http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/islam/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-these-terrorists-reformed-umm.-fingers-crossed/ One of the more striking photographs from the sadly crowded files of modern Australian terrorist coverage came in 2005, when 17 men were arrested for plotting the murder of hundreds of civilians in a bombing campaign against major landmarks in Sydney and Melbourne. When the men were rounded up by the Australian Federal Police, two of their wives decided to go public. They said their husbands were just normal Aussies, good blokes going about their business who loved Australia and wished no one any harm. The women were photographed in a normal suburban backyard with a Hills Hoist and a barbecue in the background and were wearing full body-length niqabs, those burqas on steroids, peering through the slots in their medieval outfits to say that they were no different from any other group of Australians. As a public relations exercise this little photo opportunity wasn’t exactly a roaring success. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-these-terrorists-reformed-umm.-fingers-crossed/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-these-terrorists-reformed-umm.-fingers-crossed/#item7153 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/religions-not-same-same-but-different/ This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/religions-not-same-same-but-different/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/religions-not-same-same-but-different/#item6869 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/9-11-and-the-struggle-to-retain-perspective/ Whether you like it or not, multiculturalism is here to stay. I don’t use the word in the political sense, of multiculturalism as an ideology, a doctrine or a social vision. I use it as a general descriptive term, in the absence of any other, to reflect the reality of life in the suburbs of Australia, where for every Tom, Dick and Harry there’s a Mustafa, a Tran and a Nkosana just around the corner. In the ten years since September 11, 2001, it’s the Mustafas who have been the source of the greatest unease in countries such as ours which have been built on successive patterns of immigration. Those us who can’t comprehend the concept of flying a plane into a building to make a political point have quite understandably rounded our contempt on those who seek to excuse or explain such murderous conduct. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/9-11-and-the-struggle-to-retain-perspective/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/9-11-and-the-struggle-to-retain-perspective/#item6689 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/If-only-christmas-was-more-like-ramadan/ The 150th floor of the Dubai’s Burj Khalifa would guarantee a great view of the vast desert city. But if you’re Muslim and observing the holy month of Ramadan, it’ll also make you hungry. Residents occupying the loftier levels of the world’s tallest building, will have to wait two minutes longer than their neighbours on the lower floors to break their fast, given how much longer their elevated position frames the sun on the horizon. That’s how seriously the Islamic world takes their festival of Ramadan. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/If-only-christmas-was-more-like-ramadan/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/If-only-christmas-was-more-like-ramadan/#item6460 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pr-helping-burqa-banners-stay-on-message/ More than 20,000 people pledged to join a Ban the Burqa protest yesterday by donning balaclavas and trenchcoats to show that… people shouldn’t wear balaclavas and trenchcoats. Or something like that.  Those who want the burqa banned are facing some pretty big hurdles. Sure, there’s all the civil liberties guff, but they also have a big public relations problem because their side of the debate seems to get regularly hijacked by illiterate, hate-filled, intolerant, violence-prone, ignorant bigots. So here’s some advice to the burqa banners as to how to keep ‘on message’: feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pr-helping-burqa-banners-stay-on-message/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pr-helping-burqa-banners-stay-on-message/#item6311 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-q-a-what-is-this-islamic-banking-caper/ A News Ltd survey of Australian imams unearthed a renewed call for the recognition of sharia banking in Australia. At The Punch we weren’t really sure what that meant, so we asked expert in Islamic banking Dr Hussain Rammal, a lecturer in International Business at UniSA, to talk us through the basics. What are the main differences between Islamic banking and Western banking? The main difference is in the way the two systems deal with money. Under the Islamic economic system money is seen as a medium of exchange and has no intrinsic value. Therefore charging a higher rate of return (interest) on lend money does not sit well under the Islamic system. Islamic financial institutions use an asset-backed system where they purchase the assets on behalf of their customers and then use various financing agreements to on-sell the asset to their clients. These include profit-and-loss sharing, leasing and hire-purchase, and mark-up based agreements. