| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Present-day Australia is often described as a successful example of a modern multicultural state. A growing number of non-British and non-European migrants have helped transform the country into an increasingly plural society. Intolerance and even outright racism persist in a few sectors, but on the whole, Australia's political, cultural and intellectual elites have accepted the need for migration, even if they have not always rushed to embrace the concept of multiculturalism. The most cursory of surveys of Australian cities, suburbs and even rural areas would readily reveal the extent to which the country has changed from the days of the 'white Australia' policy. Ethnic and cultural pluralism are just two measures of this new social pluralism; the growing diversity of religious expression is another very important dimension of Australia's multicultural reality. As Michális S. Michael points out, a key 'antidote to the politics of fear' has been the range of interfaith and multi-faith councils and networks that were set up in the course of the last 10 years. Some of these efforts were, in part at least, driven by what Joseph Camilleri describes as a 'narrow understanding of social cohesion' undertaken 'in the hope that dialogue would more effectively integrate [Muslims] into the mainstream'.3 They reflect still common views of Muslims as a 'problematic' minority prone to radicalization and the tendency to self-segregate. Nonetheless, these efforts of facilitating engagement across religious lines are a belated recognition of the social, economic and political significance of Australia's religious diversity, indeed of the enduring role religion plays in the modern, secular world.
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