Dear Danielle,

I think that many people know little about various
religions and especially about Islam. Religious
fervor has erupted in the Islamic world in general,
and in the Middle East in particular. This fervor
has been inspired by fundamentalism and to many
Westerners, Islamic fundamentalism seems like an
almost scandalour return to a medieval morality.
We've covered this ground before of Islamic
fundamentalism conjuring forth images of women behind
veils, od adulterers being stoned, of thieves having
their hands cut off, of public floggins and executions,
of martyrdom in holy wars, and, in extreme cases, of
ppolitical fanaticism exemplified in aircraft hijackings
and terrorist bombings.

And as I stated in the past this picture is rather
distorted, for it is based on what's newsworthy.
Also part of the problem when discussing migrants,
especially non-British migrants, people are often
tempted to lump all newcomers together and treat them as
one homogenous species.

Nothing is further from the truth.

Australiam immigrants vary a great deal in their ethnic
backgrounds, religions, and educational levels.
Their current social and educational needs are not
homogenous either. People have settled in Australia for
various reasons, there's those seeking asylum, others
want a change of lifestyle, others family reunions,
and so on.

The early months after arrival in a new country call for the
greatest adjustment, not only for the migrant, but also
for the local people who interact with the migrant.

And therein the problems become complex and solving them an
ongoing process.

Danielle,
<<I lived in Malaysia some years back. Women wore fitting sarongs and diaphanous kabayas, they wore their hair loose and long and makeup. They danced with men, there was no restriction of movement between them>>

Wow! It sounds just like pre-revolutionary Iran --see here:
http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/the-vagaries-of-moral-progress-2-womens-rights-in-iran/

Perhaps all they need to turn things around is an Indonesian Or Malaysian ayatollah!

" One need not go back that far. Protestants and Catholics slaughtering each other in Northern Ireland......"

Let's not fall for the old fallacy that the recent fighting in British Occupied Ireland was religious, it was political and mainly about human rights and on Britain's side access to possible under-sea oil deposits.

There were Protestants in the IRA and the Fathers of Irish Republicanism were Protestants; in fact the first elected President of the Irish Republic, Dr Douglas Hyde, was a Protestant and elected by a 90%+ Catholic electorate.

Well Is Mise stole my thunder.
In Northern Ireland you could remove religion and the troubles would
still go on because the main driver was unification of all Ireland.
Religion just added spice to the mix.

I think to compare 21st century Islam with 21st century Christianity
is just plain silly.
Anyone who tried reinterpret and publish a King James version of
the Koran is likely to find himself very quickly dead.
Look at Salmon Rushtie still in a safe house.

Anyway Islam is a fascist political movement wrapped in a cloak of religion.

The Holocaust where 6,000,000 were slaughtered because they were Jews was fueled by centuries of Christian hatred. I know of nothing that Islam has done that approaches the magnitude of that crime.

Well, there probably were no populations of that size easily available.
But they did try, and a lot of populations said oh yes, yes we will become moslems.
So they saved the effort.