"Muslim immigration is still very new.."?

Some African muslims came on the early fleets as navigators.
Others came in the mid 1800's to help open up the central desert areas and drive the camel trains.

Despite the White Australia Policy others came in from the 1920s to the 1960s and 10,000 arrived from Turkey between 1967-1971.

Large scale immigration from Lebanon started in 1975 and from Somalia in 1991.

At this time there are Muslims immigrants who have come from more than 60 countries - not just the Middle East.

By 2001 about 36% of Muslims in Australia were actually born here so are either second (or more) generation or some late converts.

This puts them in the same context as many European and Mediterranean refugees who arrived in the 1950's and they seems to have assimilated within a generation or two.

There are good and bad Muslims, just as there are good and bad Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and atheists.

Being a follower of a particular religion doesn't automatically brand you as one thing or another.

The belief that is does was followed in Germany in the late 1930s and some of the comments above look strangely familiar.

Dear Rache

being a follower of a particular religion does not brand a person as one thing or another ?

u are kidding..surely.. are you saying all religions are the same ?

I beg to differ..... if Religion 'X' advocates paedophilia and religion "Y" declares such behavior 'abhorrent' surely you see the difference ?

http://www.exfamily.org/art/exmem/debdavis/debdavis07.shtml

Children of God cult. (Leader Moses Berg practiced paedophilia)

"Blind faith, naive obedience, irresponsible dedication, fanatical loyalty—these were the volatile chemicals of human devotion that ignited the zeal of the COG into a white-hot blaze of emotion."

"Until the summer of 1971, the moral lifestyle of the COG was strict and puritanical. Dating was forbidden, as were kissing and holding hands. Sex was absolutely taboo outside of marriage. The only exception to this was, of course, Mo. But his situation was specially ordained and known only to the leadership. However, this condition of moral piety among the body of the Children of God was not to remain for long."

The story makes a fascinating read from an 'Insider'...it was amazing how it morphed from a whacky 'Christian' group into a full blown OCCULT driven sex crazed group of weirdo's.

Notice the exception when it came to sex ? ....you can find exactly the same kind of exception in the 33rd chapter of another 'holy' book.. in the 50th verse.

In short..you used a key word "followers"... if they follow.. they have a leader.. or a book...and if they follow it.. you can refer to those leaders or books for info about them.

I suppose there were 'positive contributions' made by members of the COG also... that does not make their beliefs any nicer or more acceptable...does it ?

AlGorisRich you seem to have a bad case of 'sour grapes'. The grapes are not sour, Mr Fox. You simply cannot attain them, and instead have resorted to distortion and innuendo to overcome a deep contraction between your beliefs and reality.

For those of us who need reminding of Aesop's fable of the fox and the grapes:

<<One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."

It is easy to despise what you cannot get.>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes

It seems you want something that your own religion cannot provide. You find it in Islam, but because you remain wedded to your own corrupted teachings you cannot attain it. So you look for ways to criticise it and as the previous post so clearly demonstrates can only do so by applying your own interpretation and ignoring interpretation of those who have the scholarship to do so.

I offered you the hand of friendship and instead you come back with one of the most heineous insults one can make. The hand of friendship is always there but first you have to take a closer look at yourself and what motivates this wretched behaviour of yours.

I think that grateful's contributions from a Muslim perspective have been far more "positive" in this thread than have those of Boazy's from a Christian perspective.

Dear CJ,

Grateful has been a very positive contributor
to this thread.

We are all aware that over the past decades,
religious fervor has erupted in the Islamic world
in general, and in the Middle East in particular.
This fervor has been inspired by fundamentalism.
As I've stated earlier
to many Westerners, Islamic fundamentalism seems like
an almost scandalous return to medieval morality.
It conjures up images of public floggings and executions,
political fanaticism exemplified in aircraft hijackings,
and terrorist bombings. This picture is rather distorted
for it is based on what is
newsworthy rather than what is typical.

Nobody seems to be interested in why
Islamic fundamentalism
has intensified at all -
especially at a time when we might
expect the societies involved to be moving forward,
toward modernization, rather than backward toward
tradition.

Sociologists have observed that fundamentalist revivals
in whatever religion, take place in times when social
changes have led to turmoil, uncertainty, and the
erosion of familiar values. When people find themselves
confused, threatened, or even appalled at changing
conditions, they may see a "return to basics" as a
solution. It is not surprising, therefore, that Islamic
fundamentalism has surged in societies like Iran,
which has experienced wrenching social change as a result
of their new oil wealth. Some of these societies had
previously remained culturally fairly static for
generations - in some cases for centuries. Then, in less
than the space of a single life span, they were thrust
into a world of airports and highways, schools and
television, factories and power plants. As part of this
process, some of the Islamic societies have been flooded
with foreign advisers, officials, and entrepreneurs,
as well as foreign military.
These newcomers
behave in a variety of ways that deeply offend the locals.
In the view of the fundamentalists, foreigners, especially
from the West, are a profoundly immoral and corrupting
influence.

The solidarity of any community is enhanced if it perceives
a common outside threat.

cont'd...

Ummm excuxe me Grateful.. "my last post" ? ? ?

was firstly a response to Rache...not you.

Secondly.. it does not mention Islam in the slightest..it refers to a so called Christian cult!

Are you suffering from some kind of paranoia ?

What in this wide world are you talking about ?

-I want something... (what ? sex ?)
-Cannot find it in my own religion...?
-I CAN however find "it" (whatever "it" is) in Islam ?
-I am wedded to 'corrupt teaching'
-I thus criticize.. "it"... u mean my own faith ? *confused look*
-Scholarship? R u suggesting that there are enlightened scholars who would support the debauched religion of these cult members ?

What did you eat this morning .. I think you need some treatment.

Lets just summarize.

a) I respond to Rache about something
b) In that response I criticize a "Christian" cult.
c) But this is in reality "Rejecting friendship with you"
and..I have a bad case of 'sour grapes'....you lost me there completely.. sour grapes about.....what ?

Please fill me in because I'm about to experience a head explosion.

CJ.. you are entitled to your opinion.. you make for an unboring forum :)