ADJ,no belief system or religion should be beyond analysis or criticism.The anti-religious Vilfication Laws should be scraped because if we make an exception for religion,next we will have pollies and other minority groups asking for equal treatment.

The Pope in giving his example of religious violence should have also referred to Christian violence of the Crusades,Spanish invasion of South America and how King Constantine made the Christian Church the dominant religion of Rome in 300 AD.

He regretted and apologised for the violence that ensued,but he did not regret or recind his comments.

Leigh: Oddly, I find myself in complete agreement with you for once.

Arjay:
We can't possibly have "minority groups asking for equal treatment".
My goodness, PEOPLE wanting to be treated as human beings. PEOPLE wanting equality, respect and dignity. What a strange idea.
Why is it that some christians want the right to hate people (even incite violence and murder against them) based solely on one characteristic?
Religion is a choice, anyone can change their belief system on a daily (or more regular) basis.
They have the right to do so, or not do so, and to enjoy their chosen lifestyle free from threats or intimidation.
Of all of mankinds inventions, there are none more destructive and evil as religion or race.
For this reason alone, we need to moderate them.

ADJ,threats of violence and intimidation are covered by common law.Under this legislation[ie ARVL] you cannot publicly question the tenents or so called facts in the various religious texts without breaking the law if the proponents of that religion feel offended.This is amounts to censorship to stop a potentially violent group from being offended.This legislation is playing right into the hands of the totalitarian mentality,where absolutes and irrationality rules.This is not good for democracy.

Nearly everyone makes jokes about the Pope and nothing is said.The Catholic Church has been derided for decades and they just cop it sweet because they know negative reactions just make it worse.

Now many Muslims on the other hand like to be outraged,since they know from past experience Western sensibilities will cringe apologeticly in fear.This is a war of words and ideas.Rational thought is our only salvation.

There is a stark difference between questioning the tenents of a religion and vilifying people who practice it.
These laws are designed to protect the people who follow a certain religion, not the religion itself.
We have had anti-vilification laws in relation to race an sexuality in place for at least 10 years now, this is merely an extension of those laws.
There are exemptions from the act, humor is one of them.
My experience is that most muslims, like most christians, jews, buddhists etc and like most atheists can take a joke and will even make them at their own expense.
I am an atheist, I want the right to remain an atheist withour any religion telling me otherwise.
Nobody is trying to ban christianity (or any other religion) here. Simply brining it and some of its more overly zealous followers into line with the multicultural, multi denominational, secular society we choose to call Australia.
BTW: If you wanna see good religious jokes go to the humor page of the www.atheistfoundation.org.au
My personal favorite is the one of the nativity scene with Joseph exclaiming "It's a girl".

AJD
a point of order there mate.

My call for the abolition of the RRT2001 is not based on my desire to 'hate' it is based on the desire to have freedom to speak truth about historic Islam.

Let me ask...do you know of the background to this issue ?

Are you aware of the following:

1/ The particular case in point ...Catch the Fire Pastors, came about as a result of what appears to be a deliberate conspiracy between the Islamic Council of Victoria and the Equal Opportunity Commission.
2/ May Helou, a Muslim, was employed by BOTH organizations.
3/ She became aware of this seminar and arranged for 'spies' to goto monitor the proceedings
4/ One of those 'spies' asked one of the pastors "How should Christians treat Muslims" ? (without saying he was a Muslim) and the reply was "Christians should love Muslims" yet.. it was claimed that the Seminar was inciting hate !

The seminar was to inform people about the Islamic 'mindset' and events subsequent have proven this to be abundantly accurate.
At the time of the original complaint we had not had a single example of any Muslim arrested for 'terrorism', but we now have 13 in Melbourne and 9 in Sydney.

A claim made by the Seminar was that violent Jihad is a definite possibility. Now it has happened.

Christians don't want a licence to hate, we have the Scriptures which tell us 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you'.

The Quran specifically.. repeat SPECIFICALLY "names" Christians and villifies us in terms which are ILLEGAL under the Act.

And this is our point. The Act is stupid because it also condemns the Quran making it an illegal publication. The only thing remaining is to test this in court, something I'm working on.

To claim 'Islam was spread by violence' is a statment of historic fact. It is ludicrous to say that making a true statement vilifies all Muslims. If truth hurts then so be it.
Please see my detailed documented posts on Waleed Aly's article.