National measures announced by the Abbott government in the past month, along with comments this week by the Prime Minister in Singapore, signal the start of a serious debate about the need to combat Islamic radicalisation and build better relations with Muslim community leaders.
The appointment of a minister for counter-terrorism is also likely to revive calls to implement the quick-fix solution proposed by some who are concerned about the failure of social cohesion.
Those who call for a ban on the full-face veil — often called the burka — are not interested in telling women what they can and can’t wear. What they are worried about is the apparent failure of a significant minority of Australia’s 500,000 Muslims to integrate with mainstream society.
Opinion polls show that more than half (55.5 per cent) of Australians oppose the wearing of the burka in public. This suggests our historically tolerant attitude towards different cultures and religions, including Islam, is under strain at a time when more than 100 Australian citizens have headed overseas to join Islamic State and wage jihad.
However, the burka itself is not the real problem. It is simply a visible symbol of well-founded concerns about Australian Muslims who appear to turn aside from the values of our free and open society to embrace the political, often anti-Western values associated with Islam.
Yet the burka is no ordinary garment and questions about it go beyond simple expressions of piety. It is a garment that is, in many ways, at odds with a liberal society in which seeing another’s face is an important element in interpersonal exchange.
Those who choose to wear it appear to be failing to adopt this country’s civic culture and to assume the duties implied by it. This has led some European governments, most recently the Dutch, to impose a partial ban on wearing full-face veils in public places such as schools and hospitals, and on public transport.
But simply to say that the burka should be banned because it fails the conventions of public space is too narrow. It takes little, if any, account of the individual’s right to religious liberty and draws the limits of religious liberty too narrowly. Indeed, it would be a drastic step for an Australian parliament to force a Muslim woman to appear in public without the covering she believed her religion required her to wear.
A free society will always be debating the limits of tolerance and balancing those limits against the exercise of a fundamental human right, the right to freedom of religious belief and practice. There must be very sound reasons for refusing a person the freedom to practise their religion.
Women who choose to wear the burka are simply enjoying the right enjoyed by every Australian to wear whatever clothing they wish. There is no good reason to stop them. But embracing tolerance and turning our backs on the European response to the burka can’t be the final word.
What we cannot afford to do is to adopt the cultural relativism of the professional multicultural lobby, which holds that all discussion about all cultures have the same moral weight, that none is better than any other and that to declare otherwise is racist and discriminatory.
It is not enough to say the burka is no different from any other religious symbol, such as a Christian crucifix, and celebrate it as a sign of Australia’s multicultural “diversity” whereby anything of any meaning or value to anyone is placed beyond question.
The question of the burka arises as an issue today precisely because of a widening concern about the value of diversity, given that those who choose to wear it appear to be failing to adopt this country’s civic culture and to assume the duties implied by it.
Australians have experienced the deepening impact on society of some Muslim beliefs in disconcerting ways in recent times. Now the government has indicated a firm commitment to re-engage Australian Muslims with a raft of counter-terror measures.
What non-Muslim Australians think about the burka is only one side of the story. Just as important is what those who wear it think about us. Those who wear the burka, and those who support them, must ensure that it remains a symbol of Islamic values and does not become a symbol for the failure of Muslims to integrate in Australian society.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > There’s more to the burka than a choice of attire
There’s more to the burka than a choice of attire
The appointment of a minister for counter-terrorism is also likely to revive calls to implement the quick-fix solution proposed by some who are concerned about the failure of social cohesion.
Those who call for a ban on the full-face veil — often called the burka — are not interested in telling women what they can and can’t wear. What they are worried about is the apparent failure of a significant minority of Australia’s 500,000 Muslims to integrate with mainstream society.
Opinion polls show that more than half (55.5 per cent) of Australians oppose the wearing of the burka in public. This suggests our historically tolerant attitude towards different cultures and religions, including Islam, is under strain at a time when more than 100 Australian citizens have headed overseas to join Islamic State and wage jihad.
However, the burka itself is not the real problem. It is simply a visible symbol of well-founded concerns about Australian Muslims who appear to turn aside from the values of our free and open society to embrace the political, often anti-Western values associated with Islam.
Yet the burka is no ordinary garment and questions about it go beyond simple expressions of piety. It is a garment that is, in many ways, at odds with a liberal society in which seeing another’s face is an important element in interpersonal exchange.
Those who choose to wear it appear to be failing to adopt this country’s civic culture and to assume the duties implied by it. This has led some European governments, most recently the Dutch, to impose a partial ban on wearing full-face veils in public places such as schools and hospitals, and on public transport.
But simply to say that the burka should be banned because it fails the conventions of public space is too narrow. It takes little, if any, account of the individual’s right to religious liberty and draws the limits of religious liberty too narrowly. Indeed, it would be a drastic step for an Australian parliament to force a Muslim woman to appear in public without the covering she believed her religion required her to wear.
A free society will always be debating the limits of tolerance and balancing those limits against the exercise of a fundamental human right, the right to freedom of religious belief and practice. There must be very sound reasons for refusing a person the freedom to practise their religion.
Women who choose to wear the burka are simply enjoying the right enjoyed by every Australian to wear whatever clothing they wish. There is no good reason to stop them. But embracing tolerance and turning our backs on the European response to the burka can’t be the final word.
What we cannot afford to do is to adopt the cultural relativism of the professional multicultural lobby, which holds that all discussion about all cultures have the same moral weight, that none is better than any other and that to declare otherwise is racist and discriminatory.
It is not enough to say the burka is no different from any other religious symbol, such as a Christian crucifix, and celebrate it as a sign of Australia’s multicultural “diversity” whereby anything of any meaning or value to anyone is placed beyond question.
The question of the burka arises as an issue today precisely because of a widening concern about the value of diversity, given that those who choose to wear it appear to be failing to adopt this country’s civic culture and to assume the duties implied by it.
Australians have experienced the deepening impact on society of some Muslim beliefs in disconcerting ways in recent times. Now the government has indicated a firm commitment to re-engage Australian Muslims with a raft of counter-terror measures.
What non-Muslim Australians think about the burka is only one side of the story. Just as important is what those who wear it think about us. Those who wear the burka, and those who support them, must ensure that it remains a symbol of Islamic values and does not become a symbol for the failure of Muslims to integrate in Australian society.
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