The rejection of the school's application, as has been said by CJ Morgan here, seems to relate to community pressure more than an assessment of the application on its merits. I think communities should and often do decide upon new developments in their area. It is afterall, a 'community'. I havn't seen the application or fully understand what may or may not be taught at the school, nor have I read the Qur'an or the Hadith. I would suggest that most of the people in Camden have not either.

I think many are rejecting it because of the 'unknown' element of Islam and the way we have been taught to immediately link it with terrorism in the last several years. Because I certainly didn't see any balanced opinions coming from the mouths of the citizens as they entered/exited the meeting. In fact, from the coverage available, it seemed more like a Klan meeting than a community coming together to make an informed decision. I don't find Islam particularly appealing, but I'm not about to wrap myself in an Australian flag and say "we don't want their type 'ere".

I don't know enough about the application and proposed school to support or reject it, so I guess my words here are just a rejection of racism

Dear John_Dorey

I note you say you have not read the Quran or Hadith.

Please read the following, and then verify it with the link to 3 parallel translations, done by Muslims for Muslims, and please consider how this might impact on the communities named (Jews and Christians) in the tragic event of an Islamic State ever coming to be in Australia. (some words left out for brevity)

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/009.qmt.html#009.030
009.030

YUSUFALI: The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. ..... Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!

PICKTHAL: And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. .... Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they!

SHAKIR: And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; .... may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

INTERPRETATION. Some say that this verse cannot be 'plucked' out of context. The key to understanding it, is in this phrase "Believe the Christ is Son of Allah"

i.e..the condemnation is directly connected to... 'belief'.. which applies today also as Christians still believe this truth.

In my view, this is hate speech. It also represents the 'values' which would be taught in an Islamic school, as they are from the Quran.
It should be pointed out, that the fate of 'atheists' is far worse than the abovementioned 2 groups.

The residents of Camden (and Annangrove) might not be as informed or articulate about the matter as we might desire, but like the judge said of Obsenity "I know it when I see it".. so also do residents know 'a bad thing' when they see it.

Islam is not a race so, by definition, it cant be racism.

Even if you haven't read the Quran and hadith, you need only look at the news or Islamic societies and how they threat non-Muslims.
Here are a few verses from the hadith
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muslim/019.smt.html#019.4345
It is about a raid, a women, a girl. It is about Mohammad and Abu Bakr (Mohammad's successor, one ofthe 4 "rightly-guided" Caliphs - the only one not murdered by Muslims). The people that want to build that school consider these men to be epitomes of mercy and virtue.

People may oppose Islam because of ignorance, racism or hate -- or because they have studied Islam, its doctrines and history. When Muslims respond to difficult issues they omit information, distort facts or lie. Here is an example about a village called Banu al-Mustaliq by Islam's prophet.
http://www.kactuzkid.com/mustaliq.html
I spent weeks researching the incident and of 20+ explanations found on Muslim sites, not one got it right (based upon Islamic sources).

Another thing they don't like is to talk about how Muslims treat non-Muslims. On a recent post here (OLO) we find a Muslim telling us that Islam says to treat non-Muslims kindly, with respect (KT's post on secularism). In the real world, everywhere Islam dominates, it is the opposite. When you bring the treatment of non-Muslims to their attention, they delete the post. Here is an example of this (on Muslimmatters). When I ask about how they treat nonmuslims my comments are deleted.
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&client=news&q=kactuz&ie=UTF8
It is still referenced in Google, but removed from the blog. Muslims don't want to talk about what they do. Principles of equality are only for stupid infidels (who are "lower than animals in the sight of Allah," according to the Quran).

Muslims never want to talk about their problems. The idea that their problems may be due to their words and actions, or the nature of Islam, is unthinkable. Islam is perfect, so it must be (fill in the blank's) fault. Sadly, the only honest Muslims are the radicals (Yes, Mohammad said to kill or subdue infidels!).

Take care.

Kactuz

Boazy: << The residents of Camden (and Annangrove) might not be as informed or articulate about the matter as we might desire, but like the judge said of Obsenity "I know it when I see it".. so also do residents know 'a bad thing' when they see it. >>

Boazy has already recognised in this thread that the vile comments made by some Camden residents who attended the meeting were racist, rather than directed at Islam itself. However, as always, he's perfectly happy to try and harness that racism to his own hate-mongering cause.

As others have suggested, you guys really would be more appropriately dressed in white sheets with pointy tops and eyeholes.

Boazy, could I ask you take a short breather from your current orgy of Islamophobic vilification, and return to the "Domestic slaves" thread and explain what the "Creation charter" is that permits your church to discriminate against women in much the same way as Islam does?

And I thought the planning rejection was entirely on the basis of traffic congestion but it was really plain old-fashioned bigotry all along. Who would have thought it?

Let's not stop at the Muslims and the Hadith though. While we're on a roll, why not include the Jews and their Torah as well?

There are a multitude of evil sentiments against non-believers there too, or is that somehow different?

Oops, I meant Talmud, not Torah.