As regular as clockwork, a new week brings a new poll showing Australians are questioning whether Islam is compatible with liberal democracy. Just as predictable are the blistering responses from commentators, politicians and human rights bodies dismissing the findings along with those who dare to harbour such thoughts.

Reflecting the zeitgeist of the elite in an interview on ABC radio’s Religion and Ethics Report the man responsible for the poll that showed nearly half of Australians were asking this question, Peter Lewis, dismissed the findings by saying that he thought the issue was, ‘much more an economic issue than a cultural issue.’