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Churches unite in stand against Islamic school


Source: APN
Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 5:59 (EST)
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Churches and Christian ministries have joined together in seeking to stop the building of an Islamic school in their area.

In a submission to the Land and Environment Court in Sydney they call the religion an ideology driven by a desire for world domination, and claim the proposal to build a school at Camden is part of a repeated pattern of seeking to advance their influence into new non Muslim populated areas by first establishing a presence through a supposed community facility, such as a School.

The submission, co-signed by local heads of the Baptist, Anglican and Presbyterian Churches, and the Evangelical Sisters of Mary, forms the spearhead of Camden City Council's defence to a court challenge over its rejection of a development application for the Muslim school. "Islam is not simply a private religion. It is driven by a powerful political agenda and it is an ideology with a plan for world domination," the letter says.

"The Quranic Society application to establish an Islamic school in Camden is typical of a regularly repeated pattern to form a beachhead in an area for the development of a sub-culture which, for the most part, regards its own legal system as superior to the current Australian law." They said the Muslim community would seek to dominate public space in Camden "as we have seen in Auburn, Bankstown, Lakemba and more recently Liverpool".

Use of the letter is a turnaround from previous claims that the council's ruling was on the grounds of traffic congestion. In their objection, the Christian ministries say they are simply trying to preserve a rich, hard-won way of life that was incompatible with Quranic Society teachings. "The Quranic Society espouses a world view which is not compatible with broader, Australian egalitarian culture," they said. A decision in the case is expected in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile the same Land and Environment Court has this week handed down a judgement allowing construction of a 1200-student primary and secondary school in Bass Hill, another Sydney suburb, which has been fought by residents since the land was bought in 2006. Bankstown council first knocked back the proposal in 2007 after residents launched a campaign opposing the project. The group behind the school, Al Amanah College, appealed against this decision with the outcome that the court has now overturned the Council's decision thus rejecting the local residents objections.


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