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Posted on 02/20/2006 8:10:27 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
MUSLIM leaders will call on Australia's Islamic youth to assimilate and refrain from extremism in an effort to prevent a repeat of Sydney's racial violence.
A meeting of the nation's imams next month would urge Islamic community and religious leaders to teach "Australian values" and promote tolerance and harmony, conference organiser Munir Hussain said today.
The two-day conference, originally scheduled for this week but postponed until March 25-26 because of logistical problems, will be held at Greenacre in south-western Sydney, heart of Sydney's Islamic community.
Dr Hussain said the conference, organised by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, would be a crucial step in improving relations between Muslims and non-Muslims after the December 11 Cronulla riot and retaliatory attacks.
He said Islamic leaders wanted to shun extremism and play a greater role in helping young Muslims to feel connected to the communities in which they lived.
"We want to teach Australian values and stop giving out any statements which will create disharmony in the community," Dr Hussain said.
"We'll be talking to Muslim youths ... we're trying to assimilate them with Australian values. "That's the whole idea – to create better harmony in the community, particularly through preaching to the Muslim youths, so that these incidents like Cronulla could be prevented in the future."
Dr Hussain said he wanted imams to refrain from making "fiery" public statements likely to inflame tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Also on the agenda for the conference will be the thorny topic of religious vilification laws, which Dr Hussain wants introduced in NSW to "protect" the sanctity of people's religious beliefs.
"With the cartoons in Denmark, they wouldn't have been printed if there were laws in that country to protect the interests of religious groups," he said.
The NSW government under former premier Bob Carr steadfastly refused to introduce laws against religious vilification, although they were brought in – controversially – in Victoria.
Up to 120 imams from around Australia are expected to attend the conference, along with guests including government representatives.
Dr Hussain said the conference had been delayed by four weeks because organisers wanted to broaden its scope, invite more guests and obtain extra government funding.
The full agenda and guest speakers were still being finalised, he said, adding that the conference could be a turning point in ethnic relations.
"This will help the situation in Australia," he said.
If it's not in the Koran, it's ignored except for PR value.
IF this actually happens as the imams say it will, it is a good start.
Het Crawshaw, Islam is not a race, it's a cult made of every skin color or ethnicity you can think of.
Stop Jihad Now!
Dr Hussain said the conference had been delayed by four weeks because organisers wanted to broaden its scope, invite more guests and obtain extra government funding.
A "Hunda" to be exact. Gee, isn't that swell!
Nothing like a little beheading by the Barbie.
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Teach muslims values? About as easy as teaching a dog to not to lick his balls.
Islam isn't a religion, It's an army in drag
This plot to reach moslem youths is destined to failure as long as those youths remain moslem. Islam is incompatible with civilized society
Islam is the enemy and the war on terror ends with the death of the last moslem.
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