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Australia: The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has once again been asked to explain the cosy relations he and his minions have with religious extremists.
This time it's the foaming loon Danny Nalliah, the head of Melbourne-based Catch the Fire Ministries, who was charged in a test case of Victoria's religious vilification laws for comments he made about Muslims in 2002. It seems Nalliah fronted up to the far right-wing League of Rights, despite being warned that they were anti-Jewish
.
Pastor Nalliah has been given top-level access in recent months to the Howard Government, which he has endorsed enthusiastically.
The revelation of his speech in 2005 has prompted Labor to call on the Government to cease contact with Pastor Nalliah.
The case ran for five years, during which Mr Costello supported the pastor. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal initially found he had vilified Islam, but the verdict was quashed on appeal. It was eventually resolved at mediation.
Amusingly enough, Nalliah defended his actions by claiming; Let me be honest and truthful — if I am invited again, I will go again. I am not going to talk about anti-Jewish and anti-Islam; my message is about Christ and salvation.
Not terribly believable coming from a man charged with hate speech against Moslems.
This all came to a head as Abbott managed to have the worst run of looking like an idiot in history. He fronted up late to a debate with Nicola Roxon, his Opposition number, and swore at her on air; was forced to apologise for insulting a dying Asbestos victim; and was torn apart on Lateline by Julia Gillard, the Deputy Opposition Leader.
To add to the debacle, he decided to play the I'm more Christian than you card
.
The row came as the Coalition yesterday sought to promote its Christian credentials at the expense of Labor. Health Minister Tony Abbott said Labor MPs did not have the same Christian commitment as those from the Coalition.
If that wasn't bad enough, the silly sod started bleating that Labor's endorsement of the Greens was evil
, proof that the Labor Party were godless heathens who should be shunned by True Christians©
.
But Mr Abbott said the fact the ALP was willing to do a preference deal with the Greens — who he said were hostile to many things Christians thought important — should sound avery cautionary noteto Christians who were considering voting Labor.
Labor's enthusiasm to do a deal with the Greens I think calls into question (its) depth and sincerity in these areas,Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott — the Coalition's most prominent Christian — was speaking to The Age in response to the establishment of a website by The Australian Christian Lobby, which is targeting churchgoers in marginal seats.
He said the criteria the ACL used to assess the parties was up to it, but he pointed out that half the lower house Labor MPsdeclined to take an oath on the Bibleafter the last election.
That's not necessarily the be all and end all, but nevertheless it does suggest to me ... as a collective Labor politicians don't have the degree of Christian commitment (that Coalition politicians do),he said.
Someone in the Liberal Party may need to check Abbott's medication. He seems to have been set to a higher level of stupid than usual this week.
Heat on PM to cut link to pastor—The Age, 31st October 2007.
Posted in
Church and State
at 23:15. Last modified on October 31 2007 at 23:46.
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Comments
1: Posted by: aeduna | October 31, 2007 11:46 PM
Aahhhh. I wonder if I can send Tony Abbot a thank you letter for helping to elect a new government.
2: Posted by: Red Wolf | November 1, 2007 10:01 PM
aeduna: Please do. And if you can managed to wangle it so he opens it in front of a camera, just as the election is conceded and we can all watch his head explode, so much the better.
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