... shots were also heard and staff yesterday morning found bullet holes in their cars.

... No one was hurt.

... Cardinal Pell says he is deeply concerned by the targeting of Christmas celebrations for students as young as five and the attack appears to have been motivated by religious intolerance

Is it religious intolerance, as suggested by Cardinal Pell, or simply youth running amuck? It's hard to tell, and knowing which Islamic group to deal with is almost an exercise in futility, since they can't seem to even get along with each other and the Lebanese Muslim Association (most of the gang rapes and attacks have been attributed to Lebanese Muslims) refuses to even recognize the Federation of Islamic Councils, and perhaps, vice versa. Is this attack on a Catholic church an isolated incident, or just a begining?

John Stone wrote in August of this year that the (Australian) Federal Government has been under pressure to address Australia's rapidly growing Muslim problem.

...But it clearly still wants to avoid the real issues: the need to abandon outright our official multiculturalism policies and the need to sharply reduce, to the point of virtually halting, further inflow of people whose culture (Islam) is such that there can be no realistic hope of them ever integrating into Australian society.

... government spokespeople, federal and state, must stop bowing to political correctness and start calling ethnically-based crime by its real name. The Sydney Morning Herald editorialists tut-tutting about such truth-telling should read their own Natasha Wallace's chilling report (SMH, July 22) on the horrific series of 2002 Ashfield gang rapes by four brothers of Pakistani origin.

... state governments (whose jurisdiction it is) should follow the Italian Government's recent lead and forbid the public wearing of identity-concealing garments such as the burka or the chador, which not only exclude Muslim women from society but can also cover bomb belts. If that were to deter Muslims from coming here, or induce some existing Muslim residents to go home, both results could be borne with equanimity.

The jury is still out on what is really happening in Australia, but there is one issue that continues to raise it's head, regardless how one chooses to phrase it, or "color" it. There can be no denial that the cultural assimilation of many Muslims continues to be a problem, regardless of the Western nation at issue. The greater the influence of militant Islam on a nation's Muslim population, and the greater the number of it's Muslim immigrants, the greater the danger of civil unrest and the greater the danger of home grown terrorism. Why is that?

Related: Stoning the Aussie Mossie? - Irfan Yusuf writes a reply to Jone Stone's article (referred to above).

Update: Maggie, who lives in Australia, emailed in the following:

There is one little inaccuracy in the story. The press mentions bullets being found in the teachers' cars but the bullets actually grazed the church and school buildings.

Also Robert has not passed on the information regarding the burning of the Uniting Church in Auburn.

The Islamists in Auburn were the ones that organized the meeting around the time of the London bombings. This was a meeting of several hundred people. The Auburn mosque is as dangerous as the Lakemba mosque. This meeting is one that could come under the new sedition laws.

The families at St. Joseph the Worker are mostly Lebanese Catholics. This is an outright attack upon them by Islamic elements that should be sent back to Lebanon. (the sooner the better).

Richard,

I am glad that you have followed up on the information that I had provided regarding St. Joseph the Worker.

There is one little inaccuracy in the story. The press mentions bullets being found in the teachers' cars but the bullets actually grazed the church and school buildings.

Also Robert has not passed on the information regarding the burning of the Uniting Church in Auburn.

The Islamists in Auburn were the ones that organized the meeting around the time of the London bombings. This was a meeting of several hundred people. The Auburn mosque is as dangerous as the Lakemba mosque. This meeting is one that could come under the new sedition laws.

The families at St. Joseph the Worker are mostly Lebanese Catholics. This is an outright attack upon them by elements that should be sent back to Lebanon. (the sooner the better).

Here is a further update on the violence in and around Auburn. The other Church that was attacked at the same time as the Uniting Church is St. Thomas, the Anglican Church. Someone went on a rampage and smashed a lot of windows.

On top of this, I have on hearsay that a local person in Castle Hill (at or near Castle Towers) was approached by a gang of Middle Eastern types (read Lebanese probably from Auburn who do frequent the Towers - and as I have already mentioned my sons had a confrontation with a gang probably from Auburn a few years ago whilst they were near Castle Towers; a friend of theirs was bashed and left bleeding by the same gang) and when he admitted he was Australian, he was bashed. This is the mentality of the people who are behaving in this way.

I cannot accept any analysis that says this is an outcome caused by lack of employment opportunity etc. etc. They have plenty of opportunity but many of them prefer to sponge off the community by accepting dole payments.

The other problem with the violence that has erupted is the way in which it appears to have been orchestrated, probably from within the Lakemba Mosque. There are members of the Lakemba Mosque who do go around in the white robes of Jihad,and there is an Imam who has been teaching out of Lakemba who has been radicalizing the young people.

I look at it this way: some of the same techniques that we saw employed in Paris and elsewhere have been employed here - text messaging and the Internet. The text messages are coming to the attention of the police and subsequently the media because the mothers are turning in the information. What is being missed by the MSM and I might add the politicians, plus the police is that the rush on the Lakemba Mosque appears to have been a diversionary tactic that drew the police away from Cronulla, allowing the thugs to make their way to that area without being disturbed. I suspect this because of the story that a rumour got out that the Mosque was under attack, yet there is no evidence of any other gang heading for the Lakemba or Auburn Mosques in preparation to do what they have done to Christian Churches.

The toll so far on churches and schools in the Auburn area is:

St. Joseph the Worker (Catholic - majority Lebanese Catholic) - vandalism and shots were fired. The thugs also threatened the parents of the children who were performing the carols.

The Uniting Church - victim of a fire and burnt to the ground.

St. Thomas (Anglican Church) - victim of vandalism with several smashed windows.

The toll in other areas of Sydney is the high level of cars and shops with damage, especially smashed windows, and in the case of the case also the door panels were smashed. Several members of the public were bashed, some requiring hosptital treatment for their injuries. These victims were not of Middle East origin.

The notion that there needs to be retaliation should be challenged. The idea that the Islamic Lebanese were reacting because of injustices is a front for their own behaviour that has led to criticsm. There is definitely something wrong in the way that this story is being presented by the MSM.