Stabbing marks ugly return of religious-driven terror

The main issue to be determined in relation to the 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing an Assyrian Christian orthodox leader who was preaching in an outer western Sydney church on Monday night is how the teenager was radicalised and by whom. As reported on Tuesday, the boy had been warned to stay away from popular mosques and Islamic centres as his increasingly “extreme religious views” escalated. Community members were concerned about the amount of time he was spending online looking at radical, extremist content. He was placed on a good behaviour bond only three months ago after being found in possession of a knife.

After the boy allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, 53, and injured three others at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, footage showed him speaking Arabic, allegedly saying “if he (the bishop) didn’t swear at my prophet I would not be here”. A riot broke out after the incident and police struggled to contain the angry crowd. Officers barricaded themselves inside the church with the boy for hours as the violence continued outside.

At this stage, the identity, religion and cultural background of the alleged attacker have not been confirmed by authorities. NSW Police, Australian Federal Police and ASIO have declared the stabbing a terrorist act. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said it appeared to be religiously motivated. In contrast, he said, the rampage at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney on Saturday, when Joel Cauchi, 40, fatally stabbed six people and injured a dozen more, was not religiously or ideologically motivated and not classed as terrorism.

The resurfacing of religiously motivated terrorism is a grim reminder of the activities and plots of Islamist extremists a decade or more ago, in Australia and overseas. At least in the aftermath of the bishop’s stabbing the reactions from NSW’s leading Islamic organisations were encouraging. The Australian National Imams Council and the Lebanese Muslim Association condemned the attack and urged community calm, as did other faith leaders.

In his frequent social media posts and online sermons, Bishop Emmanuel, who grew up in Iraq and came to Australia with his family in 1980, is outspoken and often controversial. He has been critical of Islam, but also of Israel and supportive of Palestinians. “Stop killing these little angels (Palestinian children),” he posted after visiting Gaza before the Hamas-Israel war. His messages, however, have nothing of the hateful, violent undertone of radical Islamist preachers in western Sydney, such as Abu Ousayd. “A lot of Palestinians have nothing to do with what is happening there, they just want to live in peace,” the bishop wrote recently. “And I’m sure on the Israeli side, as well.” In religious terms, he is intensely focused on Christianity. “When you go to heaven, I can assure you … Muhammad will not greet you, Buddha will not greet you, Krishna will not greet you, because they will not.” He questioned the validity of other faiths, especially Islam, as he is entitled to do, but said he had “love and respect for Muslims”. The bishop, who showed a touch of humour, also was an arch opponent of Covid lockdowns and is an avid fan of Donald Trump – none of which crosses the line into hate speech. To the contrary, in a pluralistic society, free speech is necessary and healthy.

On social media on Tuesday, leaders of the Christ the Good Shepherd community said Bishop Emmanuel and Father Isaac Royel had called for prayers for the perpetrator of the crime. That co-operative spirit of live and let live, without rancour, is the most effective way to maintain harmony between individuals and communities of all faiths, and none, in a culturally diverse and tolerant society. As the incident is investigated in depth, the details uncovered should lead to pointers as to how to prevent a resurgence of such radicalism.