Many non-Muslim refugees who have come to Australia following persecution as minorities in Muslim majority countries are watching with disbelief as we promote sharia laws as ethical and opportune, and insist in our schools on appreciation of Islam; appreciation being another dictate of sharia compliance.
The concept of halal is much bigger than vegemite. There is genocide in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan by people who want a ‘halal’ or sharia compliant state and reports by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom state that ‘in our lifetime…Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan and Egypt’, thus creating this reality there.
We have to take more seriously whether local, state and federal governments should be promoting the expansion of Islamic markets. When we see lands laundered of non-halal people; sharia finance laundering to cleanse money from defilement by contact with non-halal organizations; food laundered from defilement by non-halal products or people; we should be seeing a bigger picture rather than pulling the ‘racism’ card on frustrated Australians.
By Australian standards, sharia laws that legally discriminate against non-Muslims and women are racist; opposing them should not be. It should be a democratic and responsible option.
There are 17 certification bodies like the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) in Australia which all add costs, effectively a religious tax, for delivery of halal certified goods to consumers.
There are capital costs and ongoing costs; the aligning of killing floors in slaughterhouses to face Mecca; there are costs in adding prayer rooms on site, the cost of certification itself and the ongoing cost of regular inspections. One new halal certification label can cost up to $10K. But the real cost in social terms may be much greater.
