Australian religious leaders say: we'll love Muslims 100 years.
Emblazoned across the front of a six-metre banner, it's the sentiment a coalition of religious leaders have embraced to support a local Muslim community facing prejudice, they say.
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders united behind the sign on the steps of Lakemba Mosque in Sydney's southwest on Friday afternoon, preaching a message of faith-traversing harmony.
Uniting Church minister Eleni Poulous said the stand was provoked by the "We'll fight Islam 100 years" headline in The Weekend Australian which she said disturbed many church leaders.
"We feel (the Muslim community) has been unfairly targeted in these media reports and public conversation," she told AAP.
She described Prime Minister Tony Abbott's "Team Australia" language regarding the new terrorism laws as "not helpful" and called for a change in rhetoric.
"Saying that people who migrate here have to join Team Australia ... that kind of language has in the past been used to exclude and divide people," she said.
The organiser of the showing, Rabbi Zalman Kastel, said the "Love" sign was cheeky but powerful.
"It's an affirmation of the type of country we are and that we continue to be and the kind of humanity we want," he said.
He said the violence and values of Islamic State extremists were not representative of the vast majority of Muslim Australians and that most Jewish Australians knew this.
The show of support from non-Muslim religious groups comes as ASIO boss David Irvine said he was "outraged" at the reports of Australia "fighting Islam".
Mr Abbott has also made overtures to the Muslim community following meetings in Sydney and Melbourne this week about the extended terrorism laws, and denied any prejudice in the legislation.
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