Ignorance is not conspiracy

It will doubtless come as something of a surprise to the Bosnian Muslims that really they are just a lot of "Christian heretics" as suggested by Peter Thomas in response to my earlier letter. Christian heretics do not, as a rule, build mosques, study the Koran and pray in the direction of Mecca.

However, let me reiterate my point. Australia, rather like Britain but not the USA, is an extremely secular society and, whilst there may be widespread ignorance about religion, that does not constitute a conspiracy (How exactly an entire nation would conspire, enter into shared secrets, on such a matter is beyond me). Where such ignorance exists it is regrettable and is almost certainly reflected in some prejudices of which a few are unsavory -- you only need to look at a redneck politician like Pauline Hanson to see that. Again, ignorance in itself does not constitute a conspiracy. On the contrary, conspiracies usually take place where much is known about the target; Catholic Englishmen coming together against the Protestant enemy in the Gunpowder Plot; Mafia dons plotting against the Italian state, etc.

I want to say that other factors are far more likely to have influenced Australia, among them oil. If, as the Indonesian language weekly Detak suggested, Canberra changed tack after the head of BHP Petroleum met with Xanana Gusmao in Cipinang in August 1998, there is a plausible reason to believe this.

DAVID JARDINE

Jakarta