Dear Banjo,

I am not shifting the goal posts.

On the contrary. The author makes it
quite clear when he writes:

"Yes, we are under attack - our faith is
under attack. Our faith is being eaten up from within by
fundamentalist elements around the world who twist it
(the religion) to suit their political agendas and
interpret it to make their case. To them its nothing
but a tool to control people. They justify their
actions through (their version) of our faith."

So of course there are problems with the
fundamentalists - and as the author
clearly states - Muslims need to denouce their barbaric
behaviour.

Perhaps its you who needs to re-read the link.
I've done it several times and fully understand the
points being made. Apparently you don't.

Did you just miss my point Foxy, or was it intentional.

I was pointing out these people ALL protect their own. They will not help with any effort to catch any criminal in their midst. There are no "good" law abiding Muslims. When the chips are down, they are right, & we are wrong. In this way they are all guilty, & always will be.

Exactly the same occurs with rapists or any illegal activity. They will not do anything to convict, or help find the criminal amongst them, & the same goes for terrorists.

I know you don't want to believe this, but it is fact.

Foxy,
You are putting a different slant on the article, seems you missed these bits

Quote 1. The Muslim community is quick to stand up and use its democratic right to protest against being singled out. It feels under attack by the government. Maybe it is, maybe it is not, but the government is able to explain and justify the proposed legislation.

2 When will Muslims stand up and accept that yes we have problems within our faith. Maybe a few more problems than other faiths, but sure, we have problems. They don't just affect us as Muslims, they affect our friends, their families and our neighbours. They affect a society that welcomes us here, treats us as equals and gives us the opportunity to live a decent and dignified life. Democratic Australia gives us a voice and tries its best not to judge us.

3 Muslims need to be able to discuss these issues openly and denounce barbaric behaviour. Instead, we choose to remain silent and then criticise a government that tries to make Australia safer. We use democratic values such as the right to equality, to claim the existence of discrimination, racism and Islamophobia. end quote

That clearly is about muslims not acknowledging Islam has problems and that is the problem JM is referring to. Reread the article, it is not about how many go overseas to fight. Muslims will not compromise on anything, so will not agree there are problems and work to remedy them.

Dearest Foxy,

From my own limited experience of near-daily bus travel, and what I hear and read, I don't see anybody picking on any particular community, or individuals from any community, or anybody from the un-named community seeming to be uneasy in the presence of non-un-named others.

Maybe everybody on my bus route has other major preoccupations, but nobody seems worried or harassed or whatever towards the un-named group members, quite the reverse. On the streets, nobody seems anything but casual and relaxed. On the bus, men get up for Muslim women, people smile at each other. It's a friendly bus :)

What goes on behind people's eyes I don't know but outwardly (and perhaps inwardly too) all is calm, nobody is getting harassed - it just seems to be not in anybody's consciousness.

I hope that doesn't change. Maybe here in Adelaide, Muslims come from such a huge variety of countries and situations, Hazaras, Sudanese, Indonesians, Indians, Somalis, Iranians, Bosnians, Kazakhs, people from all over the place, from different Muslim traditions, each following a sort of 'live and let live' policy towards people from other traditions and towards non-Muslims. Sounds fair enough. Long may it continue.

Love,

Joe

mansjunior,
What absolute lies. My wife and others worked to raise funds for Christians in Indonesia to support members of families whose Christian husbands were murdered by Muslim terrorists and their wives and daughters taken captive. Those that fled had to be accommodated because their houses were burned to the ground. It was estimated then that around 6,000 persons were slaughtered in Arche and Ambon. Indonesia has not had an emotionally stable culture. The new President is a brighter star on the scene for democracy.

mansjunior, said, "there has never been any massacre of Christians in Aceh". Total lies.