Tuesday 22 May 2007

Conversion to Islam a cause for concern?

According to the extremely useful CIA World Factbook, Australia's population is broken down religiously as:
Catholic         26.4%
Anglican 20.5%
Other Christian 20.5%
Buddhist 1.9%
Muslim 1.5%
Other 1.2%
Unspecified 12.7%
None 15.3%
So let's try a bit of a thought experiment.

If your 19 year old son came home and announced that he had converted his religion then which one would you be least comfortable with? Catholicism, Buddhism or Islam?

Which one would concern you that your son had fallen in with a bad crowd, prone to violence?
A woman charged at the weekend with plotting to bomb Sydney was a convert to Islam who planned the attack at the behest of a jailed murderer angered over anti-Muslim race riots here late last year.

Jill Courtney, 26, was arrested at her suburban Sydney home on Friday in a swoop by Federal and local police operating under anti-terrorism laws.

She was charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosives to be placed in or near a public place.

The court granted a request by Courtney's lawyer that the woman be assessed by a psychiatrist.
Why is it that when Muslims commit acts of aggression it's always claimed that they're mentally unstable?

Muslims represent 1.5% of Australia's population but receive nearly 100% of the news coverage where religion is a factor. The Cronulla 'anti-Muslim' riots were caused by the ongoing display of violence and intolerance by gangs of Lebanese Muslims. That it took as long as it did (a couple of years) to goad a reaction from locals demonstrates how tolerant Australians really are.

Is there any other religion whose followers seem to support violence so naturally? Whose leaders consistently fail to denounce the most appalling acts of brutality committed in their name? Whose leaders consistently attack Australia's fundamental freedoms and values?

Of course you should be concerned if your 19 year old son came home and said he'd converted to Islam.