Last night I shared the podium with former Family First Senate candidate and Assemblies of God Pastor Danny Nalliah as part of a Round Table Forum at the NSW Parliament. The forum was organised by The Fellowship of the Round Table, a group which I understand shares a substantial membership with the Humanist Society. The topic of our discussion was “Terrorism and the Death of Democracy”. I was running a little late, and on entering the front door was handed a booklet for a parliamentary function to celebrate the Hindu festival of Deepavali. I chuckled as I glanced through the booklet. There was a message from Labor MP for Strathfield, Virginia Judge, together with a photo of her wearing a red sari! This forum is the third of a series of forums on various topics. Previous forums have seen prominent Lebanese Muslim spokesman Keysar Trad sharing the platform with NSW Right-Wing powerbroker David Clarke. Rev Nalliah spoke after me. Suffice it to say that we agreed on many things and disagreed on many things also. However, one thing Mr Nalliah said troubled me deeply. Toward the end of his speech, Mr Nalliah called for what he described as “the Christian Right” to take over the political agenda of Australia. I’m sure this will have scared even many Christians in the audience (indeed, quite a few told me so after the event). Interestingly, the event was held in two rooms of the Parliament, with the booking arranged by former Liberal MP Steve Pringle, himself a devout Christian. No doubt Mr Pringle would have also been disturbed by Mr Nalliah’s remarks about the Christian Right, having been the victim of a stack by persons associated with such leanings. Some audience members from Nalliah’s church were upset when I refused to join them in opposing all forms of abortion. They found it hard to accept that a Muslim male could support a woman’s right to abortion. I can only imagine how they would have felt had I expressed my views on embryonic stem cell research.The organisers of the forum recorded the event, and have promised to provide me with a copy. For more on the event, click here.