It’s interesting that some Christian denominations are against alcohol, given that the alleged Jesus drank wine and turned water into wine. It’s usually the happy-clappy churches that preach abstinence from alcohol. Our resident unhappy-happy-clappy, runner, can attest to that.

I once asked a happy-clappy how they justify a total ban on alcohol (even though many happy-clappies still drink) and their reasoning was that, when they said “wine” in those days, they actually meant “grape juice”.

They didn’t.

--

Is Mise,

Don’t worry, I won’t be giving up vegemite any time soon - even if it means that terrorists and money-grubbin’ penny-pinchers get their filthy claws on a fraction of a cent from each jar I purchase. I was more just trying to get myself accused of being an anti-Semite so that I could make a point. I must say, it’s surprisingly hard to do, given how much of a hard-on the Right has for all things Jewish. Post-WWII, at least.

But that’s enough baiting from me. I’d like to discuss our Judeo-Islamo-Christian heritage and values a little more…

//Maybe I'm wrong, but it's not illegal NOT to enrol//

Not according to the AEC website:

"Enrolment on the Commonwealth electoral roll has been compulsory since 1912.... Anyone who fails to enrol may be punished on conviction by a fine of up to 1 penalty unit (section 101(6))."

However;

"the fact that an elector believes it to be part of his or her religious duty to abstain from voting constitutes a valid and sufficient reason for the failure of the elector to vote."

//Islamic law shouldn't get a look-in.//

It doesn't.

//No Muslim law should interfere with that.//

They don't. The police and the courts enforce Australian law. Murder etc. are illegal.

Can you really imagine the Turnbull Government introducing a bill to legalise murder in certain circumstances? Aside from the fact that it would be certain political suicide, who do you imagine would support it? Let me guess - Sam Dastyari & Ed Husic, because they're Muslims, and they're all vicious killers at heart. So that's one Labor politician in each house siding with the Government's bill, and the entire Government crossing the floor to vote with the opposition... sorry, does any of this sound completely mental to you? Because it certainly does to me.

I fail to perceive this huge swell of grass-roots support for legalised murder that you seem to perceive in the community, be it the Muslim community or the broader Australian community. From what I can see, any support that might potentially exist is only going to come from a tiny, insignificant minority of crazies that are an embarrassment to the rest of the Muslim community. I can't see them having the numbers to register a political party with a pro-murder platform. I really can't see them getting any votes. And I really, really can't see them forming a majority in the Parliament. But I guess it could happen... in the sense that it doesn't disobey any laws of physics.

It might even make an interesting plot for a work of speculative fiction.

//I'm confident that you would agree ?//

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqSgWUfFZrw

Hi Tone,

Maybe I'm being picky but you have to register to enrol: I didn't until I was in my thirties, and then only to vote for Whitlam against Fraser.

And of course, we're not talking about murder, but about under-age child rape and 'marriage', genital mutilation, honor killings (okay, yes, that's murder), limits on the rights of women, etc. i.e. the insertion of some Shari'a law - just for Muslims, mind - into the Australian legal system. But, of course, you know that, you're just toying with us.

But 'support for murder' IS a terrific straw-man :)

Joe

I've looked up on the web the link that explains what
Sharia law is. I'll give it at the end of this post.

We're told that Sharia is the moral, legal and religious
code followed by Muslims, but made notorious by extremist
groups like Islamic State wanting to implement hardline
aspects of Islamic law.

What might surprise most Australians is that most Muslims
live according to Sharia everyday of their lives. They live
harmoniously. They're not living in defiance of the
Australian law. They're not seeking to set up a parallel
legal system.

Of course, it's what people see on television, what they hear
in the news, what they read in the papers that has a major
impact on some. If your main source of information about Islam
or Islamic legal principles is from the media then of course
you're not going to know how it really operates.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/09/23/explainer-what-sharia-law

It has just occurred to me that while we're discussing
Sharia Law, nobody has bothered to bring up the horrific
child-abuse and neglect statistics in this country.
That is something - a serious problem that is not about to
go away. I know from experience. I worked as a consultant
in Community Services Victoria a few years back, and I saw
the horrors that the under-staffed staff had to put up with
in the Child Protection Unit.

Instead of worrying about religious laws how about facing
the real problems concerning children and their abuse in
this country - or does no one care?

http://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/child-abuse-and-neglect-statistics

Dearest Foxy,

How about walking and chewing at the same time ? i.e. both ? Most certainly, we should be more concerned about child abuse and domestic violence. But surely our legal system should be vigilant also about child 'marriages' and rape, honor killings, and FGM, when and wherever they occur ?

And, of course, we should be vigilant about cases of malaria, the importation of illegal drugs, the invasion of alien plant species, air pollution, deforestation, high school drop-out rates, and rabies.

Prosecutions for child rape and 'marriage': 0.

Love,

Joe