Life & Faith

A Sydney siege survivor and the Anglican Dean of Sydney reflect on the ‘golden rule’ this Easter – love your neighbour as yourself.  “I honestly was freaking out. I thought I had a terrorist next to me.” Have you ever made a snap judgment based on how a person looked, or what a person was wearing? Kylie Beach was on a flight recently and the seat next to her was empty – but it wasn’t meant to be. Eventually, the flight attendants found the missing passenger and moved him back to his allocated seat.  “He was sitting a few rows back,” Kylie says, “and he was the stereotype of a Muslim-looking person.”  He was flustered, he was listening to voice recordings on his phone – he was not a terrorist. He just wanted to sit with his friend.  “If he had looked different, if he had been a white woman, I would just have not gone anywhere near terrorism.” Kylie Beach also happens to be Communications Director of Common Grace, a movement that seeks to connect people of Christian faith to social justice. At the time, she was