Since when
was this rubbish necessary?
Did YOU
KNOW about this?
You should
do, after all it’s your tax dollars at work.
This is the
kind of social engineering that goes on when you’re not looking, when we’re not paying
attention.
Religion,
Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia
The latest
149 page publication promoting multi-faith and inter-faith activity is a report
titled "Religion, Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia".
It profiles religious activity in
Submissions were received more than two years ago and consultations have been
held.
AGAIN,
did you know about this?? Did you know about this process of consultation and
submissions?? Were you informed or asked??
This report prepared by (Mrs) Jenny Stokes, Research
Director, SALT SHAKERS www.saltshakers.org.au
is essential reading for those who are
concerned about these directions in our nation.
Many of the recommendations are concerning
and if implemented would see mandated 'multi-faith'
activities. Recommendations about the training of religious staff, employment
by religious organisations, 'rotating' prayers to
open Parliament and the teaching of world religions in schools are all promoted
in this wide-ranging report.
This is an
indication of where the interfaith community would like 'religion' to go in
The Recommendations:
See Page
119 - 126 for these... these are only EXTRACTS - please read in detail to be
even more concerned!!!
Then read the Conclusion on P 127.
The Report
The full
document is available at this website, along with a description of the project.
http://www.amf.net.au/rsch_research_religionDiversityCohesion.shtml
The
actual pdf document of the Report is at http://www.amf.net.au/PDF/religionCulturalDiversity/Main_Report.pdf
Who has produced it?
The Report
has been funded as a "A Partnership under
the Australian Government's Living In Harmony initiative".
The 'Living
in Harmony' project is by the DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND
INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS.
The 'Living
in Harmony' Page describes the project...
Religion, Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion
in Contemporary
At http://www.immi.gov.au/multicultural/harmony/partnerships.htm
The Report
has been prepared by Professor
Gary Bouma (from
Profs Bouma and Cahill run the Australian chapter of
the World Conference on Religion and Peace.
What are the main concerns?
The whole
report focuses on multi-faith activities. To name just a few, the
recommendations include the opening of parliament with a rotating roster
of prayers, the establishment of local interfaith networks, an annual Multifaith forum, a Multitfaith
Advisory Council, the teaching of world religions in schools, the educating of
those training for religious ministry in how to 'participate in a multi-faith
society'!
I have
highlighted the major Recommendations below.
Prayer in parliament
Here I will just elaborate on
the "Prayer in parliament" proposal...
The report
recommends that the Parliamentary day be opened by a 'rotating' prayer from one
of 17 faith communities including those of no belief - in this case it
could be a reading instead of a prayer!
Then they
recommend that the Parliamentary Day be CLOSED with the Lord's prayer.
Use
of the Our Father (P 99)
The use of the
exemplary Christian prayer, the Our Father, to commence each parliamentary day
was raised though some Christian leaders considered it ought to be acceptable
to all faiths since the name of Jesus is never mentioned. The suggestion that
the Our Father be replaced by a series of prayers and readings selected by each
of the major faith communities on a rotational basis with, perhaps, the Our
Father, in deference to the Christian majority, being recited to close each
parliamentary day was received by religious leaders as a more preferred and
worthwhile compromise. It is suggested that the rotation also include a reading
chosen by rationalist or atheist organizations in deference to those whose
world view is not embedded in a theist framework. It is suggested that the
rotational system include those faith groups which have at least 0.333 per cent
of the total population - in 2001, this would have included the following 16
groups (in order): Catholic, Anglican, No Religion (atheist/rationalist),
Uniting Church, Presbyterian, Orthodox, Buddhist, Baptist, Muslim, Lutheran,
Pentecostal, Hindu, Jewish, Jehovah's Witness, Salvation Army and Church of
Christ. Local inter-faith groups such as Hume in
The recommendation
(P 124) is
"Both Houses
of the Commonwealth Parliament consider the proposal that each parliamentary
day commence with a prayer or reading selected by Australia's faith communities
on a rotational basis and that it conclude each day with the Our Father."
The
Recommendations:
See Page
119 - 126 for these... these are only EXTRACTS - please read in detail to be
even more concerned!!!
Then read the Conclusion on P 127.
Formation of an Advisory Council
Includes
holding an annual Australian
Multi-Faith Advisory Forum - with one representative from each
faith group with more than 0.333% of the population. This would include
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Spirituality representative, Roman
Catholic Church (inc. its Eastern rites), Anglican Church of Australia, Uniting
Church of Australia, Presbyterian Church of Australia, Orthodox Churches of
Australia (in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch), Buddhists in Australia,
Baptist Union of Australia, Lutheran Church of Australia, Australian Christian
Churches, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Hindu Council of
Australia, Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Salvation Army, Churches of Christ."
