TR, what on earth do your 2.5 years in Saudi Arabia have to do with an essay on Australian values and citizenship? Perhaps you should re-read the essay. If you need some help with my plain English, I understand there are ESL services available in most areas to help you in case your years in KSA led you to forget your (presumably) native tongue.

Indonesia's most influential newspaper is Kompas. It is owned by a private Catholic foundation. Imagine the fuss if The Australian were bought by a private Buddhist or Islamic foundation?

Yes, minorities are mistrated in many countries, Muslim or otherwise. But let's not be blind to the multi-faceted and complex nature of the real world.

Unless, of course, you want to rely on News Limited (or should that be Limited News?) tabloids for your information needs.

TR: "Of course all people have values because they are encoded in their genes via several million years of human evolution. This is a given."

Sorry, but this is utter nonsense. Values in this sense are ideas about ethics, and are learned. While this learning begins at birth, it is by no means the same thing as asserting that values are genetically inherited.

Irfan ... you haven't answered the question.

Irfan, "Yes, Assyrians are suffering. So are many others in Iraq, a country that has been plunged into civil war. Whose fault is this?"

It's very convenient that the United States intervened in Iraq and ousted Saddam. It serves to mask the reality of the secular violence as being the fault of the Americans and allows the Anti-western Muslims fodder to blame America rather than looking inwards. However, the truth is that by the time the Americans thought to invade Saddam had turned most of the daily operation of government over to Qusay and Uday and the Shia majority were primed to open hostilities against their Sunni oppressors following the example of the Kurdish. There would not have been a peaceful hand over of power lead by a Sunni minority government.

Muslims who have a difficulty living with in a secular Judeo-Christian country need to look inwards, not project their fear of change onto their host or adopted countries. If they must have a dominate Islamic culture there are many countries who support such an environment. Be responsible for your choice. Nobody dragged you here in chains. Well, except for the white people. :-)

Irfan, My apologies, where is says secular please see sectarian.