Members of Australia’s Islamic community are expressing outrage at recent comments from government leaders about the need for Muslim immigrants to embrace the dominant culture. They expressed offense after Prime Minister John Howard said some Muslims were repudiating Australian values. “Fully integrating means accepting Australian values—it means learning as rapidly as you can the English language if you don’t already speak it,” Howard told a radio interviewer.
Suggesting that some Australian Muslims were mistreating women Howard said, “People who come from societies where women are treated in an inferior fashion have got to learn very quickly that is not the case in Australia.”
Howard’s remarks were endorsed by Treasurer Peter Costello who called on Islamic leaders to denounce terrorism being perpetrated “under the cover of religion.” He said prospective converts to Islam should be told they are not joining, “a radical political ideology.”
Muslim leaders expressed more outrage saying Costello and Howard’s remarks would only further alienate the Islamic community and could lead to violence.
Last year, I met with Pastor Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries in Melbourne and we talked about Muslim immigrant assimilation. Nalliah and Pastor Daniel Scott are facing massive fines and imprisonment for violating Victoria State’s religious vilification law. They held a seminar in 2003 comparing Islam and the Koran with Christianity and the Bible. Muslims filed a complaint against them and they were found guilty of vilifying Islam. Their case is now on appeal. You can read more here:http://www.saltshakers.org.au/html/P/265/
Nalliah told me he felt many Muslims had immigrated to Australia, but had not embraced the culture; they were creating Islamic enclaves in their cities and were actually attempting to impose their values and way of life on the dominant culture. Western societies cherish free speech, honest criticism and open dialogue. But Islamic ones are intolerant of those who challenge or question their beliefs. Nalliah cited the religious vilification case against him as just one example of how Muslim immigrants are attempting to impose their culture on Australia.
Perhaps the Muslim immigrants could take a few lessons from Nalliah. He knows the difficulties minorities face when they first come to Australia and attempt to assimilate into a new culture and different way of life. He immigrated to Australia from Sri Lanka more than eight years ago. Today, he has a successful ministry in Melbourne. He has accepted the Australian way of life and culture; he’s changed for the culture and has not demanded the culture change for him.
If most Australians believe their culture is worth preserving, then perhaps they should embrace Nalliah’s approach. If not, Ozzie culture may be jeopardized; “the land down under” could eventually crumble and be transformed into a “land under Allah.”
