Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald reported on a fundraising dinner run by the Q society at North Ryde RSL club in Sydney on Thursday night.

This morning host Sean Morahan and guests Te Rina Taite and Josh Cole discuss the story.

Before this story had you heard of the Q Society?  (We hadn’t).

According to their website:

“Q Society of Australia Inc is a not-for-profit civil rights organisation, run by a dedicated group of volunteers. Our supporters come from different ethnicities and creeds, all bound by a common goal: To inform Australians about Islam.”

From the About us page:

 Incorporated in late 2010 in Victoria, Q Society now has chapters throughout Australia. Each chapter is run by groups of volunteers who facilitate seminars, meetings and other educational forums for the public. The Society is secular and not associated with any political party. Supporters are from different religions, ethnicities and backgrounds. (except Islam)

 Q Society was formed in response to growing concerns about the discrimination, violence and other anti-democratic practices linked to Islam. When repeated acts of discrimination and violence are connected with a specific belief system, it makes sense to ask why. Unless it’s your own belief system

 Q Society bravely asks the questions the media is afraid to ask. We do this in the interests of preserving the rights of women and children and in the interests of freedom of expression – a fundamental human right. Unless you are exercising your freedom of expression to express your choice to be Muslim.

They also quote the Oxford English dictionary to supposedly prove they are not racist and included an extensive catalogue of seemingly contradictory assertions.

So the dinner was reportedly a fundraiser for what the Q Society call ‘Halal Choices’ which appears to be an anti-Halal campaign.  The Halal Choice they want is that no one should have Halal.

The Q Society are reportedly being sued for defamation by a man who is a Halal Certifier.

In this morning’s show, we discuss freedom of speech and how it is interpreted.  We also look at approaches taken to some major religions and whether those approaches are applied uniformly to different major religions.

The Vultures’ Nest is on 2SER 107.3 FM on Saturdays from 10.30 am.