Islamic Peace Conference in Melbourne a real failure
From Bernie – 21st March 2013
Six surprises from the Islamic ‘Peace Conference’
Surprise no 1: Free tickets were not honoured: We arrived at the Conference on the first morning (Friday) to be told that our free tickets would not be accepted. Thousands of free tickets were printed to be given to non-Muslims to attract them to the conference so they would hear the message of Islam and become Muslims – the conference was really all about da’wah or propagation of Islam. Conference reception staff told us that the Victoria Police had advised that everyone must pay the $50 entry fee. We refused, saying that we had not come prepared to pay $50, since we had free tickets. We said that it was false advertising to issue free tickets and then not to honour them. Eventually a young Muslim reception girl had pity on us and spoke to her supervisors on our behalf and we were let in free.
Surprise no 2: Muslim numbers were low: The organisers had hoped for 20,000 attendees, including 4,000 non-Muslims. However they did not achieve anything like this. The biggest day was Friday, when it was planned that 5,000 Muslims would pray behind the Imam of Mecca who was coming from Saudi Arabia. However news of his coming brought condemnation in the Age, Herald Sun, Australian newspapers and Jewish organisations because he had called for the extermination of the Jews, referring to them as ‘monkeys’, ‘rats’ and ‘the scum of the earth’. Although he never applied for an Australian visa (probably due to this negative publicity), it was not until the night before that the conference organiser announced on their website that he was not coming. Consequently, only 1800 people turned up for the prayers. The other main speaker, a sheik from Kuwait, arrived but fell sick and was not able to attend the conference. Muslims were disgruntled at the high price of the conference, expensive food and carnival rides, and the cancellation of some meetings. Eventually cold driving rain sent people home and kept them away the next day. Meetings set up to hold thousands were attended by a couple of hundred people. If the conference was relying on gate takings for income, it will be in significant financial trouble.
Surprise no 3: Opportunities for Christian witness were high. Over the weekend, a team of 60 Christians turned up to witness to Muslims. The vast majority, by the grace of God, managed to get in free. We had applied for and been given permission to hire stalls and sell or give away Christian literature including Bibles. However this permission was withdrawn by the conference organisers saying they could not guarantee the safety of Christians from radical Muslims inside the Showgrounds. This ban on Christian stalls turned out to our advantage, as it enabled us to spread out, rather than being concentrated in one place. Christians could be seen all over around the conference, making friends with Muslims, asking questions and sharing their faith in Jesus. It soon became obvious, and non-Muslims arriving at the gates were asked by the reception staff: “Are you part of Bernie’s team?” Sometimes conference staff would order Muslims to stop talking to the Christians and send them away. Despite this, we had hundreds of wonderful conversations about Christ throughout the weekend and arranged to meet up with some more open Muslims afterwards.
