If you take a bowl of flour and add in chilli, you no longer have a bowl of flour. And we all know that it only takes a little chilli before the taste becomes overpowering.
Australia is like that bowl of flour. The flour represents a nation that is founded on Christian tenets and beliefs.
Whatever people think of this situation, it is a fact.
It is also a fact that the number of Muslims living in Australia has grown rapidly in recent years and they now number almost half a million people. Whatever one thinks of the Islamic religion, there can be no denying that increasing the number of Muslims in Australia will change Australia’s cultural mix, just as adding chilli to a bowl of flour will change its taste and composition.
Depending on your point of view, that may or may not be a good thing. However, considering that many Australians will have different and strongly held views on this issue, it should be a debate we are mature enough to have. Australians should openly argue the case for or against further Islamic immigration to our country precisely because it is about the future composition of our nation.
Unfortunately, it does not seem possible to have this debate because it is immediately shutdown. The arguments against the debate are always intellectually lazy: it is racist; it is provocative; all religions are equal.
This debate is not about race. This debate is provocative and if, as a nation, we are too scared of a backlash then we have lost our sense of self belief. This debate is most of all about religion and it is an insult to the intelligence of all to claim that every religion is equal. They are not and this discussion is essentially about whether we want more of the Islamic religion in Australia.
I have served as an intelligence officer in the Australian Army, trained as an Arabic linguist and deployed to Iraq on three occasions. I have seen the problems caused by the Islamic religion and it is clear to me that Australians should be very concerned about increasing the number of Muslims in this country.
The violent protests in Sydney last year call for concern.
The fact that ASIO views home-grown jihadis as one of the greatest security threats to the nation calls for concern.
The constant vision of adherents to Islam committing violent atrocities in the name of their religion calls for concern.
The demand for Shariah law in Australia calls for concern.
The belief in polygamous marriage calls for concern.
The treatment of women and non-Muslims in Islamic countries calls for concern.
Even the pressure to ensure food is prepared according to Islamic practices calls for concern.
These are all practices, including violence, that are inherently bound up in the Islamic religion. They cannot be separated from it. Now is the time for Australians to debate their merits because as sure as the sun rises in the east, we will be dealing with each of them – more often and on a larger scale – if Islamic immigration is allowed to continue.
Surely, even the most tolerant Australian would agree that continued Islamic immigration will lead to political and social pressure to see Islamic practices enshrined in law. And you would have to be very optimistic to think that the numbers of those prepared to protest violently or threaten terrorist activity would not also rise.
Do we want to see 3,000 protesters storming through Sydney praising Osama bin Laden instead of 300, as happened just last year?
It is also useful for Australians to understand why there was such a strong backlash to the second rate movie about Mohammad, released last year.
Muslims view Mohammad as God’s messenger and the ultimate pinnacle of a man, deserving of the utmost respect. His life is the example all Muslims aspire to follow and they cannot tolerate any attacks against him. And just as Mohammad resorted to warfare to defend himself, those Muslims who follow his example will do so too.
Mohammad can certainly be described as one of the great military, political and religious figures in world history but it is hard to accept that he was a good man. No matter how second rate and cheap a movie is about Mohammad, it does not change the facts of his life.
For instance, and this is according to the most credible and revered Islamic writers, Mohammad married a six year old girl but did not ‘consummate’ the marriage until she was nine. Mohammad also ordered the beheading of all males in a defeated Jewish tribe and enslaved the women and children. There were over 700 corpses when he had finished Allah’s work.
The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, never gave such an example.
Most Australians would not defend or follow the example of Mohammad. It is now time to ask ourselves whether we want more people in this country who will.
