Thanks for the article Mike. I strongly agree with this point. Multi-ethnicity should be so in-grained in what we all do that we shouldn’t need to point it out like the flavour of the month. McDonald’s don’t market themselves as a multi-ethnic restaurant, yet we can clearly see a mix of all races, demographics and people present in their customer-base (perhaps a lack of healthy people though).

Perhaps children do it best, they just don’t see race/colour as a thing. Let’s treat the person for who they are here and now as opposed to the colour of their skin or where they or their parents were born/brought up.

They were perfectly friendly, as I was to them. There was nothing ‘racist’ about it, it was just that they’d gathered to celebrate in their way and language and we did in ours. Apart from having a hard time understanding what was being said, I didn’t have a problem with it. Nevertheless, I didn’t go back to that service I went to the one I could understand what was being said, because it was easier to hear the message when not having to concentrate so hard on the words. (Think of it as being able to see the forest instead of a few trees)

Pretty much every – including that – church I went to had services that were attended by many ethnecities, but like does attract like and so you do get situations where people are more comfortable among their own. Possibly, like with me in that church, because it’s easier to concentrate on the message which is the main reason we go.

This. Very much this. Is Australia perfect? I doubt any decent person would say it is, but that isn’t helped when we’re consistently pounded by the ‘White Australians are Racist’ balltwaddle.

I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you confusing me with someone? I don’t think we’ve ever met. Where did I supposedly make this joke? I wouldn’t “make fun” of someone for worshipping God, so it might have been a gag about Fiji winning the Rugby 7s because I was jealous that Australia didn’t win. But I still have no clue what you’re referring to.

I remember looking at your comments when Fiji won a gold medal in the Olympics, in Rugby 7s. You were making fun of us because we worshiped God with a song after the final. Goes a long way to show how ready you are to try to understand others, our traditions and our ways.

Actually I was replying to Sher’s comment.

I’m not sure what objection you’re making. It is obviously more difficult to call our society to embrace diversity, inclusion and integration if our churches haven’t done so themselves. What do you find objectionable about stating that? As for Morling College, if you think it’s monocultural you haven’t been on campus in a long while (ever?). As for Greg’s comment about stopping outrage and offering solutions, that’s exactly what I was doing in my blog. I think it’s you who is confecting outrage here.

Roy Hobbs, I think there are some people we know, and mainly respect, who feel a need to be outraged over the current crisis. Racism, sexism, age discrimination are all problems and have been problems since before the New Testament times. Jesus addressed it, Peter got caught up in it, deacons came out of it, Paul addressed it, it is a problem today. We need to stop with the outrage and be the solution. I am not sure the church can do it systematically. It has to be very organic and each person has to take it upon themselves to be Jesus to their neighbor.