West should `proclaim superiority over Islam`: Tony Abbott

Sydney: Deposed Australian prime minister Tony Abbott declared Wednesday "cultures are not all equal" and the West should proclaim its superiority over Islam which he said has a "massive problem", in comments slammed as divisive.

Abbott, who was ousted by Malcolm Turnbull in a Liberal Party coup in September but remains in politics, urged the West to "be ready to proclaim the clear superiority of our culture to one that justifies killing people in the name of God".

The staunch Catholic also urged Australians to stop apologising for their values.

"We can`t remain in denial about the massive problem within Islam," he wrote in an opinion piece for the mass-market Sydney Daily Telegraph.

"Islam never had its own version of the Reformation and the Enlightenment or a consequent acceptance of pluralism and the separation of church and state.

"Fortunately there are numerous Muslim leaders who think their faith needs to modernise from the kill-or-be-killed milieu of the Prophet Mohammed."