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Is a religious group a 'race' or isn't it? Is someone 'racist' if they publicly state their dislike of a religious group? An Australian tribunal has answered this question by ruling that Muslim is not a race, and as such, a person who vilifies them in public, an act which is currently illegal in Australia, would not have broken the law.
In 2016 Sonia Kruger 'called for an end to migration from Islamic countries' saying that she wanted people to feel safe when going out to celebrate Australia day. Sam Ekermawi, a Muslim, filed a complaint to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal claiming the comments were racial vilification.
The tribunal was unable to conclude Muslims living in Australia "are a 'race' by reason of a common ethnic or ethno-religious origin" and dismissed the application. This is an important milestone in the legal and cultural development of the ocean-bound nation which is still attempting to balance the melting pot of cultures and people who have migrated to the country from all over the world. This ruling may be a key threshold for defining what the word 'race' actually means in the legal and social and cultural context and how laws will be interpreted in the future.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:52PM (6 children)
Not so very insightful, IMO. Both Islam and Judaism are political entities, and both are religious entities. Both apparently worship the same God, or at least say they do. The difference between them is, Islam seeks to convert, and thus, to command you, and me, and every human on the face of the planet. Jews do not. A Muslim might kill you for any number of reasons, a Jew is unlikely to kill you except in self defense. One is a viral virus, the other is not so much. For those reasons, Judaism is pretty much confined to one ethnic group, while Islam includes people of every race, culture, ethnicity and nationality on earth.
The funny bit about your question is, the original Jews and the original Muslims were cousins. All were Semitic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16 2019, @05:42PM
the original Jews and the original Muslims were cousins.
Ya don't say! And here's the original "#me too" [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by https on Saturday February 16 2019, @06:23PM (1 child)
The Canaanites would love to agree with your middle point, but since they're dead, they can't.
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 18 2019, @09:00AM
Actually, if you were to double check, the Canaanites were NOT killed off by the Jews. They were TOLD to kill all of the Canaanites, but they didn't do so. Now, whether there are any Canaanites left living today is up for debate, but if they are all gone, it wasn't the Jews that did it.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 16 2019, @11:14PM (1 child)
Judaism is the one religion that's also an ethnic group. They are very literal about being Yahweh's chosen *people,* humans, genetic stock (though they didn't have that particular concept back then). In particular, Jewishness is supposed to be passed down *matrilinearly,* which surprised me very much upon learning about it. They also generally discourage conversions, and I remember hearing some of the Chassidim back in Brooklyn outright saying that conversion to Judaism ought not to be allowed.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:40AM
Not the only one. Laestadians aren't quite racially homogenous, but they're close to it. Jews are just the largest and most visible/least crazy.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:23AM
Mohammed sought to convert, but the Yemeni Rabbis laughed at him. A stripling, a ridiculous youth, son of a single mother, only able to act like a man inside his own tribe because his grandfather was still alive.
I wasn't there. Maybe they really tried. But it sounds to me more like they laughed him off and made him determined to humble them. Which he did. Jews in the Hijaz either converted or died. A few might have been permitted to flee alive, I'm not sure on that.
Semitic, btw, is a linguistic term. People of very different ancestry can share a language, and vice versa.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?