Useful Idiots

It is my view that Islam cannot be reformed. But Muslims can. Many decent Muslims, on finally getting to read the Qur'an, realised that the criticism by Christians is absolutely valid. However, the real problem is not getting Muslims to read the Qur'an. It's getting our political and religious leaders to read it. It's easy to tell those who have not read it. They say things like 'Islam is a religion of peace' which is ludicrous as the Sunni and Shia factions of Islam have been at war with each other since the 7th century. And no, their wars and killings were not caused by Islamophobia, George W. Bush, or Israel.

The mantra that "Islam is a religion of peace" is a betrayal of the Christians who are daily murdered, tortured and otherwise persecuted. In the villages of Pakistan, Christian girls are routinely kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and forcibly "married". The parents have little redress. Not a single Christian country persecutes or kills Muslims. If anything, western Governments give Muslims free accommodation, food, clothing and other care. How many Muslim "refugees" have been accepted by Saudi Arabia?

It is bad enough when the Greens ignore the plight of persecuted Christians but it is incomprehensible when the National Civic Council censors articles about Christian victims and publishes articles implying the cruelty of Islam is the fault of mistaken policies by western governments. The Australian's cartoonist Bill Leak had it right when he depicted a severed head on a psychiatrist's couch with the doctor askingthe sad-looking head: "I'm sensing a certain level of Islamophobia - do you want to talk about it?" (The Australian, 28/1/16).

Yes, we do want to talk about it - a full scale debate in our federal Parliament on Islam would be a good start.