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For at least four years, a copy of the Noble Qur’an was placed for public use in Canberra Airport's prayer room.  This particular edition of the Qur’an, printed in the millions by Saudi Arabia, has very disturbing footnotes, which promote an aggressively radical interpretation of Islam not very different from the doctrines and practice of ISIS.  It is disturbing that this particular Qur’an was selected for the prayer room. (After this article was published, the Qur’an was removed.)

Last year I received a hand-written letter from 'Patricia', responding to something I had written on changing Ausralia's marriage laws, in which I argued that society should support the norm of marriage as a couple raising their own biological children.  I enjoyed reading Patricia's thoughtful letter, which was clear and well-expressed. Here is her letter and my reply.

This week Australia received the very unsurprising news that a majority of those who voted in the postal-survey supported Same Sex Marriage.  Four out of five people voted, and of those who voted, three out of five voted 'yes'.  No-one could say Australians are united on the SSM marriage issue, but it is clear that parliament must soon modify our marriage laws to degender marriage.  In Australia's political system even 55% support from voters is considered a landslide.  The 61.6% is being hailed as a crushing victory.

The marriage survey keeps rolling on – Australians still have more than a month until the survey finished on November 7. I keep pondering which way Australia will go with marriage, and what difference it will make. I've always been intrigued by situations where people vehemently disagree with each other on important issues. Sometimes in such cases the two sides engage in real debate, but at other times it's a case of ships passing in the night. The not-so-great Australian Marriage Debate sits firmly in the second category.