Islamic terrorism cited as number one risk

The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess (pictured), warned at the end of February this year that Islamic terror was the top threat facing the nation.

He said: ‘We have seen heightened community tensions that have translated into some incidents of violence connected to protest activity … Sunni violent extremism poses the greatest religiously motivated violent extremist threat in Australia.’

In May, a teen in the Western Australian city of Perth was shot dead by police after attempting to stab a number of men. He had claimed that he was doing this because of the Australian government’s support for Israel. The boy was a teenage convert to Islam. A group of parents had warned that a Muslim prayer group at the school was being used to spread extremist ideologies. The boy said: ‘I am going on the path of Jihad for the sake of Allah.’ He had already spent two years in a ‘deradicalisation’ programme.

This followed the stabbing of Assyrian Orthodox Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in a Western Sydney church in April – again by a teenager claiming that he did so because of his Islamic beliefs. A further seven teenagers were arrested afterwards in connection with the incident.

Meanwhile, police have arrested several Assyrian men who were part of a riot that occurred in the Assyrian community after the stabbing. Whilst condemning the rioters, some have noted that when a large Islamic mob chanted death to the Jews on the steps of Sydney Opera House, no arrests were made.

Meanwhile the Australian E-safety commissioner has ordered that the video of the bishop being stabbed should be taken down on all social media platforms – not just in Australia, but throughout the world. Elon Musk’s X has refused to do so.

All of this illustrates the problem that Western societies are having with the assimilation of Islam. The trouble is that the Western liberal ‘progressive’ view of religion in general, and Islam in particular, cannot understand what motivates and drives Islamist extremism. As a result, governments clutch at straws and blame social media, Islamophobia, and any number of causes.

Governments rightly recognise that the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists, and want to ensure that no excuse is given to those who are. But the difficulty is that they dare not ask the key question – is Islam, as a political ideology, which knows no separation between mosque and state, compatible with Western democracies based on Christianity and the separation of church and state?

This is largely a moot point when there are a small number of Muslims in the community – but when the numbers increase it has an effect on policy. In Australia the impact of almost 1 million Muslims as an electoral force is deemed to be having an impact on Australia’s wavering support for Israel.

Whilst people will often speak of the threat of Islam – every Christian needs to see the opportunities of Islam. There are various Christian ministries in Australia which seek to bring the Good News to Muslims. When the Lord has brought so many people from countries that are largely closed to the gospel we must be thankful for the opportunities – and take them!