Foxy,
You asked why there is prejudice about muslims. Two reasons.

1. Muslims have a world wide poor reputation for being violent and consider the lives of infidels to be of low value.

2. Lebanese muslims have given all muslims in Australia a bad reputation, because of their dictatorial and arrogant attitudes. They show no respect for us, our laws or social norms. They do not get along with any other ethnic group.

We only get the odd problem from muslims of other nationalities.

Why do not other muslims say the Lebs are the ones causing disharmony? Boaz put his finger on that when he said about the death threats to Tom Zrieka. Other Muslims are simply afraid to critisise the Lebs. It is not wise for one muslim to critisise other muslims publicly, especially for infidels to hear. Lebs are the strongest group of muslims numerically and any critisism could mean violent repercussions.

If we took the view that Lebanese muslims refuse to integrate and cause a lack of harmony, so we refuse to allow any more to immigrate.
Not only would our community benefit but many other muslims of other nationalities would welcome such a move, sercetly of course.

Philo

ON many occasions you have attempted to validate ‘intelligent design’ over that of evolution, that you have attempted here to attach some scientific claim to your beliefs is sadly puerile.

1. ‘Intelligent’ design is NOT science – it is an attempt for those who take their bible literally to justify their beliefs, people such as yourself.

2. The theory of evolution is accepted by many diverse people (not just atheists) so to refer to it as if it is exclusively an atheist construct, reveals YOUR ignorance, Philo.

3. Many Muslims believe in evolution, my point was that it is only the extremists in religions who tend to believe in creationism or in your case ‘intelligent’ design.

4. Reasonable people irrespective of whether they believe in a god or not have as much to fear from Christian fundies for their political agenda just as much as they do Islamic, Hindu or any other religion which is aligned with dogma, inflexibility, hatred of difference (women, gays, atheists) and a desire to impose their will on everyone else.

For those who are recent to OLO, they may check the following links to Philo’s posts on ‘intelligent’ design. Just to whet the appetite, here’s a quote from Philo:

“Intelligent Design has equal validity as a theory and the intimate details of life have dependent purpose.”
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=164#13953

I know many Muslims, new to this country who treat me with more respect than is delivered by the Australian born, fundamentalist Christian such as Philo.

That there is a belief by some Muslims in creationism is no different to Christians who believe in the same.

As Foxy has successfully demonstrated there is as much diversity of interpretation of the koran as there is with the old and new testaments. Therefore, to paint all muslims with one brush is simply bigoted.

Fractelle,
I am comparing foundational beliefs of the religion not the people who call themselves a follower of a religion. Christian ought to follow Christ, just as Muslims adhere to Mohamet.

Fractelle,
'I know many Muslims, new to this country who treat me with more respect than is delivered by the Australian born, fundamentalist Christian such as Philo.

With the belief that the dogma of evolution is true you deserve respect but your fantasy does not.

Dear BD,

Yes, I have done my research. I'm trained to do so , as part of my profession - my information is not based on "media stereotying," as you suggest, quite the contrary..

As far as your concept of - "Christianity" - good, "Islam" - bad. That is merely your concept. To which you are of-course entitled. But unless you are a qualified theologian, as well as a scholar of the Qur'an - your opinion/concept - is just that.

There are many versions of the Qur'an - and very many parts. It's a very complex study - and takes many years to decipher - and even then, not all scholars agree on each interpretation - as there are so many variants. It's not something that can be summed up so simply and easily - especially by a Westerner. And reading certain "sites" on the web - does not make you a knowledgeable expert on the subject.

The same goes for Christianity. As I tried to point out in my earlier post - not every religion emphasizes the uncritical authority of the Bible. Many church members as well as a number of church leaders demand a more liberal understanding of the Bible in the light of historical and scientific information. Many don't see the infallibility of the Bible, the eternal sinfulness of man, the atonement of Jesus for the sin of man, and his imminent return to a reign of one thousand years.

But enough said. We can argue till we're blue in the face. Nothing will change. You are entitled to your opinion - all I ask is that you respect mine, and don't patronize me.

Cheers.

FRACTELLE... are you fractured ? I'm beginning to think so.

The ONLY people thus far who are saying anything about 'all Muslims' is Foxy... when claiming that others are condemning them all.. and YOU who is for some strange reason claiming in the complete absense of actual evidnce the same thing.

Banjo pointed to ONE GROUP among the Muslms.. "Lebanese"..

Philo did not even mention "Muslims" he mentioned Mohammad.

I've not mentioned 'Muslims' in the sense you imply..I've been going on about 'Islam'...

So.. at this stage 'fractured' is the verdict. Until evidence to the contrary supporting what you say is forthcoming.

Puh-lease stop whining about respect. What you really mean is 'agreeing with you'.