A public statement by Archbishop Kanishka Raffel: “We must reject hateful words and threats of violence”
Recent remarks by Senator Pauline Hanson that there are ‘no good Muslims’ are foolish and dangerously divisive. They have been roundly and rightly rejected by leaders across the political spectrum.
Moreover, threats of violence against the Lakemba mosque are grotesque and must be rejected by all Australians of good will.
Christians believe that all people fall short of God’s good standard. The Bible says:
‘There is no one righteous, not even one; … there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away…there is no one who does good, not even one.’ (Romans 3:10-12)
It is a devastating diagnosis of the desperate state of all humankind apart from the merciful intervention of God to rescue and redeem us. Christians believe that God’s rescue comes through Jesus Christ, the unique and only Saviour of the world.
Christians, Muslims and Jews disagree about the nature of God, the person of Jesus and the way of salvation. We disagree about things that we think of as being of first importance.
But Christians will reject hateful words about entire communities of Australians on the basis of their religion or culture.
As Sydney Anglicans, we champion the freedom of all communities to practice their faith (or lack of faith) free from threat and intimidation – even when as Christians, we conscientiously differ in our beliefs.
‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23), so Christians gratefully rejoice in the ‘free gift of God’ and will offer hope in Jesus to all people, ‘with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15).
Archbishop Kanishka Raffel
20 February 2026
Thank you so much. We need more such comment in the public domain. I am a retired Christian teacher and in my teaching career was privileged to encounter students and their families from other faiths whom I esteemed highly.
while in this instance the bishop gives a good retort, my understanding is that Senator Hanson never actually said the words “there are no good muslims”. I understand the broad tenure of her discourse might lead one to infer that sentiment, but as best I can see, she never said those words.
the quote (as best I can see) is as follows…
(from about 2:08 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDIAiCuMrWM)
Pauline Hanson: I tell you what, I’ve got no time for the radical Islam, their religion concerns me because of what it says in the Quran. They hate westerners, and that’s what it’s all about. You know, you say oh well there’s good Muslims out there, well I’m sorry how can you tell me there are good Muslims if jihad is ever called and people must understand this, and go and research this, the ones that will suffer as those Jews did on [referring to the Bondi massacre] … when they were murdered and slaughtered, and that’s what’s what we have to realise could happen.
Listening carefully and getting the punctuation right makes a lot of difference: “You know, you say oh well there’s good Muslims out there, well I’m sorry how can you tell me there are good Muslims? If jihad is ever called and people must understand this, and go and research this, the ones that will suffer as those Jews did on [referring to the Bondi massacre] … when they were murdered and slaughtered, and that’s what’s what we have to realise could happen.”
“As Sydney Anglicans, we champion the freedom of all communities to practice their faith (or lack of faith) free from threat and intimidation – even when as Christians, we conscientiously differ in our beliefs.”
Can this really be true when the Articles and the BCP teach that Jesus is returning to utterly destroy and punish false teaching (such as Islam)? Is the former doctrine not a form of intimidation?
Manifestly ignorant, stupid and wrong statements about Muslim people notwithstanding (the vast majority of whom have the same wretched values as “normal Australians”), I do often wonder why clergy feel the need to make these VERY SERIOUS pronouncements, when really they should all be in fasting sackcloth and weeping over their failures over the past decades to win souls and combat the rapid growth of false teaching.
I can’t understand why the Head of the Anglican Church in Sydney is prepared to use his position and platform to misquote a political leader, yet remain silent on the abortions that kill over 80,000 children in Australia per year.
Not silent on Abortion https://sydneyanglicans.net/mediareleases/statement-on-abortion-law-reform-proposals