Yes, there were 100,000 'nutcases' gathered together recently in Indonesia - the idea may not have majority support but there are enough involved for the idea to be one that needs to be watched. There are too many otherwise well educated but disaffected young people who think it would give them more power than they now have, especially in otherwise corrupt societies.

Peppy's right. The small minority of nutters among the Muslim population who dream of a Caliphate are probably as representative of that benighted religion as the Christian frootloops, who rabbit on here endlessly about the supposed Muslim Peril, are of theirs.

Of course there are raving loonies on the fundamentalist fringes of Islam, as there clearly are in the wackier realms of Christianity, but the vast majority of adherents to both faiths tend to be harmless people who find meaning and solace from their imaginary friend in the sky.

Did anybody see Four Corners last night? I think we have far more to fear from meddling in Western politics by Christian fundies than any wacko fantasies of a revived Caliphate by a few loopy Muslim radicals.

Democracy and Islam are at cross purposes.It is freedom of thinking that has all but destroyed the Christian Church here.There is no way the Muslims will let democracy flourish.They want absolute control of our thinking because their belief system will not stand up to analysis.

How many Islamic Govts have true democracy?

Another highly predictable "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" monologue. What are these people smoking?

If there isn't a Caliphate in Indonesia, where 86% of close to a quarter of a billion people are Muslim, why do we suddenly see a rash of scaremongering articles that seem to believe that we in Australia are suddenly in danger of becoming one?

Where is our sense of proportion?

100,000 Muslims demonstrating in Jakarta is the same as 8,000 Christians staging a rally in Sydney. They would all fit in the Domain, Portaloos and all, with room to spare. And they would probably have a speaker mouthing off about converting the heathen, or spreading the word, or testifying, or witnessing or whatever, and no-one would even notice. It wouldn't make the news in Brisbane, for sure.

But if I was a news agency that wanted my audience to believe that the Christians of Sydney were on the march, and they were targetting the souls of Islam, I'd probably make it item no.1 on Karachi TV.

The Declaration of Independence is, I notice, reluctantly pressed into service. All men equal, in 1776 in the land that slavery built? I don't think so.

Still, the article managed to get poor old Boaz frothing at the mouth again, so I guess it met its objective.

" Democracy and Islam are at cross purposes "Posted by Arjay

Arjay,

You might have some credibility if the "Western Democracies" didn't support dicatators who kill and torture their subjects in Muslim and other lands, but as long as the West supports dictatorships when it's convenient you don't really have a leg to stand on.

Peppy ,we only support Muslim Dictators where there is oil to be found.Bush made the mistake of getting rid of Saddham.He was the only person who could unite Iraq and bring peace to that country.Saddham only reflected the people who bred him.

The US does the dirty work of Europe,China and India by keeping the Islamic lunatics divided so they cannot hold us all to ransom.Would you like to pay $10.00 per litre for your petrol?What is the price of real poverty for the West?It is energy which under pins our living standards and China or Japan will gladly butcher a billion Islamic facists to secure their survival.