Ahmed won't wear beer logo

That's right he gave up his career, he didn't ask them to stop playing on Sundays!

That ultra-idiot David Campese has bought into it. The great All-Black flanker Michael Jones refused to play on Sundays; our near neighbours didn't carry on.

Two camps here; 1 Respect for someone who stands by their belief 2 Play for a team and therefore you cannot be an individual - there is no I in team defence Now those who are in camp 2 suffer from an undertone of being intolerant I don't deny that in some cases this could be true But it does not follow that those in camp 2 can be accused of intolerance Considering the state of our cricket team I ask the question: Is there room for individualism in the team? I say no - Have we not been there and what wreck that was Take the Warnergate and homeworkgate examples Otherwise dump VB and get on with the game!

yep ! what he said !

not a bad take on one of the biggest con jobs in the history of the world Kev...on a bit of a local western level regarding the catholic faith ...it truly amazes me that after all the evidence of child abuse and the condoning of and covering up ....that people still let their kids within cooee of the catholic church ...it's as though there is some collective blindness ...ie I have been taught to believe these fairy stories since I was a child and even though there Is irrefutable evidence of atrocities ...somehow it doesn't matter ...and I must keep the faith ...I just scratch my head...and on another note we are about to elect a Jesuit trained wanna be priest to be our prime minister ...truly scary ! And one more thing id like to ask learned muslims ....If you have a female suicide bomber who is martyred and goes to paridise ...does she get virgins ? how many ?:and are they male or female ?

Organised religion is a problem because it is government endorsed discrimination. Religious organisations pay no tax, have substantial exemptions from legislations that other entities have to follow, and are permitted to discriminate on the basis of sex and creed within their organisation. If you tried to discriminate on the basis of sex or belief in the public service or within a bank there would be an outcry, but anything goes under the guise of a "religious institution". Women not promoted above a certain level in the heirachy - that's okay because it's their "belief". People denied access to services because they aren't baptised to the faith - no problem. Denied an abortion at a religious medical facility in an emergency - that's okay too. Organised religion is a fraud. True faith is about one's personal relationship to God, and you don't get that from a monolithic entity. Of course entrenched hypocrisy regarding discrimination is not restricted only to religious institutions. Women-only gyms = fine. Men's clubs = disgraceful. Scholarship for women only = encouraged. Have you heard of any men only scholarships? No. The SA government tried to start one for it's uni education courses because the current students were 80% female ... it was decried as sexist. I don't care what you do or believe, but you don't get special treatment just because of your sex or creed. Ahmed should be told this. Wear the uniform or don't play for the team.

Gotta love it when Campo wades into the debate! http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/david-campese-tells-fawad-ahmed-to-go-home-over-vb-logo-ban-20130906-2t9yz.html And I have to say, I'm on Campo's side. Khawaja is a muslim and he wears the uniform - and that is the key, it is a UNIFORM - if you won't wear it then you don't play for the team. Not playing on Sundays is not the same thing at all - because he is just withdrawing from selection for that day. Ahmed is welcome to withdraw himself from selection for any event in which he has to wear a beer logo, I would not care.

Here here, and I doubt any sponsor would want to be part of violating that set of criteria anyway.

+1 I would only think this is 'newsworthy' as it is talking about Islam, would there be any issue if a Christian player wouldn't play on Sundays? Obviously it could affect his salary which is between him and his employers just as someone who couldn't play on Sundays wouldn't be available for test Cricket.

"No there is no obligation for values to be respected, but not respecting ones values makes you unfit to participate in a democratic society, because that’s autocratic thinking. " Actually that's the opposite IMO A democratic society lives under the principle that nothing is sacred and everything is up for debate. A value has to live and die on its own merit. A value has to earn its respect through scrutiny and being challenged and being able to prevail through the scrutiny. Just like people have to earn its respect, so does values and beliefs and respect can't be demanded just because it is popular and culturally entrenched either in our community or in any other community in the world. Autocratic only applies when you make expression of beliefs and values to be illegal but there's nothing autocratic about disapproving and not respecting values you don't personally believe in. That's the reason why I oppose the idea that 'equal opportunity" applies to the idea that unequal treatment of beliefs and values is some how "unfair". An individual has the right to treat someone with different attitudes and belief unequally in a social situation. in the workplace, I may accept that values and beliefs unrelated to do the job shouldn't influence the employer treats their employees as work is about the ability to get the job done. However when it impacts the ability to do the job then yes it is justified for discrimination.

yep, not sure it's going to help him understand his team mates though

Does ahmed even speak english

how about when it gets to the point that the aus cricket team is finding it hard to find sponsors we start worrying. Seems a bit odd to be so up in arms about what a fella isn't putting on his t shirt.

is that so bad?

maybe it was because he took bags of wickets in his first few matches? or maybe I am just being cynical

did we just agree on something Praveen ? I still think Uzzie belongs back in the shield till he scores a mountain of runs and then and only then does he get another opp in the test side ... I hope he can do it !

so what are you saying james is we cant talk about religious stuff? Because you might become offended ? Maybe your right it is probably better to just let the sheep bleet along on their merry way blindly following whatever nonsensical brand they happened to be indoctrinated into from birth . I'm guessing James you are a Christian raised in the western world ? Put your impartial free thinking hat on for a minute mate and tell me what brand of religion you would be advocating if you were raised in Pakistan or Iraq etc ? I bet it would be totally different from the one you are pushing today. Why shouldn't I belittle organised religion ? Take a look around the world today and see where most of the conflict and wars are being fought over ...it basically comes down to my imaginary friend is better than your imaginary friend ...and im quite happy to kill you to prove my point . imho most organised religion is a nonsensical disgrace ...my point above was if it was going to cost him serious dollars at what point would Ahmed abandon his imaginary sky friend...... for the dollars ?

Well said Davos

Fairly sure that Yoda has had his fair share of the herb, he's even turned green for chrissakes and are you telling me that Mace Windu doesn't like to relax at the end of a hard day at the Jedi council with a couple of buckets?!

Jedi are OK with drinking, but are definitely anti-smoking, as is my understanding... "You don't want to sell me death sticks. You want to go home and rethink your life."