I find it ironic that the only examples where muslims may have conflict with our laws have been put forward by Philo and Graham Y. Aunti, who started this thread, and al -oz are supposedly muslim have not offered any examples, so the question remains hypothectical, which is pretty poor on their part.

Even so, the answeris obvious. Our law takes precedidence over anything else Muslim or otherwise. I expect muslims here to respect that in the same way as I would respect the laws of another country I was in.

If that is a problem then, like Costello said, some may be more comfortable elsewhere.

If I moved to (or even visited) "ABC" country then I would expect to have to abide by the laws of that country and, if living there, learn the language and the customs and traditions. I would expect to have to use their language outside my own home and have my children educated in that language, those customs and those traditions. I would almost certainly feel strongly tempted to provide my children with my cultural background as well.
I don't think that is an unreasonable response. It becomes unreasonable when I permit my cultural background to interfere to the extent that it does not allow me or my family to fully integrate with the society in which I have chosen to live. It becomes unreasonable if I do not permit my children or my partner to do certain things which are considered normal and acceptable by the society concerned.
It becomes unreasonable when I require my children to accept such issues as arranged marriages ormarriages only within my cultural grouping, to dress in a certain manner or in any other way mark themselves out as different from the other members of that society.
If I go still further than that and demand that people outside my cultural grouping behave in ways that are culturally or religiously specific to me then I would be behaving both offensively and in breach of, at very least, the unwritten laws of the society in which I have chosen to live. I would be the one at fault.
Fair or not?

I think you're right Pericles and CJ - I appear to have inadvertently approved an exercise in trolling. Still, it's given rise to some useful debate. I'm particularly interested in Communicat's apparent view that all families ought to conform to the norm.

I'm not sure how you define the norm, and I'm not particularly keen that my kids follow it. Not that we are radically different from what I perceive as the norm, but we do have a sense of family history, pride and philosophy. There's a strong musical history in my family, as well as an attachment to the sea. We're protestants and low church
Anglicans, and tend to see the world through the lens of individualism and the work ethic. You're also expected to have a go, even if it's not quite your thing.

What's the problem with arranged marriage, as long as it is accepted by the parties involved? Why shouldn't people be allowed to stick within their own kinship group or community, if that's what they want to do?

And if they want to dress differently from the vast majority, who am I to force them into low-slung jeans and mid-riff tops?

Amen to all that, Graham. :)

Dare to be different? Now there's a radical thought!

Thanks for your final comments Graham.

Graham I was not suggesting that people need to stick to the norm. If they do not want to that's fine with me but I do see it as a problem when a young person meets someone and the parent says "no in our culture only arranged marriages are allowed" - taken to the extreme we then get the horrific business of such things as so-called 'honour' killings.
I also see it as a problem when the minority group tries to impose their values on me or when one generation born in another country tries to impose the values of the old country on their children if that is not what the children want.
There is an inter-cultural marriage in my immediate family. There are tensions from time to time - and they almost always arise because the generation born overseas want things done they way they were done in their village. The younger generation want to do things differently.
Are you suggesting they should do as the older village born generation wants or should they be allowed to do as they see others around them doing if that is what they want?