Muslim Terror

Australia is having census night on the 9th of August. It’s a standard thing, and the usual census sort of counting and data collection. I hadn’t really thought too much about it until this message started appearing on my facebook from “well meaning” “friends”:

AUSTRALIA WILL BE HOLDING A CENSUS IN AUGUST
DO NOT LEAVE THE “RELIGION” SECTION BLANK. BE SURE TO AT LEAST TICK CHRISTIAN (OR YOUR OWN FAITH).
1,000,000 MUSLIMS WILL TICK THEIR BOX.
10,000,000 AUSTRALIANS WILL LEAVE IT BLANK THEN WONDER WHY CHRISTMAS CAROLS ARE BEING BANNED IN SCHOOLS!
PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.
IT’S NOT ABOUT RELIGION, IT’S ABOUT KEEPING OUR WAY OF LIFE .

Some of them also mention the banning – omg – of Easter Bonnet parades in schools. Oh the humanity. I quite like that whoever came up with this pile of shit is apparently psychic. How exactly do they know how many people will tick their boxes? It’s all very interesting.

This, my friends, is nothing more than a pathetic fear campaign. “It’s not about religion” screams the all caps copy paste, “It’s about keeping our way of life!”. Fine and dandy, but I don’t see anything about Jewish people ticking their box, they also don’t generally celebrate Christmas.

I don’t have any religion, but I’m not about to worry about what other people say on their census forms. Yes, it may well be that communities that were not previously identified as Muslim now appear and that will allow planning to happen to build a mosque or two. Just as Christians have a right to build churches all over the place, so Muslims and any other religion has a right to have their own places of worship.

No, Christmas carols and plays and endless freaking tinsel in Target when you just popped in to buy a pair of shoes will not stop, regardless of how many non Christians tick their boxes on the census forms. What might happen is a wider understanding and knowledge of other important festivals and celebrations for other religions, which would not end the world.

When the first instance of this copy paste hate campaign appeared on my facebook, I was shocked and angered. Now I’m mostly just saddened. Australia has had many of these campaigns over the years. Any time a new culture has arrived the newspapers have been full of angry white people complaining about all the bloody Chinese/Italians/Greek/Vietnamese people “flooding” the cities.

These days we happily tuck into a bowl of pasta or a plate of stir fry while we sip our espressos and think nothing of it, but it seems we haven’t moved beyond a xenophobic fear of the different.

Australia is multicultural and multifaith. I don’t think we realise the importance of that second one. Even as an atheist I can appreciate the importance of being able to worship – freely – in your own religion. In too many places around the world it’s illegal to do so, and faith has to be hidden away.

“Our Way of Life” here in Australia is a blessed one, a laid back one and one that should and can embrace all kinds of people from all kinds of places and faiths.

Imagine how it must feel to be so hated for nothing more than your faith. To have your entire personality discounted because you’re one religion not another. I can’t believe this even happens in this country, but it does and it’s heartbreaking. And yet we claim to be a forward thinking nation.

So come August 9th, I will be ticking the “No Religion” box on the forms, but not because I want Christmas Banned, just because it’s true.