ADF views on Islam: does cultural sensitivity training matter?

Since the events of 9/11, the official line of most Western governments has been that the fight against Islamist terrorism is not a fight against Islam itself. Strategically, there are a number of reasons for this successful intelligence cooperation with Muslim majority governments, civilians in Muslim countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan and in the West itself is seen as crucial for success in the war. Consequently, states such as Australia have attempted to use cultural sensitivity training to instil a greater understanding of Muslim cultures within military personnel. However, recent incidents have raised questions as to the extent to which the official narrative on Islam is widely shared by the ADFs personnel. Given the disciplinary consequences for openly expressing so-called Islamophobic sentiments, however, answering this question definitively is difficult. In this study, I use a technique designed to elicit frank responses to sensitive questions the list experiment to examine ADF views on Islam. I find little evidence that the official Islam as a religion of peace narrative is widely accepted, nor is there evidence that cultural sensitivity training has any effect, although limitations of the study design make it difficult to draw this conclusion for sure.