Australia is a pluralistic society which to an extent has embraced the increasing religious diversity within the nation. Currently, Christianity is the most popular religion as approximately 52% of Australians which is reflected in the lack of religious diversity within the government and legal system (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). This favoritism of Catholicism can be seen within certain aspects of not only within government but also within Australian society. Religions including Islam due to current terrorism events have been misrepresented within media and therefore, harshly judged by government and society. Current interactions between religion and government are at an adequate level but, despite an appropriate relationship between …show more content…
Within section 116 of the constitution, religious freedom is protected to an extent as the Government is prohibited from creating laws which establish any religion, prohibits the free exercise of any religion or imposes any religious observance (Healey, J.,2009). Though the government has encouraged the mutual respect amongst all religions within Australia, this is not reflected within policies and actions(Healey, J.,2009). Since, the 19th of August 1903 parliament has commenced each sitting day with a prayer (Parliament of Australia,n.d). As seen in Appendix 2 the pray involves two prayers including the Lord's prayer. The prayer was introduced when the Presbyterian Church of Australia in 1901 petitioned for parliament to include a prayer at the commencement of each sitting day (Parliament of Australia,n.d). On the 26 October 2010, the prayer was amended to include the acknowledgment of country to pay respect to indigenous Australians (Parliament of Australia,n.d). This is an obvious preference for Christianity as even though it was amended to include the acknowledgment of aboriginal people the prayer it specifically Christian. However, the prayer can only be regarded as unconstitutional …show more content…
On the 11th of September 2001, when al-Qaede, an Islamist extremist group, hijacked 4 airplanes and deliberately crashed 3 of planes into significant populated landmarks within American (National September 11 Memorial & Museum, n.d). Particularly since this terrorism event, there has been a rise of Islamophobia( Western Sydney University, 2017). Rates of Islamophobia within Australia have also increased due to the multiple Islamic extremist terrorists attacks international and within Australia. In Sydney on December 16, 2014, in the Lindt Café, ten customers and eight employees were held hostage by Man Haron Monis, a known Islamic extremist. This event was pinnacle in the increase of targeted Islamophobia incidents occurring across the nation. Silma Irhram the President of the Australia Muslim Women's Association commented that "We definitely have seen an increase, as usual, in the postings on social media, in the hate mail that's been coming through to various organizations."(Simmonds, 2014). Her comment came in the coming days of the attack where Sydney police also experienced a rise in of hate crimes aimed at Muslim communities (Simmonds, 2014). The media has had a large influence on society and due to limited understanding of Islam, media consumers are prone to accept the idea that “Islam-equals-terrorism".( Seib, P., 2017) (Zwartz,
Ecumenism, in the sense of Australian Christianity, is the religious initiative towards unity within the Christian church. It is the promotion of co-operation and improved understanding between distinct religious groups or denominations within Christianity and other religions.
Between 1947 and 1971, even if you did not practice your religion it was still expected that you would identify yourself as being a part of your/ your family’s religion. In 1947 the ‘no religion’ category made up only 0.3% of religious affiliation in Australia. A change in social values and attitudes has since seen a dramatic increase in people identifying as belonging to ‘no religion’ with the category reaching 6.7% in 1971, “The specific instruction 'if no religion, write none' included in the 1971 Census saw an increase in this response from 0.8% in the previous Census to 6.7%.”(Australian Social Trends, 2013). The chart below is a visual representation of the growth in the ‘no religion’ category.(sourced from Australian Social Trends, 2013).
On September 11, 2001, since the terrorist attacks, many American Muslims have been stereotyped negatively in the United States. Salma, a Muslim woman, says that the way Muslims have been recognized in the media has played a big role in the antagonism directed at her. “I don’t know how many times I heard my classmates accuse me of being al-Qaeda or a terrorist” (Mayton 2013). Salma, along with other Muslims, even after a decade, are still struggling with trying to find their “American” and “Islamic” identities, while facing verbal attacks for their ethnicity. Too often, the general Muslim population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
The Variations in Religious Beliefs in the British Isles Today As Item A indicates there are considerable regional variations in religious beliefs within the British Isles and between Great Britain and the Irish Republic. It has long been the case for example that church attendance in N.Ireland has been much higher than other regions of the U.K. - particularly England. This could be explained partially due to the significance of fundamentalism and fundamentalist denominations (eg. Free Presbyterian, Baptist etc.) in N.Ireland - which promote a literal interpretation of the Bible and are strongly opposed to liberal theological trends.
