Quest for Inclusion: Australia and Islamophobia

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.