Scrutinising the religious and political right

But it is their attack on, and confrontation with, Islam which brings them together like no other issue. It’s that agenda, which brings the BNP to Australia, and unites the Australian religious right. It’s the new racism. Robert Mann identifies it, “as the rise of an ugly strain of Islamophobia throughout the Western world. From this new ideological virus, Australia has, unfortunately, proven far from immune” (The Age, September 16, 2008). It is this hatred of Islam which becomes a “central organising principle” for both the political and religious right.

The APP distributes leaflets, “Do you want your children to grow up in a Muslim Australia: Islam is a religion of Arabic race and culture and its way of life should not be pushed on Australia”.

The Reverend Fred Nile, leader of the Christian Democratic Party,(CDP) wants to redefine Muslim religion as a “religious-political ideology” and campaigns for a total ban on Muslim migration. Speakers at a forum organised by the CDP and other Christian groups, describe “Muslims as terrorists and Islam as a religion of hatred” (See On Line Opinion article, “Mainstream Islamophobia” by Syed Atiq ul Hassan, January 7, 2008).

The APP distributes “Women and Islam” leaflets, saying that “Mohammad beat his wife”, and “Allah will torture single mums”. Catch the Fire Ministries, took out newspaper adverts warning that if Barack Obama got elected, with “his Islamic background”, he would drive America away from its Christian heritage and destiny. Ausprayernet, one of a number of fundamentalist national prayer networks, believes that “ideological Islam is eroding the foundations of Western society”.

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) and the Compass Foundation, with the support of Christian Schools Australia and Christian Parent Controlled Schools, are currently recruiting year 12 students for their 2009 “world view conference”. Darrell Furgason, a speaker at past “world view” conferences, has Muslims, “burning churches and butchering Christians”, and Islam as a major threat to Christianity. The APP’s, Darrin Hodges, on the other hand, attends BNP conferences, where, according to UK campaigners, he’ll be connected with the National Alliance, the foremost Nazi group in the USA; the National Democratic Party, Germany’s leading Nazi group; and the Front National, the French fascist group. Confronting and combating Islam is their common goal and purpose.

Ausprayernet, ACL, Catch the Fire Ministries and scores of other religious right para-church groups were responsible for national days of thanksgiving, conferences on fatherhood and the family, as well as prayers for rain, all conducted in Parliament House. Politicians, a Governor-General, bishops, and prime ministers commended them, prayed with them, opened their conferences and gave them an undeserved credibility. Whether or not, the Rudd Government will do the same, remains to be seen.

Book burnings and banning groups and individuals such as the BNP, or Griffin rarely solve the problems of racism, anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. Whether or not, Griffin should be granted a visa, can be debated. The fundamental issue, however, for concerned Australian groups is how, when, and where do they confront and challenge the distrust and hatred of the Australian Islamic community by the political and religious right. How do they support and stand in solidarity with Australian Muslim communities which now are one of most harassed and distrusted religious minorities in Australia.

And scrutiny of the religious and political right is always important and necessary. Phillip Dorling warns that, “it’s always worth keeping an eye on the fringes of political life, because what lurks there may, given the right circumstances, step unexpectedly on the centre stage” (The Canberra Times, August 2, 2008).