(Kabir, p 1278-1279). Then after, the number of Muslims migrants gradually increased and reached 281,576 by 2001census p 1278. These migrants were perceived as ethnic groups with potential of economic and racial threat to Australian community. However, the image of Muslim immigrants changed as the venomous religious group posing a security threat to Australia after the arrival of asylum- seekers (1999-2001) and September 11, 2001 incident in USA p1278. Muslims believe that mosques will provide guidance, education and welfare for them in new land. However, those beliefs were murdered because they were highly discriminated during the time of ‘White Australia’ policy in building mosques. They were treated disparately by governments for their request of land grants to build mosques. On the other hand, the Anglican and Catholic population were benefitted because of their ‘whiteness’ and were highly supported to establish schools and churches in various states. The Muslims, however, were able to raise fund and establish some mosques to practice their
There are some Muslims who say that Brisbane is a “paradise” for Muslims in comparison with other parts of the world (Akbar, 2016), however, this does not mean that there are no cases of discrimination against Muslims by non-Muslim Australians who base their views on negative portrayals of Muslims in the media. Mirza Uzair Akbar, an Imam at Holland Park Mosque, along with many Muslims in Brisbane (as well as Australia) has labelled the media as the source of public ignorance, stating “the media and information in news has a lot to do with discrimination, it’s how certain groups are portrayed” (Akbar, 2016).
Mary’s response to the issue of marginalisation of poor, which was evident in her lifetime, affected religion in modern day Australia immensely. Religion is now educated and more widespread in Australia and a s a nation, Australia is more accepting of religion as it is formed in its roots.
Religion is known to be a set of values, beliefs, and the understanding of life. Every religion has its own different set of beliefs and values. This essay will show how much religion has decreased, why people do not practice religion, and how secularism and the media have played a role in the decline of religion.
September 11, 2001 America was hit by terrorist attacks. American citizens were shocked, outraged at the attack on our own soil. After initial hours of shock, grief, and anger it became apparent that the suspects in the attacks were Arab Muslims—American Muslims and Arab Americans. For American Muslims and Arab Americans the tragedy was doubly painful. The whole World watched in the horror that the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked. There were a lot of calls, questions if any friends or loved ones were in these planes or inside these buildings. Muslim Imams gave a lot of speeches, articles, lectures that to prove that Islam is not evil religion, they say that “terrorists were Muslims, but these people do not belong to our community here; they used Islamic names and did evil”. In their lectures they cited in Qur’an to support their statements “Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace. In our sacred book, the Noble Qur’an, we are taught the value of innocent life in these words: ...
Q1. Outline the changing patterns of religious adherence in Australia from 1945 to the present.
The author notes, “Since Trump's election, there's been an increase in the number of hate crimes reported against immigrants and minorities, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and others. Muslim-Americans in particular are on edge. They haven't forgotten that Trump talked during the campaign about banning all Muslims from coming into the country” (Joel Rose). In this quote, Muslims are receiving increasing hate crimes because Trump normalizes discrimination for them. Furthermore, some terrorist attacks linking to Muslims has created the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists. The author states, “It only took 14 handwritten words — delivered last week on a sheet of paper taped to their front door — to shatter their peace and make the Muslim family wonder how well they know the country they now call home” (Peter Holley). Amar Samel and his wife, Muna Abdalla, received hate-filled notes that threatened their lives and their comfort. Religious intolerance in some communities does not only threaten the lives of Muslims, but also threatens the safety of the
Religious diversity is the only ways Australia can move forward with the rest of the world. Australia is seen as a “multi-cultural” nation, and part of this is due to the diverse culture and customs. Australia as a nation doesn’t discriminate against other nations; one example of this is our prime minister. Spiritual diversity in Australia is undisputedly evident. Religious diversity in Australia is a great thing, because religions give back to the community and form things like: youth groups, clubs and charities. Australia’s charity system is almost entirely run by different religions, and a high percentage of these are Christians like the Salvation Army.
One that was fundamental for the rise of Islamophobia was an event that occurred in 1979 when Iranian revolutionists seized the American embassy in Tehran and held American citizen hostages for months. This event established the terrorist stereotype. However, the terrorist image was not targeting Muslim groups specifically, but rather Middle Eastern communities such as Arabs and Sikh (Love 405). By the mid of the 1990s, the stereotype about Middle Eastern terrorist was widely spread in the United States, specifically after the 1995 terrorist attack on Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, as the media rushed to assume that the terror is caused by an Arab before any evidence was available. A similar case occurred in 1998 with the accidental explosion that caused the destruction of TWA flight 800 (Kumar 255; Love 410). But the real upsurge of Islamophobia occurred in the 21st
After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being depicted through the media is the direct result of Muslims. They automatically generate this idea that the act was performed by a Muslim terrorist even when they were not involved whatsoever. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Islamic religion and its Muslim adherents are at the top of societies’ agenda just waiting for the evidence to be generated so that they can then safely blame them for such world affairs. Again, this has led to the attack on the Islamic religion itself wherein people have come to postulate Islam as an act of oppression, violence and hatred towards non-Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiments and campaigns have resulted from such misinformation the media has been generating and feeding its viewers.
The contributing factors that led to the growth of Islamophobia in America post 9/11 are a mass hysteria caused by media, influential voices speaking against Islam and an increase of biased stereotypes. Some of the news’s greatest ways of contributing to the rise in Islamophobia is by giving unrealistic over-exaggerations and non-legitimate statistics in order to display an overall false narrative of the actual matter at hand. For instance, Tom Shillue (stand-up comedian) stating on Fox’s The Five that if there is a moderate Muslim voice “out there” now is the time to speak up and Sean Hannity calling for a “Jihad rising worldwide”.