If I were an African American who lived in a predominately African American Neighbourhood with people who were Hispanic, Asian and other assorted nationalities of immigrant extraction, and you were a member of an active KKK charter that is not sympathetic to any persons of mixed race or Asian or African or Indian for argument’s sake, origins, who wanted to set up a club house in the middle of my relatively diverse peaceful neighbourhood, what should my reaction to your plans be?
Should I say, ok, that’s fine, but you will have to change your charter that makes you essentially the Klu Klux Klan and allow entry to your club house of all nationalities in our suburb? Should I say, ok, you can live along side us so long as you do it peacefully and keep your hate literature to yourself? Or, ok it is fine to have racist views and to air them in private, so long as they are not made public and do not call for harm to others who are different or despised in your opinion?
Where do we draw lines and maintain the status quo of a relatively multicultural society? How do we define what is racist and what is bigoted, when often the people who use such terms to label others do not even understand the connotations or inferences behind the words in the first place?
A lot of people have been called racists by those who do not even understand what a racist is.
A person who is intolerant of another race or races and their creed usually embodies a belief that their particular genetic heritage is superior to others and finally that aggressive or abusive behaviour towards others is justified. Fairly simple in theory, but an oft misused term.
The term bigot is a lot more complex and there are people who are labelled racists who could more honestly be called bigots and they are not necessarily religious hypocrites. They do adhere to a particular ideology however to the exclusion of others or even to understand other ideologies and their basic beliefs. Let’s look at the word ‘bigot’ which was a term first used by the French to refer to the Normans of Southern Gaul and was said to mean By God and was used to refer to people of a particular creed who refused to look at alternative ideas.
There is a saying ‘you can tell a bigot, but you can’t tell him much.’ It refers in essence to people who refuse to add new knowledge or information to their lexicon that may change the way they perceive something or a situation. People who adhere strictly to their viewpoint, and fail to consider other viewpoints or perspectives, are bigots. They will fail to allow commonsense to reign and to competently assess both sides of a situation and form an opinion from all information available. They see only their point of view.
In the case of the Alma Road Community House, having a religious prayer group meeting once a week for a few hours, of any religion does not concern me. My question is simply why do they want that particular Community House when they have two mosques in Prahran minutes away and a prayer meeting room at Caulfield Monash, where all these three places are outfitted for Muslim prayers and have adequate washing facilities for them?
Why are they all men?
Why aren’t their women and families taking part in the prayer services and having some sort of function at the same time?
If the Port Phillip council is going to be inclusive, they will need to change the facilities at the house to accommodate them. Is it worthwhile and are there the numbers to justify such, considering it is only two hours a week and for forty or so taxi drivers, when there are facilities used daily two or three minutes away?
If there were plans afoot to open a Chabad house in Preston not far from the main mosque for the benefit of around forty Jewish taxi drivers who just wanted to have a minyan there once a week on say a Thursday or a Sunday, I would ask them the same questions that I ask of this group?
Why that particular place when there are few if any Jewish families in the area? Don’t you think that is quite a provocative action, knowing how Muslims feel about us, to plonk a Chabad house next to the Preston Mosque?
It is not likely to happen, but hypothetically it is the same principle. Think about it.
In conclusion, I am all for diversity and peaceful co-existence, but by the same token, I have a problem with groups who have a charter for violence against others or intolerance of others not like them. Can such a group exist peacefully within our midst?
That is the real question. What are we opening ourselves up to and are we being very cleverly manipulated?
Australians celebrate and revere Anzac Day on April 25th each year in remembrance of our brave soldiers who fought in two great world wars to secure our freedom. Every Australian identifies with the slogan “lest we forget” and in services held around the country people reflect on the battles and men who died to secure our freedom. Yet across the world in France, there is one remarkable battle which helped form the Europe we know today and allowed the development of civilization based on Judeo Christian principles. This one famous battle has become known as the battle of Tours and effectively stopped the Muslim advance into Europe. After the death of Mohammed in 632AD, Muslim armies exploded out of the Arabian peninsula to conquer much of the Middle East, expanding across north Africa. From there they crossed into Spain in 711AD and eventually controlled much of al-Andalus by 715AD. It was the victory at Tours by Charles Martel that stemmed the tide and eventually the Muslim marauders were expelled from Spain in 1492 when the last outpost at Granada fell to King Ferdinand of Spain. 
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born, lived, fought and won battles against religious and social oppression in the 17th century Bharat or India. He was a shining star in the Indian firmament and is renowned as a champion of the downtrodden and depressed masses. He was and continues to be an icon for the classes and masses alike and is seen as a rallying point for peasants oppressed by foreign rulers, Pathans and Moghuls alike. Sexually exploited women found in Shivaji Raje a protector, a benefactor and flocked to his Hindavi Swaraj to find solace and feel liberated under his saffron flag. 
Perhaps some readers might be interested to know that January 28 is considered a feast day among Catholics – actually 2 feast days are celebrated on the same day – one is of ST Thomas Aquinas, the great medieval theologian and philosopher who adapted Aristotle to the western Judeo-Christian worldview. . It is also the feast day of a lesser known person – St Peter Nolasco, the great ransomer of captives from the Muslims.
How often in conversation with a Muslim, do they quote Spain as the crowning achievement of Islam, where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony for about 800 years?
Why do Muslims insist that Jerusalem is their Holy City?
There is a very strongly entrenched view among majority of Westerners today that the three main monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam share one common God and therefore despite the obvious differences, the core foundation of these three religions is the same. 
