Abstract
One of the critical factors shaping any understanding of the reception of Islam and Muslims in the West is an overarching anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim discourse. Basic elements include the insistence that Islam is a violent religion, promotes coercive forms of conversion, grew by the sword, is associated with heightened sexuality and perverted practices, and is irrational, incapable of democracy, essentially untrustworthy, anti-scientific, and more. This chapter briefly discusses this discourse and demonstrates its effects in the West, in particular Australia: a religiously diverse nation with significant communities of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Jews; and where the Christian population is itself highly diverse, and nearly 20 % of the population claims to have ‘no religion’. Australia has also grown and developed through immigration. There is evidence that inclusion is the dominant discourse in Australia, however, there is also a strong undercurrent reflecting historical anti-Muslim attitudes. This chapter describes the Australian context, the emergence of Muslim communities, and of policies and practices of inclusion rather than exclusion that have tempered the effect of Islamophobia.
This chapter was previously published by Gary Bouma in 2011 as Islamophobia as a constraint to world peace: The case of Australia, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 22(4): 433–441. DOI:10.1080/09596410.2011.606189. © University of Birmingham, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd, www.tandfonline.com on behalf of University of Birmingham.
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Bouma, G.D. (2016). Quest for Inclusion: Australia and Islamophobia. In: Pratt, D., Woodlock, R. (eds) Fear of Muslims?. Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29698-2_5
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