Multiculturalism is a very bad idea, because all cultures are based primarily on religious beliefs. If we ‘respect’ all cultures, then we must respect all religious beliefs – even those that demand subservience of women, female circumcision, parental choosing of husband or wife, the denunciation of homosexuality and fornication and adultery as sins punishable by death… How can anyone respect a religion that wants to kill you? Get real!
As Belly wrote: …we should prepare for the coming religious war…
The only acceptable policy for a democracy is “Pluralism” in which each individual is respected for him/herself. In which fanatic parents and religious leaders have not the ‘cultural’ right to force their irrational beliefs on either their children or the rest of the population.
Always it has been religion that has divided and destroyed nations.
Step one: Australia needs a constitution that states categorically that we are a secular nation where religion plays no part in government, education or anything else, and no religion is above the law – not even taxation laws!
Step two. Declare multiculturalism dead, and rewrite all laws to embrace the philosophy of Pluralism.
Step three: Declare that religions may only be practiced by consenting adults in private, making childhood indoctrination of unfounded, irrational beliefs illegal.

Ybgirp - thank you for stating your ideas so boldly.

Claiming that religions kill, is like claiming that swords and guns kill. It is true that over the centuries, religions were used as a pretext for killing and other atrocities, but were the motives truly religious?

If someone wants to kill another and you take away their sword or gun, they will find and use something else - perhaps poison? similarly, if you take away their convenient pretext of religion, they will find another excuse.

Atheism kills as well - see the Soviet Union, especially Stalin who had similar ideas about religion as yours and killed tens of millions. Mao Tse Tung is another example. Nationalism also kills - see Hitler.

Religion is about love, not about hatred. It is about connecting with God, the common good within all of us. Anything contrary to this is an addition, mostly cultural and national, that humans attached to religion over time - not religion itself.

ANY idea can be distorted - it's a specialty of the human mind: just as it was claimed about the Greek King Midas that anything he touched turned into gold, so does any idea that the human mind touches turn into s.h.i.t.

Let us not get lost here most migrants while convinced they are a bit better than us are no problem.
Seen any greek kids wanting to cut your head of?
Granville that name should be forever burnt in our brains remember the outrage about Cronulla?
Was it matched by the concerns about bashed lifegaurds?
Or the follow up bashings?
Granvilli is different Australian born kids of biggoted parrents who are intent on one culture HATE.

Yuyutsu,
I did not claim that religions kill, I pointed out that religions are responsible for bigotry and intolerance.
Stalin replaced the religion of supernatural superstition with the religion of communism. Mao did the same, and Hitler promoted Aryan purity. All three demanded and got blind faith in an unprovable theory – no different from all religions. Hitler was not an atheist and his programmes had the full backing of the Pope, who was hoping to re-create the “Holy Roman Empire.” Nationalism – a blind faith in the superiority of one’s country, is another form of religion and thus dangerous.
Atheism is neither a philosophy nor a recipe for living. Our only universal point of view is that there is no evidence for the existence of god, gods or the supernatural.
It is monotheistic insistence that there is only one way to live, one god to believe in and all else is wrong, that makes humans murderers. The Torah, Bible and Koran are replete with commands to go out and kill every non-believer. They may advocate love – but only towards believers. None of them advocate tolerance. It is silly to say it is not religion that is bad – it is humans. Humans invent religions because they appeal to the gullible and can be used to persecute and gain power.

Apology to BOAZ_David:
On Monday, 22 January 2007 4:12:04 PM, I compained about David BOAZ and the Ham Sandwich myth.

After checking again, further detail was given to me and there is a kernel of truth to this story from 2003. At one time, caterers were given instructions not to include pork at council functions, but the policy was very soon changed so that food was labelled and a variety of different foods are made available.

But this does mean I was wrong and I take back what I said about David BOAZ and apologise for posting it.

Ybgirp,

We first need to get the facts right:

1. Just because dogs have ears and Socrates has ears, does not imply that Socrates is a dog. Similarly, communism, atheism, nationalism and other 'isms, just because they presumably have in common with certain religions (or so-called religions) an idea that one should dictate to others how to live, does not make them religions.

2. Atheism is not the view "that there is no evidence for the existence of god, gods or the supernatural" : that would be Agnosticism - Atheism claims that there certainly is no God.

3. Hitler was known to be an atheist.

4. The Pope did not support Hitler, but compromized out of fear, believing that he would save more lives this way - whether or not he acted correctly is still a controversial issue. Hitler actually made plans to kidnap the Pope.

5. Please show me, if you can, where in the scriptures they command to go out and kill every non-believer.

6. No theory is provable, because all evidence is subject to our fickle mind and senses. Even science only have workable models, which are good until replaced by more accurate ones.

7. Monotheism does not imply that there is only one way to live, nor do different 'isms imply that there is more than one way to live.

8. The belief that "all else is wrong" does not imply being a murderer.

A person who invents a system "because it appeals to the gullible and can be used to persecute and gain power", is not inventing a religion - despite whatever he cynically likes to call it.

The human mind has the power to contaminate everything it comes in contact with - including religions, and having had milenia to do so, no wonder that impurities have penetrated and distorted to one degree or another every current religion: this does not make those impurities the essence of religion. The essence of all religions is connecting and uniting with God, the source of all existence and goodness.