BD once again this once but never to be again christian sides with you, so many who post here do no wish to see the truth.
In my view its not multi culturism that we should fear, the word anoys me , its not needed.
I do not opose any one haveing two cultures and nore do most, one culture has sections who denie me my culture.
That culture is unwanted in that racist form, and its questioning of your right to your relidgion.
Australians in growing numbers are concerned about a host of things such as the Granville vidio.
And the Mufti is not the uneducated fool he would have us beleive, fool maybe but biggot on a mission you can bank on it.
To those who opose our freedom to think as we wish remember self confedence is a great thing but some are to easly convinced only they are right.

Dear David Latimer.. apology accepted.. I've been down that track myself a few times.. I've been incorrect and have had to put it right..its good for all our souls.

PRONOUNCEMENT. 'MultiCulturalism' as government policy is now 'dead' !

John Howard made this point by re-naming

"The Dept of Immigration and MultiCultural Affairs"
to be
"The Dept of Immigration and CITIZENSHIP"

And since that moment, probably few have been as embracing of non Anglo Australians as myself. I looked at the various cultural exhibitions in prep for Australia day in Melb, and was joyful over it all. I no longer feel threatened by them. So much, from just a 'word'.

I joined about 4000 others who were in Festival Hall for a unity prayer meeting held by Catch the Fire. On the way in there was a little group of atheists, holding up "God is a Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, needless to say we took to them with our large King James's and beat them into submission....then made them kiss the flag..... err.. not :)

What a thrill. Praise and worship in a packed stadium, all ethnicities, all one... in Christ, and with love for our nation.

Suddenly, there was a voice from the crowd.. shouting.. but it turned out to be an Indigenous bloke..we thought he was a protester..
so what did he have to say ? He called out loudly "I am an Indigenous pastor from Cairns, and I stand with you".. up he went to the platform, embraced Danny Naliah, who explained that he had met the Pastor in Cairns once. What a meaninful time.

The circle complete... many ethnicities, and Indigenous Aussies, even an Indigenous flag ! But mostly Aussie flags.

Touching beyond my wildest dreams, and thus was fulfilled....

[You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.] Gal 3:26

Hi Belly... "never to be again" ? I can only point you to the Jesus of Scripture. I don't know why you would have 'once been' and now not, but the usual reasons are some kind of personal crisis connected with the Church, or unanswered prayer, (i.e. the answer was no rather than yes) but its not for me to speculate too deeply on that about you. I can only say that the Lord does care, and please don't judge Him by any unkindness of those of his people you know or knew.

Strayan.. I see where ur coming from. But your comment is lacking in depth mate. I suppose you would have called the prophets of the Old Testament 'insecure, afraid' etc etc...when they ripped into the kings of the day about injustice and impending divine punishment in the form of invasion by pagans.

Its just remotely possible, that I have a very good handle on the things I'm commenting on, and that you do not. To resolve such a predicament, we would have to have a long personal discussion and make reference to much material.

Clearly we can't do that. So, that leaves us with analysis of each others posts here.
All I can suggest is that you keep digging.. looking for connections between modern behavior and their root in Islamic history and law. Its all there mate, for seeing eyes to view.

Just one example. "Islam is a religion of peace" is probably one of the most deceptive statements around today. I can show you clearly that the early Muslims did not in the least interpret the Quran like that. So, I'm also 'confident' contrary to your suggestion of my need for mental health assistance.

Ybgirp,

The difference between philosophy and religion is that the former is an intellectual exercise while the later is a living practice. The former, at best, gives one clarity of understanding and direction. The later, at best, unites one with God (or call it any other name you like - Nature, Universe, Otherness, Truth, Love, etc.). An analogy would be sitting for a driving-theory test as opposed to actually driving to your destiny.

Of course, to the extent that philosophy or religion are contaminated by a desire to control, they fail to achieve their purpose and produce hurdles to those who study or practice, until such time that they are able to sort the essential good from the surrounding contamination.

Strictly speaking, a religion does not require a philosophy, but it is true that most religions include a philosophy, because it is one effective way to encourage those who follow the religion to persevere with the religious practices even when it gets to be tough.