I’m not sure what they expected. Should 360,000 Muslims try and fit inside a mosque with a capacity to fit some 3,000 people? Should they anticipate Hilali making remarks in a language most of them do not speak or understand? Apart from openly and publicly condemning Hilali until they are black and blue in the face, what else could Muslims do?
Now, the same conservatives do not hold Catholics collectively responsible for Dr Pell’s outburst. Nor should they. After all, ordinary Catholics have as little say in Pell’s appointment or dismissal as ordinary Muslims do in Hilali’s.
A few days ago, I had the good fortune to interview ex-Muslim and former Dutch Parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A best-selling author whose autobiography Infidel topped sales at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, Hirsi Ali has become a darling of the lunar-Right in both the United States and Australia, largely for her blanket condemnation of all forms of theology and culture practised by Muslims.
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I admire Hirsi Ali for raising the topic of female genital mutilation, a practice that is all too common in certain parts of the world. We both agreed on the importance of keeping religion separate from the liberal democratic state. I wonder how Hirsi Ali would respond to Dr Pell’s recent incursion.
For Australia’s lunar-Right, someone like Ayaan Hirsi Ali is acceptable when she attacks the religious traditions they love to hate. But among some conservative federal MP’s and editorial writers, Hirsi Ali’s calls for the separation of church and state are falling on deaf ears.
The hypocrisy and double standards are clear. As far as Costello and his allegedly conservative friends in certain media circles are concerned, only Muslims are expected to conform to secularism and the separation of church and state. What’s good for the Islamic goose is clearly not good for the Catholic gander.
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About the Author
Irfan Yusuf is a New South Wales-based lawyer with a practice focusing on workplace relations and commercial dispute resolution. Irfan is also a regular media commentator on a variety of social, political, human rights, media and cultural issues. Irfan Yusuf's book, Once Were Radicals: My Years As A Teenage Islamo-Fascist, was published in May 2009 by Allen & Unwin.