Innocence of Muslims
Among thinking Australians, these concerns are not a manifestation of inherent prejudice; they are prompted by legitimate questions. Australian society has a long track record of successfully integrating migrants from diverse backgrounds. But, as the Sydney riots demonstrated, something appears to have gone wrong with a sub-set of a sub-set of newcomers.
A common way of expressing these concerns was to wonder what the riot means for Australia’s status as a peaceful and harmonious multicultural society. To answer this question, The Centre for Independent Studies decided to convene a forum to discuss the relevant issues. The forum was held at the CIS office at St Leonards on 27 September 2012 featuring speeches by three researchers. These speeches are reproduced in this Policy Forum. Not all the speakers agreed with each other about all aspects of the topic. This is as it should be when dealing with contentious and fluid events.
Benjamin Herscovitch is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
The Rev. Peter Kurti is a Research Fellow in the Religion and the Free Society program at the CIS.
Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at the CIS.
