Alcohol creates 'barrier' for Muslims
Yahoo News
October 10, 2008, 6:16 pm
Alcohol, food and gender relations are the key barriers to social interaction between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians, a study suggests.
The findings emerged from a study commissioned by the federal government to develop better community-based integration programs.
The project focused on Muslims who have experienced racism since the 2005 Cronulla riots.
To determine social barriers, researchers interviewed a group of 10 Muslims who socialise predominantly with other Muslims. They also spoke to 10 non-Muslims from the Cronulla area who did not mix with Muslims.
Among the non-Muslims, it was not well-known that drinking alcohol is forbidden under Islam.
The concept of halal - denoting what is permissible under Islam - was also little understood.
Female Muslim interviewees said they could not understand how drinking by non-Muslims can be seen as responsible behaviour.
Their male counterparts said they would refuse invitations to events where alcohol was consumed to shield the women from it.
Some of the respondents said they felt morally compelled to avoid alcohol, even if halal food was provided.
Experiences of racism, language barriers and social demographics also made the Muslim participants more hesitant to mix with non-Muslims.
The study also looked at community-based programs designed to promote integration and socialisation between the two groups.
It found local councils were doing relatively little to build bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims.
The non-government sector was found to be the leader in building relations. And activities that encouraged contact, like sport, were the most successful.
"There is great scope for greater participation by councils in this area," the study says.
It said local, state and federal governments should do more to engage mainstream community groups with Muslim organisations, fund documentaries that feature positive stories of Muslims, and undertake a "public myth-busting" campaign to promote peace and tolerance.
Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs Laurie Ferguson welcomed the report.
"It is by undertaking and evaluating research such as this that we become more responsive to our community's changing needs," he said in a statement.
"We all have a role to play in making our communities more inclusive and stronger for the future."
In 2006 there were 340,000 Muslim Australians, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
NSW has the largest Muslim population, close to 170,000, of whom most live within 50km of the Sydney city
Muslims plan $10m enclave
The West.com.au
13th December 2008, 11:00 WST
The Islamic community plans to build a Muslim-only housing development and recreation centre as part of a $10 million complex in Rivervale.
Islamic Council of WA spokesman Rahim Ghauri said the group had an architect-designed concept plan for a six-storey housing development, an underground carpark and a hall for weddings, conferences and religious and recreational activities.
Mr Ghauri rejected claims the housing would further isolate sectors of the Muslim community from mainstream society, claiming the venue would be used to teach Islamic youth how to become good Australian citizens.
And the council’s religious adviser, Abdul Jalil Ahmad, said it was useful for different religious or ethnic groups to have separate residential enclaves so their customs and exotic cooking smells did not offend neighbours.
“It’s ideal for any ethnic group because you can deal with each other in an easier way,” Mr Ahmad said.
“In South Africa, because of apartheid, all different communities were set up and it worked well. It kept people separate. We can be together in terms of our contribution to the wider community.”
Mr Jalil, who once tried to set up a sharia court in WA to settle disputes in the Muslim community through an incorporated body, plans to live in the 20-unit complex on the community’s 1280sqm Malvern Street block.
Mr Rahim said it would provide affordable housing for Muslims and be first-stop accommodation for Islamic students and newcomers to help integrate them into society.
The group wants donations from “generous Muslims” locally and all over the world for the complex and so far had $100,000. He declined to reveal who was approached but said all donations would be declared to the Government.
The council hoped to buy neighbouring vacant land from Landcorp to extend the development, possibly with offices, another carpark and sporting facilities.
Mr Rahim said WA’s Muslim community was one of the only religious groups which did not have its own recreation centre. It would offer to rent the hall to non-Muslims.
He said the inclusion of units was necessary to pass local planning laws but the council would include the Muslim-only housing block even if it was forced to move to another area.
Ethnic Communities Council president Ramdas Sankaran supported the development of a Muslim recreation hall but said a separate housing complex for any religious or ethnic group was a “deplorable” idea because it undermined social cohesion and promoted segregation.
He said there was an argument for separate aged-care facilities based on race or religion, but building a general housing complex for families set a dangerous precedent which he believed would not have support in the Muslim or broader communities.
“Self exclusion is just as bad as being excluded by other parties in Australia. It’s not in the interests of any group,” Mr Sankaran said.
Belmont mayor Glenys Godfrey had informal talks with the group but a council spokesman said it could not comment until it saw the plans.
PERTH
KIM MACDONALD
The two stories above show yet again the total insanity of allowing immigrants from Islamic countries into Australia, or indeed any western democracy.
Muslims them selves tell us they have no intention of becoming assimilated into Judeo Christian western democracy/culture, yet our leaders and Islams facilitators and apologists on the left continually spruik the Islamic mantra of Islam been a "Religion of Peace" and they "just want to get along" and further "enrich Australia's rich and diverse Multicultural tapestry"clearly these people and their fifth column are here as nothing more than a malignant advance party, of free loading parasites, whose only purpose is to colonize Australia, until such time as they reach sufficient numbers to declare their self created ghetto's, aka Australia's occupied territories, their own sovereign territory.
Given Muslim's resident in Australia constant demands for Australians to acquiesce to their every demand to accommodate, and indeed adopt, their retarded and backward culture and superstitions, Australians have to ask themselves, how much longer will we tolerate our leaders allowing the followers of this malignant cult to enter Australia?
Australians need only look to what was once the United Kingdom and France, to see the manifestations of 30 years of Islamic colonization in order to see our future, should this failed sinister policy of Multiculturalism continue.
Islam can only exist as an oppressive majority or a disruptive minority, our leaders know this we must demand to know why, in spite of this, they, like the newly elected US President B H Obama they to "...side with Islam" and not with Australians.
No comments:
Post a Comment