Well, if you ban the Koran, then basically you are saying you can't live with other people. You are the intolerant one. There are plenty of Muslim people who are happy to be a peaceful part of our society.

Also, many hollywood movies and books promote violence to a greater extent than the Koran. People have used that 'cop killer' song as an excuse for killing policemen. Does that mean we should start banning them?

This is a very slippery slope you are on. It only makes sense while you keep it vague. Once you try to flesh out a 'policy' based on that, most people would see it as unacceptable. Pretty soon you would get arrested for trying to organise an anti government protest.

I cant recall any that recommend/promote/advice the use of it.

So when Arnie solves his problems and becomes a hero by gunning people down, that isn't promoting violence? What about suggesting we invade Iraq? Is that promoting violence? What about selling tickets to a boxing match? Who decides what violence is OK to promote? The Koran is tame compared to what is considered a normal part of our society. It is tame compared to what we consider entertainment for our kids. If you look at it objectively, it would be a very long way down the list of things to ban. What puts it at the top of some peoples' list is fear, ignorance and intolerance.

http://www.threechordsandthetruth.net/u2lyrics/rattleandhum.htm

Silver and Gold... This song was written in a hotel room in New York City round about the time a friend of ours, Little Steven, was putting together a record of Artists Against Apartheid. This is a song written about a man in a shanty town outside of Johannesburg. A man who's sick of looking down the barrel of white South Africa. A man who is at the point where he is ready to take up arms against his oppressor. A man who has lost faith in the peacemakers of the West while they argue and while they fail to support a man like Bishop Tutu and his request for economic sanctions against South Africa.

Am I buggin' you? I don't mean to bug ya.

The Koran did not say to blow up the WTC.

freediver wrote on Aug 13^th, 2007 at 9:41am:


Who are you addressing? Sprintcyclist or me?

Quote:


No... I don't want an end to religious freedom... I just want Islamic schools to be banned/closed.

If you consider that restricting religious freedom... then I guess I'm against religious freedom. Tough. I just don't think Islam is a safe religion. The Quran and the acts of Muslims worldwide is good enough for me.

Do you think religious freedom is part of Australia's values? That's an interesting concept. So are you basing this off the constitution?

And if we DO have religious freedom... why are prayers banned in public schools and politics? -Or were you just talking about religious freedom... meaning.... 'types' of religions.

Quote:


you know the part that confuses me, is private religious-based schools still get government funding. which is unusual since i used to think "private" meant that it was privately owned & operated (i.e. it is free of taxpayer funds). so i don't know why they still get taxpayer funds.

but on the note of religious schools, if u want Islamic schools to be banned, then u should call for a ban on all religious-based schools and only have secular schools in operation.

if u only want Islamic schools banned, but Catholic schools remain, then it's double standards on your part.

This freediver is a prime example of the apologist mindset that undermines and puts Australia and other Western cultures at risk.

In my view monoculturalism is the opposite of multiculturalism in only the semantic sense but even then only very weakly. (The opposite of many is not one but few).

In cultural terms the opposite of multiculturalism is civilisation. Multiculturalism corrodes it because it relativises cultural practices and makes them out to be of equal value, especially in the sense that one cultural impulse (say, the maintenence of group solidarity) is as valid as another (say, freedom of conscience).  

Civilisation (there is only one) changes because its goal is the ongoing improvement on conviviality. Cultures embody civilisation to varying degrees. Insisting too much on cultural preservation may prevent civilisational improvement and in this sense can be reactionary.

Cultures are not equal in their degrees of civilisation. In Australia, for example, the Brittanic heritage carries the greatest degree and is the agent of any further betterment of the lives of Australians.  It makes room for other cultures to have their freedom of conscience ( a britannic trait). This does not mean that these other cultures are equal to it.
The corrosive effeect of of multiculturalism, whether in policy or sentiment, is this false equality. It reduces people's ability to tell the difference between betteer and worse, between improvement and reaction.