Aussie Faiths "Love Muslims 100 Years"
“We believe people of Muslim faith are being unfairly smeared in the eyes of the Australian public,” the statement cited SBS on Friday, August 22, reads.
“…The violence and values of extremists like ISIS are not representative of the vast majority of Muslim people in Australia, who are recognized better by their commitment to peace, community and mutual respect.”
The campaign called “We’ll love Muslims 100 years” was launched by a huge group of Christian and Jewish leaders who rallied to support the Muslim community.
The statement has signed by more than 150 members of the Christian, Jewish and other religious communities who asked members of the Australian public to join them in a campaign.
Leaders will hold a banner headline, “We’ll love Muslims 100 years”, under a mock-up newspaper masthead called The Welcoming Australian.
The title has been suggested in response to an earlier headline in the Weekend Australian, “We’ll fight Islam 100 years”, which accompanied a story quoting a former head of army Peter Leahy saying that Australia must prepare for a war against radical Islam lasting for the rest of the century.
Muslim leaders have expressed their concern over the running political debate surrounding new anti-terror laws supported by PM Tony Abbot.
“That headline would be like running a headline ‘we’ll fight Christianity for 100 years’ in response to the sexual abuse allegations within the churches,” said Australian Christian Churches pastor, Brad Chilcott, who is national director of Welcome to Australia.
“Young Muslims in all walks of life are feeling very alienated by this conversation. They are uni students, engineers, doctors, all rightly feeling they are contributing to Australian life.”
Anti-Muslim Hostilities
Rabbi Zalman Kastel voiced support to campaign after feeling compelled to act because of “shrill, harsh talk” against Muslims in mainstream and social media.
“I was concerned about shrill, harsh talk we see both in social and mainstream, even though there is a lot of good interfaith work going on in Australia every day,” Kastel, the national director of a multi-faith organization, Together for Humanity Foundation, told The Guardian.
“We are all on the same team, if I may use that word, in terms of the result, and that is peace.”
His foundation has a Muslim president, a Christian chairman and atheist Janet Holmes a Court as patron.
Rabbi Kastel said the event should act as a "reality check" for many Australians.
“We’ll be holding a banner that says we’ll love Muslims for 100 years, courting the other headline,” he told SBS.
“It’s very important to provide a counter narrative.”
Chilcott, based in Adelaide, said government rhetoric raising the specter of September 11, 2001, and demonizing the broader Muslim community risked creating the very conditions that lead to separation and, ultimately, radicalization.
“When you alienate any group of people, whether that is due to being unemployed, young, disabled, or of a different faith, you create conditions where people don’t trust authority and they separate from mainstream society and alienation becomes anger and frustration,” Chilcott said.
The campaign is calling for supporters to sign their support for the Muslim community.
Source: On Islam
