Neil_Hindu_Sikh_Kashmiri
2004-10-04 07:37:04 UTC
Looks like Australia is starting to feel the Islamic affect :-)!!! Under the
name of tolerance their is more intolerance and hatered.
Spreading the word of intolerance
October 4, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/03/1096741896292.html?oneclick=true
Labor's zealots have a scheme which will put religion in the dock, writes
Paul Sheehan.
The man who will become prime minister in 2006 - if the Federal Government
survives next weekend - is the slickest speaker in Australian politics. But
Peter Costello wore his heart on his sleeve on Saturday night, May 29, at
Scots' Church in Melbourne. His audience, 800 people filling the church, was
evangelical Christians.
"It was the First Fleet that brought the first chaplain and first knowledge
of the Christian faith to Australia. This was the critical and decisive
event that shaped our country. If the Arab traders that brought Islam to
Indonesia had brought Islam to Australia and settled, or spread their faith,
amongst the indigenous population, our country today would be vastly
different. Our laws, our institutions, our economy would all be vastly
different.
"But that did not happen. Our society was founded by British colonists. And
the single most decisive feature that determined the way it developed was
the Judeo-Christian-Western tradition. As a society, we are who we are,
because of that heritage. I am not sure this is well understood in Australia
today ...
Advertisement
Advertisement
"Tolerance under the law is a great part of this tradition. Tolerance does
not mean that all views are the same. It does not mean that differing views
are equally right. What it means is that where there are differences, no
matter how strongly held, different people will respect the right of others
to hold them.
"I mention this because The Age newspaper has reported that my appearance
here tonight has been criticised by the Islamic Council of Victoria.
According to the president of that council [Yasser Soliman], by speaking
here tonight I could be giving legitimacy to parties that the Islamic
Council is suing under Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
"I do not think that we should resolve differences about religious views in
our community with lawsuits between the different religions. Nor do I think
that the object of religious harmony will be promoted by organising
witnesses to go along to the meetings of other religions to collect evidence
for the purpose of later litigation.
"The proceedings which have been taken [under this new law], the time, the
cost, the extent of the proceedings, and the remedies that are available -
all illustrate, in my view, that this is a bad law."
Yes, it's a very bad law. Within months of being enacted, the excesses of
this legislation became self-evident. The first test case, Islamic Council
of Victoria v Catch The Fire Ministries, has cost more than $1 million in
legal fees and achieved nothing but enmity.
Yet, on August 4, in the Great Hall of Parliament in Canberra, Labor's
shadow attorney-general, Nicola Roxon, speaking before at a forum attended
by 1000 people, announced Labor would introduce a federal version of the
Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
Suddenly, the Great Hall, which just minutes before had been filled with
applause for Roxon was filled with booing.
Labor appears incapable of absorbing a fundamental lesson from its federal
election disaster in 1996, after Paul Keating, Gareth Evens, Robert Tickner
and Nick Bolkus had poisoned the national debate by repeatedly spraying the
word "racist" across the political landscape. Look what happened to their
careers.
When the Bracks Government passed the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, it
did so after the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission had logged just five
complaints of religious vilification in the previous year. Yet the
commission's head, Diane Sisely, had warned of a dramatic increase in
attacks and insults against Muslims, despite the absence of evidence.
Exactly the same was going on in NSW, where the president of the
Anti-Discrimination Board, Chris Puplick, warned of endemic abuse of Muslims
even as his own annual report reported only 55 complaints lodged by all
groups in a year.
While Puplick was publicly eviscerated by the Premier, Bob Carr, Victoria
went in the opposite direction. The Equal Opportunity Commission hired May
Helou, of the Islamic Council of Victoria, to begin a large program advising
Muslims of their rights under the new anti-vilification law. It was Helou
who recruited three Muslims to attend a seminar, "The Nature Of Islam",
organised by Catch The Fire Ministries, a national, non-denominational
evangelical group.
After attending the seminar, the three observers prepared a 52-count
complaint for the Islamic Council of Victoria. The council then lodged the
complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission against the ministry and two
of its pastors, thus completing the ideological circle between bureaucratic
agitation and litigation.
A mediation session was arranged. It lasted seven hours and 40 minutes. It
produced an ideological impasse. The Islamic Council commenced legal
proceedings. Hearings began in the Victorian Civil and Administrative
Tribunal in October last year. The hearings went for 40 days, spread over
nine months. Final submissions were made in June. The maximum penalties
under the act are a $30,000 fine and six months' jail. However, the prospect
of jailing people for their religious beliefs has proved so divisive that
Judge Michael Higgins felt obliged to announce he saw no grounds to jail
anyone.
"This has caused us a tremendous amount of time and stress," the head of
Catch The Fire Ministries, Pastor Danny Nalliah, told me. That's the point,
Danny. That's why the Equal Opportunity Commission went fishing for
business. That's why the Islamic Council went to court. They don't need to
win. They just need to send a message.
Nalliah was happy to summarise the views that led to this imbroglio: "I have
lived in Saudi Arabia and learned the real nature of Islam. It is to
dominate other religions and other cultures. The Koran speaks of world
domination. I have spoken to a lot of Muslim leaders who say it is easy to
exploit the Western system. The say the key is to be patient, to learn the
language, and to build up numbers. Then build up political power.
"Even Christians believe everyone should know about Christ and want people
to follow Christ. But the worry is with Islam, it goes one step further. If
peaceful methods fail, the Koran says you can use violence."
The price for these views, so far, has been $300,000 in legal costs. The
ministries' solicitors, acting pro bono, assess their costs at $400,000.
With the costs of the complainant, plus the publicly funded cost of the
hearings, total legal costs exceed $1 million.
