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23rd October 2003
Race hate claims heard
Cath McAloon
23oct03
source:

A CHRISTIAN seminar incited hatred of Muslims by describing them as violent terrorists, rapists and liars, a tribunal heard yesterday.

The evangelical Christian movement Catch the Fire Ministries is accused of breaching Victoria's new hate laws at a seminar in Surrey Hills in March 2002.
The complaint, lodged by the Islamic Council of Victoria on behalf of two Muslim men and a Muslim woman who attended the seminar, is a test case for the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, which came into force in January 2002.
Barrister for the Islamic Council, Brind Woinarski QC, said Daniel Scot, a speaker at the seminar, asserted he was an expert on Muslims and made comments that were denigrating and incited hatred of Muslims.

"He advocated that Islam teaches violence, that the value of women is not very high, and so his tirade went on," Mr Woinarski told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

In a taped recording of the seminar, Mr Scot said he had studied Islam for 36 years and had received a 100 per cent score in Islamic studies in Pakistan.
In his speech, Mr Scot said Muslims viewed women like a field to be ploughed and gave them a value equal to that of a dog or a donkey.
Mr Scot said Allah urged Muslims to kill for holy war and that it was good to fight, loot and kill.

Mr Woinarski said Mr Scot had set himself up as an expert.

But he said Wahabist Muslim teachings, which appeared to be the closest recognised form of Islam to what Mr Scot referred to, were followed by only a very small minority of Muslims and were taught in very few of the 62 countries from which Australian Muslims hailed.

Judge Michael Higgins warned onlookers at the tribunal, including some who laughed loudly and prayed during the hearing, to remain silent.
The hearing continues today.