Tolerate the intolerant

I HAD an old uncle who grew up in the early decades of the 1900s. He hated Catholics. He believed that all the Catholics in Australia were ready to take over the nation and make it Catholic. They were just waiting for the word from the Pope and they would bring out their guns that they were hiding under their beds, and they would overthrow the nation and make it … Catholic.
He believed that Catholics were disloyal to Australia. They were first and foremost aligned to an Italian Pope. They would destroy our way of life, our values….
After all, some Catholics were terrorists in Ireland and England. They let off bombs and killed people.
He was wrong of course – wrong about Catholics in Australia.
But he reminds me of the people today who think that all the Muslims in this country are really disloyal to Australia and just waiting for some world leader of Islam to give the order. (There is no one such person of course, – Islam is very diverse with many different groups all with their own leaders).
He was wrong then, and they are wrong now. We laugh at my uncle’s mistaken views now. In a couple of decades from now, we will hopefully also laugh at the foolishness of the current attitudes of some in our community. The anti-Muslim; anti-immigration; fearful rallies in recent days, are a sad feature of some parts of the Australian community. They are based on fear, ignorance, stereotyping, and (sometimes) even racism. We need to resist such misunderstanding and fear-mongering. But we should resist it with education, tolerance, and demonstrating in our lives, a better way – not with violence.The Casey Multifaith Network stands with those who support multiculturalism, and the celebration of diversity. But we also stand against the use of violence – by anyone, even those we sympathise with.
After all, if we don’t tolerate the intolerant, we have become them. Let us not stoop to the low levels we abhor in others, but let us live to the highest ideals, and “be the change we want to see in the world.”
Jim Reiher
President of the Casey Multifaith Network