Glorfindel,

I'm not looking for an excuse but wasn't that Bible incident preceded by prison guards at Guantanamo flushing pages of the Koran down a toilet a few months earlier?

I also recall that public assaults against Muslim women wearing headscarves was fairly rampant at the time too. I personally witnessed several school children physically and verbally harrass one woman outside a shopping centre while adults stood by and laughed.

Maybe the mother of one of those students had a similar experience.

If it were just an issue of resistance to multi culturism, one would expect a similar reaction to the construction of a temple of other religions, such as the Bahai temple.

As far as I know there hasn't been any resistance.

The reaction to Islam is a predictable response to publicity agents such as Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, Bin Laden, and Abu Bakar Bashir, who promote the killing of non muslims, and that raped women deserve it.

That most of the British bombers were home grown in the Islamic schools doesn't inspire confidence in the local population.

The fact that most sharks are harmless doesn't prevent a panic when one is sighted.

Islam needs to fire its agents and get a new image that does not inspire fear.

Australia federal politicians acted more stupidly than they do normally when they opened the gates to the large scale spread of Islam into our country.

It’s not governments that Muslims have to battle; it’s ordinary Australians, held in disdain by their politicians, who are at last getting their feelings across. They were not consulted on matters of multiculturalism and mass immigration but, by crikey, they can stir the pot when it comes to their neighbourhoods.

The suspicion of Islam and Australian governments is being heightened as more people find that, although our governments claim that religion and politics do not mix, they have spent at least $8,000,000 of our money to establish, in Australia, an organisation to spread Islamic information, and they have also paid for a booklet called “Muslim Australians: Their Beliefs, Practices and Institutions”, which does not actually tell the truth. The booklet was written the way a Professor Abdullah Saeed would LIKE Islam to be, not the way it really is.

It can said that, having let Islam come to Australia, Australia must now allow Muslims the same rights as other religions to have their own schools and places of worship (which they do have in some areas where they have become dominant).

That sounds right to me, except for this:

Both our elected dictatorships – Coalition and Labor – totally ignored considerable public objection to a completely alien religion being deliberately introduced to Australia, when consultation and education could have prevented the actions against the establishment of Mosques and Muslim schools.



The author also accuses we Australians of “inability and unwillingness to accept and acknowledge that Australia is a multicultural society, and to come to terms with this fact.”

Well, like Islam, that was forced upon us by dictatorial politicians, too. Besides, it seems to me that the people who have most trouble coming to terms with multiculturalism are Muslims.

Told you so. The chooks are now coming home to roost.

Well said Oliver.
A little bit of historical truth can really mess up a overly simplistic theory. Yep, all religions claim to be doing good despite their history and current actions. Never give power to someone who claims it as God given! Never ever.
Bach: If religious leaders were held accountable then they would evolve into scientific entities that actually concerned themselves with Truth. Stasis is a necessary part of Tribalism and is part of the success formula of the memes of religion. Pandering to simple egotistical minds, keeping people scared (starts with kids) and consistency is more important than truth, or honesty, or Good for that matter. Look at the worldwide ongoing Catholic paedophile protection organisation. Imagine a secular organisation with that record. Bikes look like saints in comparison.
Kenny: I'm with you. All religious teachings that are not comparative are a form of child abuse. Closing minds at a young age is akin to brain-binding. My parents always said "respect them all, but make up your own mind". To this day I am so grateful they gave me true ethics and freedom of thought.
Alas, this is *my* culture and it gets no respect from any established religions.
(Except most Buddhists, but they are Taoist in nature, not theists. It seems most non-theists can get along, but the notion of God gives one the evangelistic domination urges!)
Despite the gains from science (most of civilisation as we know it), Christians are actively trying to dismantle it via creationism/ID and insane moral crusades. I'd suggest that Christians make up the majority of the intolerance. Tribe vs Tribe. Isn't it ironic that the humans who don't believe in our animal ancestry behave the most like animals?

Ozandy

I think it unfair to blame your parents for your warped mind. Your selective view of history and you god hating attitude is certainly not something that is helpful to any society.

Glorfindel: "Islamic theology is profoundly incompatible with western democracy"

Yet nonetheless Pell acknowledged in the link you gave there are fully functioning Islamic democracies. He only chose to mention 2, but there are many more. I notice Pell didn't try an explain the apparent contradiction. You ignore it as well. The obvious conclusion is theology isn't hugely relevant to democracy one way or the other. I suspect Pell and yourself find it a bit hard to swallow.

runner: "Your selective view of history and you god hating attitude"

Pericles, Ozandy. You know you hit a home run with runner when he starts using the word "hate" in his replies.