [a] with him abandoned the law of the LORD.

I see a big slice of Australia right 'there'.

Coach qrote;

'To throw Christianity out of policy making is to create a moral and ethical vacuum that can be replaced temporarily by nothingness (Atheism, Humanism) but will soon be devoured by amorality (Islam).'

This statement is misguided for it presupposes that atheists and humanists are incapable of acting morally.

I would suggest that atheists and humanists can be far more humane than monotheists because they are not following religious dogma from the Bronze Age. Neither do atheists and humanists have to appease the whims of an angry 'sky-god' or follow bigoted 'holy' texts.

In fact, it is the morality of the monotheistic religions which exists in a 'vacuum' because it is founded on a non-existent 'sky-god'. On the other hand, the morality of an atheist and humanist is real because it is based on the scientific method. Disciplines based on hard empirical evidence like neuroscience, evolutionary pyschology and sociology are always going to be of more value than the unfounded opinion of a religious guru from the Bronze Age or the hallucinagenic ponderings of an Arabian cave dweller.