Anthony Cox
I was listening to talk-back recently and
the issue of relative population increase between Muslims and Non-Muslims was
being discussed. This is an aspect of Islam which is rarely discussed by the
political and media class.
In Australia the comparison is easily
resolved by looking at Census data. In Australia
in 1981 the Australian population was 14.927 million; in 1991 17.284 million
and at the time of the 2011 Census 22.34 million.
The rate of increase in the Australian
population between 1981 and 1991 was 16%. The rate of increase between 1991 and
2011 was 29%.
The Australian population of Muslims in
1981 was 76,792. In 1991 the Muslim population was 147,487 and in 2011,
476,291.
Clearly the rate of Muslim population
increase in Australia greatly exceeds the rate of population increase in the
non-Muslim population. The disparity in the respective rates means that if they
continue Australia will have a predominantly Muslim population in a few
decades.
Globally what is happening in Australia is
also happening in other Western nations which have Muslim sub-populations. A video
presentation shows how the higher rate of Muslim population compared to
non-Muslim means that most Western nations in Europe will become Muslim
dominant nations in, like Australia, a few decades. The US is similarly
affected.
The facts in this video have been objected
to by some parts of the media including the
BBC, the English equivalent of the ABC. This alleged rebuttal of Islam
being portrayed as the fasting growing population in the world today drew upon
research by Pew, one of the premier population data collecting organisations in
the world. But Pew’s
own research confirms that Islam is the fastest growing group in the world.
Pew concludes:
While the world’s population is projected to grow 35%
in the coming decades, the number of Muslims is expected to increase by 73%
This misrepresentation of
Islamic demographics is a classic example of how the media and our political
class misunderstand Islam.
If Islam is to change in a
reformation recommended by Ayaan Hirsi Aly in her new book,
Heretic, at the very minimum one of the 3 essential changes
Islam must undergo is in respect of the role of women. The status in Islam of
women is below men and as
Muslim leaders preach women are for
reproducing more Muslims.
The difficulty of changing the status of women
in Islam is compounded by the conformity of women themselves to this paradigm
which defines their status. I discuss this in part 1
of this series. Muslim women must be educated and given equal rights. Part of
this process is to liberate them from the shackles of Islam most notably in the
symbolic clothing they wear. The symbolic aspect of Islamic clothing is
egregiously ignored by the political and media class who simplistically and
erroneously confuse Islamic clothing worn by Muslim women as an expression of
their rights. Nothing could be further from the truth. The clothing worn by
Islamic women is literally a fertility totem.
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All items in this series:
Part 2 goo.gl/x6ohsM
Part 3 goo.gl/EK5sYk
Part 4
goo.gl/3fZV2x