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The Muslims are actually justified. I believe in secularism, and that means the state shouldn't be governing whether or not people can build houses of worship, and they shouldn't be blatantly discriminating against Muslims because they say some Muslim leaders didn't condemn islamists "enough" until "too late". That is actual textbook religious persecution by the government, if there Muslim citizens of France have the money and demand to build mosques, yeah, they should have the right to their own houses of worship. It's not the government's place to be picking winners and losers in the religion game.
I think the reason why there is so much fear amongst Christians when it comes to Islam is the fact these two religions are interested in aggressively converting new believers into their flock. Believing that their's is the "one true religion" they are having a cold war with each other. Both Christianity and Islam seem to want world domination. I'm not talking about individual Christians or Muslims; I've met many individuals of these faiths who are quite tolerant and accommodating to people of other belief systems.
You don't hear about Buddhists alarmed at Hinduism - or Taoists massacring Sikhs - or Jains ranting and railing against Jews.
Nah, that has actually happened in the history of India. The recent conflict in Sri Lanka had elements of that too, but like every such conflict there are always other factors at play.
I think the reason why there is so much fear amongst Christians when it comes to Islam is the fact these two religions are interested in aggressively converting new believers into their flock. Believing that their's is the "one true religion" they are having a cold war with each other. Both Christianity and Islam seem to want world domination. I'm not talking about individual Christians or Muslims; I've met many individuals of these faiths who are quite tolerant and accommodating to people of other belief systems.
You don't hear about Buddhists alarmed at Hinduism - or Taoists massacring Sikhs - or Jains ranting and railing against Jews.
Muslims seem to be having a rather hot war with non-muslims in many places.
I think the reason why there is so much fear amongst Christians when it comes to Islam is the fact these two religions are interested in aggressively converting new believers into their flock. Believing that their's is the "one true religion" they are having a cold war with each other. Both Christianity and Islam seem to want world domination. I'm not talking about individual Christians or Muslims; I've met many individuals of these faiths who are quite tolerant and accommodating to people of other belief systems.
You don't hear about Buddhists alarmed at Hinduism - or Taoists massacring Sikhs - or Jains ranting and railing against Jews.
I think you underestimate the violence that non-Abrahamic religions are capable of. Keep in mind that suicide bombing got its start with predominately Hindu Tamils blowing themselves up to kill predominately Buddhist Sinhalese.
Plus there were those Shintoist Japanese who flew their planes into naval ships during World War Two to defend their God-Emperor.
But what do I know?
Anyway, I am not Christian and I haven't believed in God or an afterlife since I was about 13 and I am concerned about the growth of Islam in the West and in Africa.
That being said, there are concerns about the type of Islam that is growing (specifically Saudi funded Wahabbi Islam which is the source of so many of our problems) and the culture of those Islamic countries.
People often talk about how violent American culture is, but it is significantly less violent than the cultures you will find much the Middle East and West Asia. You see, in Western culture it is generally considered to be bad form if you respond to criticism with anger. It is seen as a sign of immaturity. In many Islamic cultures it is considered to be bad form if you do not respond to criticism with anger. Criticism is seen as an insult. Also, in my experience with Arabs, I can tell you that they love over-the-top rhetoric when arguing. It is not uncommon for them to say something like, "If you want this last donut, you will have to swim in my blood". Needless to say, this can make discussing sensitive issues rather difficult. Another problem is that there is no clear line when something is merely hyperbole or if they are serious because tongue-in-cheek posturing is almost identical to actually gearing up for a fight. The problem is that a miscalculation on either parties part will often lead to getting sucker punched in the face and doesn't exactly lead to a lot of cross-cultural enrichment when in one situation a person with a black eye walks away thinking that the other person doesn't know how to argue and in another situation the other guy walking away with a black eye thinking that you can't trust him.
I think the reason why there is so much fear amongst Christians when it comes to Islam is the fact these two religions are interested in aggressively converting new believers into their flock. Believing that their's is the "one true religion" they are having a cold war with each other. Both Christianity and Islam seem to want world domination. I'm not talking about individual Christians or Muslims; I've met many individuals of these faiths who are quite tolerant and accommodating to people of other belief systems.
You don't hear about Buddhists alarmed at Hinduism - or Taoists massacring Sikhs - or Jains ranting and railing against Jews.
The difference is, Christians want to dominate through the Word, whereas Muslims want to dominate through the Sword.
If you are seriously making a moral equivalence between the implementation of "expansion plans" of Christianity versus Islam, then you are not paying attention to what is going on in the world today.
Read the article. Paris wants tensions to cool before addressing anything.
The Imams need to control their fanatics and speak out vigorously against radicalism. Their collective silence is tantamount to agreeing with what happened recently.
Now they demand this and that and expect other people to pay for it.
Their sense of timing is quite poor and now wait for the inevitable backlash over their demands. Those fools are their own worst enemy.
I think you underestimate the violence that non-Abrahamic religions are capable of. Keep in mind that suicide bombing got its start with predominately Hindu Tamils blowing themselves up to kill predominately Buddhist Sinhalese.
Plus there were those Shintoist Japanese who flew their planes into naval ships during World War Two to defend their God-Emperor.
But what do I know?
Anyway, I am not Christian and I haven't believed in God or an afterlife since I was about 13 and I am concerned about the growth of Islam in the West and in Africa.
That being said, there are concerns about the type of Islam that is growing (specifically Saudi funded Wahabbi Islam which is the source of so many of our problems) and the culture of those Islamic countries.
People often talk about how violent American culture is, but it is significantly less violent than the cultures you will find much the Middle East and West Asia. You see, in Western culture it is generally considered to be bad form if you respond to criticism with anger. It is seen as a sign of immaturity. In many Islamic cultures it is considered to be bad form if you do not respond to criticism with anger. Criticism is seen as an insult. Also, in my experience with Arabs, I can tell you that they love over-the-top rhetoric when arguing. It is not uncommon for them to say something like, "If you want this last donut, you will have to swim in my blood". Needless to say, this can make discussing sensitive issues rather difficult. Another problem is that there is no clear line when something is merely hyperbole or if they are serious because tongue-in-cheek posturing is almost identical to actually gearing up for a fight. The problem is that a miscalculation on either parties part will often lead to getting sucker punched in the face and doesn't exactly lead to a lot of cross-cultural enrichment when in one situation a person with a black eye walks away thinking that the other person doesn't know how to argue and in another situation the other guy walking away with a black eye thinking that you can't trust him.
Good post. The line about the last donut is hilarious.
A lot of people who'd criticize the expansion of Mosques don't understand the problem. People that go to and run Mosques in western society are by and large (i.e. the vast majority) your best friends in the war on terrorism committed by Muslims. You'll find that the folks who ally themselves to groups like ISIS usually don't go to a proper Mosque as they view normal Imams as sellouts and they can't find other sympathizers to their cause, and therefore they reach to the internet to congregate.
Now according to the FBI, in the USA the #1 domestic terror threat is right-wing extremists and Christian fundamentalist groups. We should be allocating our resources accordingly.
Better visit Europe while it's still nominally European.
I'm not French, and don't really care how many Mosques are built in France. If you're not French either, what is your problem?
In America we need to demand that more colleges and universities are built, along with a lowering of tuition costs. This is more important to Americans then the number of mosques in France...
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