lederhosen

Yesterday I posted a link to an article about Fred Nile, a NSW Member of Parliament, who suggested that wearing of the chador should be banned (and has previously advocated banning the hijab in schools, too.) He's gone on to say that only extremists wear chador.

Since then, a number of public figures have commented on Nile's proposal. Almost all of them to say it's a bad idea and ain't gonna happen.

Robert Forsyth, Anglican Bishop of South Sydney: "It is very disappointing that a Christian Minister elected to NSW parliament and claiming to represent the Christian community would make such comments. It demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the nature of religious freedom in a liberal-democratic society".

Alexander Downer, our Foreign Minister: "Particularly where wearing such clothing is indicative of religious beliefs and customs, we have go to be very careful not to start telling people what they can and can't wear... I suppose people could hide all sorts of equipment in all sorts of clothing. You could hide things under a raincoat, I suppose - I don't think we're going to ban raincoats."

The State Police Minister, Michael Costa, "swiftly rejected" Nile's request.

And what did our Prime Minister have to say about it?

"I don't have a clear response to what Fred has put. I mean, I like Fred and I don't always agree with him, but you know Fred speaks for the views of a lot of people."

As I said yesterday: even if Nile is a bigoted fool, at least he has the guts to take a stand for what he _thinks_ is right. Little Johnny doesn't even have that. Because taking a stand either way might piss off some faction - and some day he might want Fred Nile's vote. So he'll just give a little nod to Nile's crew, and leave his position ambiguous until he can see which way the wind blows.

Spineless little weasel.

First they came for the Jews...