Race Riots in Cronulla

Well I finally worked out how to upload images to my blog. So here's me looking very serious in my office. (Actually it's my old office from a year ago - oh well.) More racial violence in Cronulla overnight and the Prime Minister will no doubt repeat his mantra that "Australians are not a racist people." Well, I guess it's all relative, and maybe we aren't as racist as some. But the measure of our national spirit should not be that of other countries. If we compare ourselves with more patently racist socities we might be tempted to pat ourselves on the back, but if we measure ourselves against the principles of the Reign of God, we would hang our heads in shame. Australia has a long history of racist attitudes. Have we forgotten that the White Australia policy, established by law at Federation and only dismantled in 1966, explicitly discrimated against all but British-born and British-looking immigrants? What about Chinese miners being beaten to within an inch of their lives at Lambing Flat in 1861 (just one instance of such Gold Rush xenophobia)? Not to mention (actually, no, we should mention) our brutal past regarding the Indigenous people of this country. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.