Australia: After jihadi stabs bishop, Muslims demand removal of ‘religiously motivated terrorism’ classification

Robert Spencer : They claim that there exists “extensive scholarly work demonstrating that terrorism is driven by political and ideological motives, not religious faith.” This is a lie, and is contradicted by the stabbing of Mar Mari Emmanuel. His attacker said: “Why is he swearing at my prophet? I wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t bring my religion into this.” Mar Mari Emmanuel had indeed criticized Islam. So his attacker clearly was driven by religious faith, not political or ideological motives.

“Australian Islamic groups calls for revision of national terrorism laws, as sixth teenager charged,” by Jessica Kidd, ABC.net.au, April 25, 2024:

An alliance of peak Islamic groups has called for Australia’s terrorism laws to be changed, to remove the concept of “religiously motivated terrorism” from the legislation. It comes as a sixth teenager, aged 15, was charged after counterterrorism raids were carried out in Sydney on Wednesday.

Five teenagers, aged 14 to 17, were previously charged with several offences and are before the courts. In a statement, the Australian National Imams Council, the Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network said it was necessary to “avoid simplistic attributions that target specific communities”.

The group’s spokeswoman Ramia Abdo Sultan said terrorism was driven by political ideology and not religion. “The presumption that terrorism is inherently tied to religion is not only inaccurate but harmful,” Ms Abdo Sultan told a press conference.

“This misconception persists despite extensive scholarly work demonstrating that terrorism is driven by political and ideological motives, not religious faith.” The alliance of Islamic groups did not take questions during the four minute press conference, telling the assembled media that they could submit questions by email.

Ms Abdo Sultan also singled out ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess and said the use of racial and religious profiling and the failure of law enforcement agencies to consult with the Muslim community further undermined social cohesion.

“The use of charged language such as “religiously motivated Sunni violent extremism” by the Director-General of ASIO Mike Burgess, particularly during sensitive times … fuels Islamophobia and further marginalises the Muslim community,” she said.“This approach undermines social cohesion and perpetuates the stigmatisation of an entire religious group based on the actions of a few.”

Serious, Bovine Manure!!!