Muslim Minorities in Modern States by Raphael Israeli

Author:Raphael Israeli [Israeli, Raphael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Islamic Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781351504065
Google: MK00DwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 4967758
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2008-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Dr Ali said the use of the term Judeo-Christian was the result of “WW II guilt”, and before 1945 Australia would have been called only Christian. “That question must be rephrased,” he said. Dr Ali was backed by Democrat senator Lyn Allison, who said the answer to the question was highly debatable. But Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews stood firm on the merit of the question. Mr Andrews said Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage was indisputable historical fact. “We are not asking people to subscribe to the Judeo-Christian ethic,” he said. “We are simply stating a fact that this is part of the heritage of Australia in terms of its foundation. This is not an exercise in political correctness. It is trying to state what has been the case and still is the case.”

But Health Minister Tony Abbott confused the issue, by saying that the modern Australian values system was secular, or of no particular religion. The Herald Sun revealed39 twenty key questions, developed in consultation with Mr Andrews, that are likely to be asked of would-be citizens. Mr Andrews said the test, to begin by September 2007, would help immigrants integrate into society better. “We celebrate diversity and people are free to continue their own traditions, but we are also very insistent that we have to build and maintain social cohesion,” he emphasized.

Dr Ali said he would request a meeting with Mr Andrews to discuss the question. “It is the wrong message we are sending,” he said. Senator Allison said the test was pointless: “I don’t see what it’s going to achieve … It doesn’t say anything about people’s character, whether they are going to be good citizens.” Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke responded that Labour agreed in principle with the test, but wanted details.40

This is neither a simple matter nor a formal exchange of opinion, because while there is a Judeo-Christian tradition of openness, tolerance and democracy, the Muslims are not bound by it, since they claim that Islam is a new beginning, original and without any connection to Judaism and Christianity that preceded it. For them, the entire world was Muslim in the era of Abraham, until Jews and Christians distorted the old faith and forged their new false religions which are at variance with “true” Islam. Therefore, an “Abrahamic tradition” as they would have it, far from bridging over the three monotheistic faiths and drawing them closer, would on the contrary dramatize the yawning gap between the previous faiths of the Judeo-Christian tradition which “went astray”, and the newly installed Muslim faith which has no link to the other two. Unlike the Jewish and Christian faiths which are ready to include Muslims in the Abrahamic faith, for the Muslims, the Abrahamic faith means only Muslim, nothing else, nothing more, to the exclusion of all others. The debate over this issue will determine to a large extent the degree of Muslim acculturation into Australia and other Western countries in the final analysis.

All these tensions culminated in early 2007, when Attorney

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