;Sharia' Muslims told to leave Australia

This was e-mailed to me from an obvious “repug”!

CANBERRA AUSTRALIA: Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks. A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.

Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament. "If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you," he said on national television. "I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that is false.

"If you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country which practices it, perhaps, then, that's a better option," Costello said. Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other country.

Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should "clear off". "Basically, people who don't want to be Australians, and they don't want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then they can basically clear off," he said. Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.

AMERICANS... ARE YOU LISTENING? And reading?

And maybe include the "Christian" fundies? :bounce: Not all the Christians, just the Pat Roberston/Dobson types.....please?

thought about that angle - sutz12. It's a good one.

Or are Muslims the only trouble makers that count?

Instead of fundamentalist wackos whose political views don't differ much from that of fundamentalist Muslims. Tell your friend that, like all sane people in the west, you stand firmly for separation of church and state, and against faith-based initiatives, against public schools teaching religion, against law based on religious concepts.

See how that goes over.

:hippie:

Any church that breaks the law is prosecuted. You can only have one wife. You cannot use drugs as part of your religion. I do not think that sharia law will ever be applied in the US without someone going to jail.

Ever since the first waves of immigration from Southern Europe started in the 1950s and 60s, the 'White Australia' crowd have been making the lives of immigrants miserable. When immigration from Southeast Asia began in the 70s, the bigots added them to their growing list of hatees. Now Muslims get to join the 'A-list.'.

Here's a little story that illustrates what I'm talking about. My father was working in Iran in the mid-70s and seriously considered immigrating to Australia. He took my mother and me to Tehran and applied for immigration visas for all of us at the Australian Embassy. To his surprise, the visa process took only a day to complete. He asked how it had been done so quickly, and was told by the visa officer that the Ambassador himself screened all visa applications and had earmarked ours for 'fast-tracking.' My father was a bit taken-aback at the special treatment, but asked the officer to pass along his thanks to the Ambassador. The officer said, "you can do it yourself," and went to fetch His Excellency.

Now, for this part of my story, the scene is important. My father met the Ambassador in a room with a big window overlooking a busy street in Tehran. Crowds of people were walking, driving and cycling in all directions, busily going about their lives. My father thanked the Ambassador for his help, then asked why our family had been singled out for such favorable treatment. Here's what the representative of the Australian people to the Government of Iran, a career diplomat, said: "You're skilled, you're European, you're hardworking but, most importantly, you're white." Then he gestured to the window, the sweep of his arm encompassing the entire scene, and said, "we don't want any of this shit in our country." My father, something of a racist asshole himself, thought this was hugely funny.

Seems some things never change in the Land of Wonder.

Anyone -- Muslim, Christian, whatever -- who seeks to overturn civil law and replace it with theocracy had damned well better leave the country, the sooner the better.

"'If you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country which practices it, perhaps, then, that's a better option,' Costello said. Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other country."

What is to disagree with here? In a Western democracy, those who want Sharia should perhaps think about moving somewhere else - you know, move to a place that has Sharia.

I am fine with ejecting some radical clerics with dual citizenship. If Australian law permits this, more power to them.

Hell, I'd be fine with tossing out radical religious leaders of all stripes in the United States if the law would allow it. I only wish we could deport Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson.

Seriously though, Muslims who want to live under Sharia law should go to some Islamic country that practices it.

I don't see the problem. What is so alarming here?