Muslims Persecuting Christians -- in Australia
3/17/07 Ismal/Australia (AINA) Christians in Australia say they are being persecuted by Muslims who have built up such numbers that they dominate entire communities, Christian Democratic Party leader Reverend Fred Nile says.
Mr Nile caused controversy at the weekend by calling for an immediate 10-year moratorium on Islamic immigration.
Today he said Australia should give priority to Christians wanting to flee persecution in Muslim countries.
Mr Nile said there had been been no serious study of the potential effects on Australia of the more than 300,000 Muslims already here.
He said he wanted a study to look at the examples of the Netherlands and France , where the Muslim minority had become large enough to "flex its muscle".
"The same thing is happening in our city of Sydney ... they (Muslims) concentrate and virtually by population numbers they dominate that actual community," he said on Southern Cross radio.
Mr Nile said Egyptian Coptic Christians had told him persecution by Muslims had followed them to Australia .
"They say to me, `We feel tension building up, we came to this country to get away from ... discrimination and persecution and we feel the same sort of spirit is growing here,'" he said.
Christians from Yemen told him they had to pretend to be Muslims in their home country to avoid persecution in the street.
And Muslim embassy staff also often discriminated against Christian visa applicants, he said.
"I don't want Muslims working in our embassies overseas dictating who comes to Australia , let's give priority to persecuted Christians," he said.
"Muslims aren't persecuted in Muslim countries, Christians are."
Mr Nile admitted Muslim immigration was an easy target for politicians but while he advocated tolerance, he had real concerns over the numbers coming to Australia .
The NSW Greens called on the major parties today to publicly reject Mr Nile's call for an immigration moratorium and cancel any preference deals with his party.
"Rev Nile's statement makes NSW look ugly and racist," Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said.
"All public figures should distance themselves from such an unacceptable policy."
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