Eighteen months after the Islamic Council of Victoria lodged its action, the
matter remains unresolved. And Labor wants a federal version of this law.
name of tolerance their is more intolerance and hatered.
Spreading the word of intolerance
October 4, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/03/1096741896292.html?oneclick=true
Labor's zealots have a scheme which will put religion in the dock, writes
Paul Sheehan.
The man who will become prime minister in 2006 - if the Federal Government
survives next weekend - is the slickest speaker in Australian politics. But
Peter Costello wore his heart on his sleeve on Saturday night, May 29, at
Scots' Church in Melbourne. His audience, 800 people filling the church, was
evangelical Christians.
"It was the First Fleet that brought the first chaplain and first knowledge
of the Christian faith to Australia. This was the critical and decisive
event that shaped our country. If the Arab traders that brought Islam to
Indonesia had brought Islam to Australia and settled, or spread their faith,
amongst the indigenous population, our country today would be vastly
different. Our laws, our institutions, our economy would all be vastly
different.
"But that did not happen. Our society was founded by British colonists. And
the single most decisive feature that determined the way it developed was
the Judeo-Christian-Western tradition. As a society, we are who we are,
because of that heritage. I am not sure this is well understood in Australia
today ...
Advertisement
Advertisement
"Tolerance under the law is a great part of this tradition. Tolerance does
not mean that all views are the same. It does not mean that differing views
are equally right. What it means is that where there are differences, no
matter how strongly held, different people will respect the right of others
to hold them.
"I mention this because The Age newspaper has reported that my appearance
here tonight has been criticised by the Islamic Council of Victoria.
According to the president of that council [Yasser Soliman], by speaking
here tonight I could be giving legitimacy to parties that the Islamic
Council is suing under Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
"I do not think that we should resolve differences about religious views in
our community with lawsuits between the different religions. Nor do I think
that the object of religious harmony will be promoted by organising
witnesses to go along to the meetings of other religions to collect evidence
for the purpose of later litigation.
"The proceedings which have been taken [under this new law], the time, the
cost, the extent of the proceedings, and the remedies that are available -
all illustrate, in my view, that this is a bad law."
Yes, it's a very bad law. Within months of being enacted, the excesses of
this legislation became self-evident. The first test case, Islamic Council
of Victoria v Catch The Fire Ministries, has cost more than $1 million in
legal fees and achieved nothing but enmity.
Yet, on August 4, in the Great Hall of Parliament in Canberra, Labor's
shadow attorney-general, Nicola Roxon, speaking before at a forum attended
by 1000 people, announced Labor would introduce a federal version of the
Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
Suddenly, the Great Hall, which just minutes before had been filled with
applause for Roxon was filled with booing.
Labor appears incapable of absorbing a fundamental lesson from its federal
election disaster in 1996, after Paul Keating, Gareth Evens, Robert Tickner
and Nick Bolkus had poisoned the national debate by repeatedly spraying the
word "racist" across the political landscape. Look what happened to their
careers.
When the Bracks Government passed the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, it
did so after the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission had logged just five
complaints of religious vilification in the previous year. Yet the
commission's head, Diane Sisely, had warned of a dramatic increase in
attacks and insults against Muslims, despite the absence of evidence.
Exactly the same was going on in NSW, where the president of the
Anti-Discrimination Board, Chris Puplick, warned of endemic abuse of Muslims
even as his own annual report reported only 55 complaints lodged by all
groups in a year.
While Puplick was publicly eviscerated by the Premier, Bob Carr, Victoria
went in the opposite direction. The Equal Opportunity Commission hired May
Helou, of the Islamic Council of Victoria, to begin a large program advising
Muslims of their rights under the new anti-vilification law. It was Helou
who recruited three Muslims to attend a seminar, "The Nature Of Islam",
organised by Catch The Fire Ministries, a national, non-denominational
evangelical group.
After attending the seminar, the three observers prepared a 52-count
complaint for the Islamic Council of Victoria. The council then lodged the
complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission against the ministry and two
of its pastors, thus completing the ideological circle between bureaucratic
agitation and litigation.
A mediation session was arranged. It lasted seven hours and 40 minutes. It
produced an ideological impasse. The Islamic Council commenced legal
proceedings. Hearings began in the Victorian Civil and Administrative
Tribunal in October last year. The hearings went for 40 days, spread over
nine months. Final submissions were made in June. The maximum penalties
under the act are a $30,000 fine and six months' jail. However, the prospect
of jailing people for their religious beliefs has proved so divisive that
Judge Michael Higgins felt obliged to announce he saw no grounds to jail
anyone.
"This has caused us a tremendous amount of time and stress," the head of
Catch The Fire Ministries, Pastor Danny Nalliah, told me. That's the point,
Danny. That's why the Equal Opportunity Commission went fishing for
business. That's why the Islamic Council went to court. They don't need to
win. They just need to send a message.
Nalliah was happy to summarise the views that led to this imbroglio: "I have
lived in Saudi Arabia and learned the real nature of Islam. It is to
dominate other religions and other cultures. The Koran speaks of world
domination. I have spoken to a lot of Muslim leaders who say it is easy to
exploit the Western system. The say the key is to be patient, to learn the
language, and to build up numbers. Then build up political power.
"Even Christians believe everyone should know about Christ and want people
to follow Christ. But the worry is with Islam, it goes one step further. If
peaceful methods fail, the Koran says you can use violence."
The price for these views, so far, has been $300,000 in legal costs. The
ministries' solicitors, acting pro bono, assess their costs at $400,000.
With the costs of the complainant, plus the publicly funded cost of the
hearings, total legal costs exceed $1 million.
Eighteen months after the Islamic Council of Victoria lodged its action, the
matter remains unresolved. And Labor wants a federal version of this law.