Free Republic

Democracy. Freedom of Speech. The Presunption of Innocence. The need for guilt to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. These pillars of Western society are under attack from within.

A WAR of words of almost biblical proportions has broken out between Australia's most senior Catholic and a Muslim leader. Islamic Information and Services Network president Abu Hamza, of Coburg, wants the Bible banned because it incites violence. He called Archbishop George Pell a "clown" for his comments this year that the Koran was full of "invocations to violence". Mr Hamza told his followers the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, was full of murder and seemed to condone rape. Dr Pell replied from the Vatican this week: "I am not sure how much Mr Hamza's comments improve the situation, but...

AUSTRALIA'S most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, would rather provoke debate than have sensible discussions about Muslims, the Islamic Council of New South Wales (ICNSW) said. In an interview with a US Catholic newspaper, Dr Pell again declared Islam was more warlike than Christianity. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney told the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) Australia hadn't been affected much by Islamic threats following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US. But he said this could change depending "on how many terrorist attacks" Muslim fundamentalists could "bring off successfully", Fairfax newspapers reported today. ICNSW spokesman Ali Roude today said...

A leader of Australia's Roman Catholic church has barred a group of liberal followers from using a church venue to hold a conference at which a gay rights activist was to speak. Cardinal George Pell, who has refused to give communion to gays and once called homosexuality "a greater health hazard than smoking," said it would be unsuitable for the liberal Australian Reforming Catholics group to meet on church property. It was not immediately clear what the gay activist planned to speak about. Pell also forbade liberal Bishop Pat Power from celebrating Mass at the event, which has been moved...