Once again we are being told that "Judeo-Christian" civilization needs to be protected from "the other". This slogan comes up time and time again when there is an outbreak of Islamophobia or xenophobia. It is an interesting concept, given that this civilization is usually presented as the home of democracy, human rights, the equality of women, mass education, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. All of these are usually portrayed as being "under threat" from whatever monster is afoot. Muslims tend to be the modern monster, but blacks, Hispanics, refugees, immigrants generally or Asians also serve.

The inclusion of "Judeo" is rather tendentious, given the recent history of Western Christian civilization, with the Germans and their allies in Croatia, Slovenia, the Baltic States, Romania etc carrying out the mass murder of Jews in the name of ethnically cleansing the continent. Indeed Europe has a long history of Jew hatred, based on the belief that the Jews had killed Jesus, who they said was the son of God. It is fashionable today to claim that Hitler was not a Christian, but his own writings and speeches prove otherwise. Not a Christian as most would understand it today, but he thought he was.

Here in Australia a review into education was commissioned this year by the Liberal-National Party Government. It was reported upon by the Daily Telegraph (before anyone else saw it) and surprise, surprise, it said "History should be revised in order to properly recognize the impact and significance of Australia's Judaeo-Christian heritage." 

This review was questionable from the beginning. Christopher Pyne, Minister for Education appointed business academic Ken Wiltshire and education consultant Kevin Donnelly as reviewers of the national curriculum. Kay Lee's article "Rewriting History" is worth reading. [http://theaimn.com/rewriting-history/]. As Lee points out, "In 2011, Donnelly argued that Christians and Muslims do not accept the same values and beliefs, and expressed concerns about a booklet written by academics to help Australian teachers include Muslim perspectives in the classroom. He was upset that the book did not convey: "... what some see as the inherently violent nature of the Koran, where devout Muslims are called on to carry out Jihad and to convert non-believers, and the destructive nature of what is termed dhimmis - where non-believers are forced to accept punitive taxation laws."

To add insult to injury, an article by Chris Graham and Wendy Bacon in New Matilda, reports: "A University of Sydney Professor - employed by the federal government as a specialist consultant to review the national English curriculum - has described the Prime Minister as an "Abo lover" while at the same time advising the government to focus less on teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature in our nation's schools, and place greater emphasis on western Judeo-Christian culture. In email correspondence that spans more than two years, Barry Spurr, the nation's leading Professor of Poetry, describes Aboriginal people as 'human rubbish tips' and "Abos"... ... ...  He also manages to line up Aboriginal people, Asians, Muslims, women and anyone obese in a single email sent a few days earlier, commenting: "No Abos, Chinky-poos, Mussies, graffiti, piercings, jeans, tattoos... " [https://newmatilda.com/2014/10/16/curriculum-reviewer-barry-spurr-mocks-abos-mussies-women-chinky-poos]

Such appointments by what is supposed to be Our Government, the government which tells us we should all belong to "Team Australia" is profoundly insulting to all of us, apart from the xenophobic, white supremacist minority. Indeed as was remarked in The Guardian 13 October, "It almost feels as if the Enlightenment never reached our shores.."

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Bill Cleland is retired. In his spare time he works as a columnist for Al Watan - Melbourne Arabic-English monthly and Australian Muslim Times. Before he retired he held various positions as a professional and as a muslim community member. He was an Australian representative on the Board of Governors, International Business Forum, centered in Istanbul (1996-1998), President of Independent Business, Industry Association of Australia (1996-1999) and Secretary of Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (1997-2000) and many more. He can be reached at Ilal42bigpond.com