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-q-a-what-is-this-islamic-banking-caper/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-q-a-what-is-this-islamic-banking-caper/#item6272 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/free-to-believe-in-god-free-to-keep-quiet-about-it/ The latest sortie in the war between Islam and Christendom involves a billboard which in the eyes of its critics is the most offensive bit of advertising since those signs asking us if we want longer lasting sex. It reads “Jesus: A prophet of Islam” and has been displayed in Sydney and is now heading to Adelaide in a spectacularly muddle-headed gesture by creator Diaa Mohammed to foster greater understanding between the Christian and Muslim religions. Mohammed has set up an organisation called MyPeace which aims to find common ground between the two faiths. Its thinking stems from the fact that in the Islamic holy book the Koran, while Mohammed is obviously the star of the show, JC also gets a pretty good write-up as a prophet of peace. If you contact the MyPeace website they will send you a free copy of the Koran. Call now, their operators are standing by. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/free-to-believe-in-god-free-to-keep-quiet-about-it/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/free-to-believe-in-god-free-to-keep-quiet-about-it/#item6214 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/jusy-tobbos-not-a-crisis-of-multiculturalism/ Is the case of the niqab-clad Sydney woman who berated a police officer and fronted court this week with an aggressive all-male cheer squad a sign that multiculturalism has failed? Or does it merely signal that the people involved in this case are simply a bunch of persecuted, trouble-making ratbags who would rather have a fight than a feed? Judging from the commentary this week many people have opted for the first conclusion. I would argue strongly in favour of the second. The danger in rightly identifying the conduct of these individuals as appalling and unwelcome in this country is that it will get cited as proof-positive of a broader problem. It should not be used to besmirch the name of the vast majority of decent people within Australia’s Lebanese Muslim community who go about their business and live their lives in a civilised and productive manner. Equally, we should call this sort of behaviour for what it is. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/jusy-tobbos-not-a-crisis-of-multiculturalism/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/jusy-tobbos-not-a-crisis-of-multiculturalism/#item6144 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-burqa-large-lies-and-behold-the-pickle/ Congratulations shock jocks, David Oldfield, Cory Bernardi, Fred Nile. You have your anti-hero, your Carnita. All causes need a strong narrative, and anti-Muslim and anti-burqa sentiment just got one. Carnita Matthews, 47, had a conviction for a false accusation against a cop overturned because the court could not be sure it was indeed her that walked into a police station and made the complaint. It all started, and finished, with a burqa. Read all about it here, here and here. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-burqa-large-lies-and-behold-the-pickle/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-burqa-large-lies-and-behold-the-pickle/#item6123 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-middle-east-should-not-adopt-western-democracy/ In order for democracy to really take hold in the wake of the recent Arab Revolutions, the people of the region should be careful not to conform to Western ideas of democracy and instead develop their own model, one relevant to their own cultural norms and in tune with their own rich history of democracy. The Arab Revolutions themselves give us insight into what this model might look like. Indeed, recent events are to be admired for the extent to which divergent voices have been heard, legitimate grievances have been aired, and women and minorities have been involved. They are also to be admired because a balance has often been struck between the pragmatic and the ideal, between the secular and the religious, between the desire not just to oust failing tyrants but to replace them with something new, something that could respond to the varying needs of the citizens. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-middle-east-should-not-adopt-western-democracy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-middle-east-should-not-adopt-western-democracy/#item5944 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 This is the final in our Adelaide Festival of Ideas series - the brainfest begins today. In this column Paul Collins talks about how important it is to recognise and protect religion pluralism. Richard Dawkins and his atheist mates have done us a real disservice by caricaturing all religion as fundamentalist claptrap. The problem is that by pretending that all religions are the same, he obscures the important differences that have to be negotiated if we are going to live in a more peaceful and tolerant world. This is especially true when we come to negotiate that most important contemporary divides between the West and the Islamic world. At the heart of this is the negotiation between Christianity and Islam, two faiths that really need to talk to each other for all our sakes. But this isn’t going to be easy.