Casey deputy mayor Sam Aziz will seek to impose a planning condition “not to preach hatred from the pulpits” on a proposed Afghan mosque in Doveton.
Despite professing to hate “religious intolerance”, Cr Aziz also suggested that Islam was not a peaceful religion, that the Koran incited hatred and that Islamic terror threats “were not far from home”.
He has backed objections by fundamentalist Christian Catch the Fire Ministries pastor Danny Nalliah, who is rallying against the mosque in Green Street.
The mosque, if approved by the council, would be built next to Catch the Fire’s $2 million planned church in an industrial zone.
Cr Aziz has requested a motion at tomorrow’s council meeting to invite Mr Nalliah to address the council “reflecting upon his international experience, on the dangers of indoctrinated religious intolerance to the values, freedoms and stability of liberal and democratic societies”.
In justifying his planning condition upon the mosque, Cr Aziz said there were Koran verses that “can incite hatred” – ones that referred to people as “pigs and monkeys” and denigrated women. “I am a Christian. There’s not a single verse in the New Testament that I couldn’t live with, within my values in a liberal democracy.”
He said other planning concerns included noise from “call to prayer”, traffic, parking and the mosque’s proximity to nearby churches.
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan lashed the “attitude” of “some Christian leaders in our community”. “In this multicultural and multi-faith community we value the diversity and ability of all members to practise their faith.”