Bill Muehlenberg is becoming more and more disenchanted with the state of the ‘Christian West’:

… [M]ost Westerners have for too long now been strung out on the narcotic of social welfarism and cradle-to-grave statism that they have nothing left to live for or die for … All we seem to want is our internet porn and 30-hour work week …[We are] bloated, blind and balding …

Muslims really do not need to terrorise their way into hegemony, they are already achieving it by enjoying sex. We on the other hand are aborting ourselves into extinction.

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Filed in: Islam, People, Secularism

Fred Nile and his Family World News (FWN) to keep everything in perspective. The October 2006 issue of Fred’s mag contains the following diatribe (p.3):

Can a good Muslim be a good Australian or American?

… Theologically – no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia …

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Filed in: Christian Right, Islam

The Australian National Secular Association in association with the Rationalist and Humanist Societies ran a very successful conference in Melbourne last weekend. The topic was ‘Keeping God out of Government’ and among the participants was one Barney Zwartz. Zwartz, a conservative Presbyterian who doubles as religion editor of the Melbourne Age, told us a few ‘home truths’ the most coherent of which seemed to be that, like Christianity and Islam, we had our fair share of ‘fundamentalists’.

I don’t think this is right. A central feature – I think the central feature – of humanism, rationalism and freethinking (I don’t know about ’secularism’, often used as a comprehensive political swear-word by people like Zwartz) is the provisional nature of knowledge, and I mean all knowledge. The only thing I’m pretty sure of is that I’m not sure of anything – and I’m not even quite sure of that. To characterise this as a species of fundamentalism – to class it with Christian and Muslim fundamentalisms – is to deprive the term of meaning.

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Filed in: Fundamentalism, Islam, Morality, Politics, Secularism

Today, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) handed down its decision on the long-running religious vilification case Islamic Council of Victoria v. Catch The Fire Ministries Inc. The case concerned a seminar, newsletter and website article promoted by Catch The Fire Ministries Inc., a Christian fundamentalist group affiliated with the Assembly of God. The case was brought by the Islamic Council of Victoria on a representative basis under the Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001. The judge found that all of these presentations breached the Act by “inciting hatred against and serious contempt for people who are Muslims” and has reserved sentencing.

I have mixed views about this case. On the one hand, freedom of speech is a cherished and fragile “right” in Australia and the Victorian legislation can have the effect of stifling religious commentary and criticism. On the other hand, inciting hatred towards those of another faith is not something that should be encouraged. Much of the history of the last two thousand years is littered with bloodshed justified by religious zealotry. We should learn from that history and promote tolerance of all religious beliefs, while remaining free to constructively criticise any particular belief system. The tricky part is to do that without deliberately or inadvertently inciting hatred.

Filed in: Censorship, Islam