In
addition the report says "Additional would be one person nominated by the
Government to represent the viewpoint of those who belong to the 'no religion'
category. As well, the Government would appoint two further persons to
represent
ED: Talk about political correctness!!!
Establishing an Electronic Network
A proposal to have an electronic network so religious leaders
and celebrants "to disseminate information about legislation and policy
and program initiatives and evaluations".
Quality
Religious Leadership: Orientation and Preparation of Religious Personnel
This
one seeks to answer this question: "How do
Training
of newly arrived religious leaders:
As well as proposals requiring newly arriving religious personnel to
speak or learn to speak English, this proposal is made...
"As
well, newly arrived religious personnel need to receive an in-depth orientation
program offered through a designated TAFE college under the aegis of the
government's multi-faith secretariat, designed
to assist them to work effectively in a multi-faith society and to work
alongside colleagues from other faith communities.
The module ought include a visit to each other's
places of worship.
The
recommendation: "All arriving religious personnel, whether applying for permanent
residency or a long term temporary visa, be given provisional visas for six
months until they have achieved vocational proficiency in English and have
undergone an orientation process together with arriving religious personnel
from other faith communities."
And this one on educating those training in religious
institutions!
"All faith leaders encourage their communities, as a matter of urgency, to
include in their Australian training courses a subject or module on religious
ministry in a culturally diverse, multi-faith
Constructing
a Multi-Faith
This
section contains a recommendation about the opening and closing of
parliament in prayer (see above)
It also
discusses multi-faith services run by the Commonwealth! etc...
This is their recommendation:
"The Commonwealth Parliament should consider developing appropriate
protocol for multi-faith services and pageants for times of celebration,
remembrance and tragedy that takes account of
And this recommendation about websites...
"The study uncovered legitimate concerns about the material of several
websites of faith communities, particularly their links to racist websites
offshore. At this stage, it is appropriate that a process of self-regulation
remain in place but the issue needs to be monitored by the Council for
Multicultural Australia. Accordingly, it is recommended that:
All faith communities be encouraged to put in place
mechanisms for a continual monitoring of their websites for materials or links
whose content might damage the harmony of
ED: This is an
interesting one in the light of the vilification case!!!
And on
local interfaith networks..
The
Council for Multicultural Australia, in association with
And on
employment of people by religious organisations...
The
Council for Multicultural Australia should consider commissioning papers and
research to examine the issue of employment practice within religious agencies
with a view to producing a publicly acceptable protocol for the different types
of religious agencies.
Educating
in and for a Multi-Faith
This
for education of the media:
"The
Commonwealth Minister for Education should consider inviting all universities
offering media and journalism courses to include a subject on
And education in schools...
"The
Commonwealth Minister for Education should consider sponsoring a research
program on the teaching about other world faiths in religious schools, and the
Minister invite his State counterparts to report on the teaching on the world's
faiths in their schools' curriculum in preparation for Australian students to
live and work in a multi-faith society within and beyond Australia.The
Commonwealth Minister for Education should consider sponsoring a research
program to examine the place of religion in universities and TAFE Colleges."
The
Researchers (See P 134)
The report has been prepared by
Professor Gary Bouma (from
Professor Gary Bouma is a professor of sociology who
focuses on comparing religions and has just been appointed to the UNESCO CHAIR in Intercultural and Interreligious
Relations Asia--Pacific at
He was an
expert witness for the Islamic Council in their case against Catch the Fire
Ministries.
Professor Des Cahill is the Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT
and is head of RMIT's undergraduate international and
cross-cultural programs. Des Cahill is the Chairperson of the Australian
chapter of the World Conference of
Religions for Peace and is involved in interfaith activities.
Mr Hass Dellal, O.A.M has been since 1989 executive director of the
Australian Multicultural Foundation currently chaired by The Hon Sir James Gobbo AC CVO. Hass has extensive experience within
The reporters declare their
individual alliances:
The Report notes Page 51 that "Whilst one member of the research team (Dellal) has a Turkish Cypriot Muslim affiliation, the three
researchers who collected most of the data have practising
Christian backgrounds (Catholic (Cahill, Leahy) and ex-Presbyterian, now
Anglican (Bouma))."
They do note that this should be considered but say
"This is acknowledged, and the reader needs to be aware of these
affiliations in the interests of objective and critical appraisal. However, the
research team has attempted to collect data as social scientists with
specialist knowledge of the area of religion and cultural diversity. They endeavoured to make themselves sensitive research
instruments. All are well-versed in multi-faith issues; except for those of Dellal, the perceptions are mainstream Christianity and
this is reflected in some of the accounts as when they endeavoured
to document the beliefs and practices of the smaller Christian and other faith
communities."