Posted: Jun 17, 2011 3:55 pm
It is central to political discussion in many countries. But hardly anyone seems to know what it means because we have no set definition for the word (nothing even close). Even our government's seem completely confused. Here is the best effort the Australian government could come up with:
From what i can infer in the definition quoted above. Multiculturalism, is pretty much secularism in a nutshell. Everyone is treated equally and lives under the same law (ditto for organisations), there are strong anti discrimination laws and immigrants are not chosen on race/religious grounds.
Do others agree/disagree?
If this is the case, why the hell don't we just;
- Implement anti-discrimination laws
- Bring all organisations under the same law (bye bye religious tax breaks) &
- Implement a few lines into the constitution giving citizens "freedom to believe in any religion or ideology they choose" (if we haven't already).
Then we can move on with life and more important political issues?
The Commonwealth Government has identified three dimensions of multicultural policy:
cultural identity: the right of all Australians, within carefully defined limits, to express and share their individual cultural heritage, including their language and religion;
social justice: the right of all Australians to equality of treatment and opportunity, and the removal of barriers of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, gender or place of birth; and
economic efficiency: the need to maintain, develop and utilize effectively the skills and talents of all Australians, regardless of background.
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/agenda/agenda89/whatismu.htm
From what i can infer in the definition quoted above. Multiculturalism, is pretty much secularism in a nutshell. Everyone is treated equally and lives under the same law (ditto for organisations), there are strong anti discrimination laws and immigrants are not chosen on race/religious grounds.
Do others agree/disagree?
If this is the case, why the hell don't we just;
- Implement anti-discrimination laws
- Bring all organisations under the same law (bye bye religious tax breaks) &
- Implement a few lines into the constitution giving citizens "freedom to believe in any religion or ideology they choose" (if we haven't already).
Then we can move on with life and more important political issues?