Letter Published in the Adelaide Advertiser 2.12.15.
Andrew Hastie on Islam — why ALL religion needs to be challenged.
Dear Letters Editor,
That’s a bit rich, coming from Andrew Hastie, saying “we need to challenge (Islamic) theology” (Opinion, The Advertiser, yesterday). Surely, it’s not only Islamic extremism that should be challenged. All religions justify war (in varying forms) based on beliefs in supernatural Gods.
Andrew didn’t rise to the challenge in his Canning by-election, refusing to discuss his links to creationism. Creationists and Islam share the denial that humans (together with other primates) evolved from a common ancestor. Both have attitudes to science and critical thinking that date back to the Bronze Age.
Islam does need to be reformed, but Christianity needs modernising too. All religions must adapt to the realities of the 21st century — to science, the status of women, the reality of climate change, to negotiate peace instead of war.
Islamic extremism goes far deeper that George Bush’s “crusade” into Iraq. But it’s this penchant for violence — inspired by Gods — that has crippled humankind for millennia. So yes, Mr Hastie, let’s open up public and media debate on the roots of all predatory religions that indoctrinate each new generation of impressionable children.
Yours sincerely,
Valerie Morris