Letter to The Editor

To The Age
Kevin Donnelly's conservative critique of multiculturalism ('Multiculturalism is no recipe for success', 23/2) has its heart in the right place, but may be a bit old-fashioned. He should have developed more carefully his important qualifying insight that 'Western civilisation is far from perfect.' This being the case, it is not clear that 'if there is any conflict between imported values and our way of life then traditional Australian values win out.'  For example, superior insights from Islamic Sufism, Chinese Taoism and Indian Hinduism may be just what our own sacred tradition of Christianity needs in order to regain the capacity to wisely guide society. Nor is a disguised plutocratic oligarchy masquerading as 'liberal democracy' deserving of uncritical acceptance. We need a sensible balance between diversity ('the spice of life') and a core of shared values in accord with truth.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic