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tacitus -> RE: Muslim Demographics - A Christian Response (6/29/2009 6:33:11 PM)
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While I was Manchester University, in England, the corner store (yes, we still have them in the UK!) was run by an immigrant Indian family. The grandmother sat in the back of the shop dressed in traditional Hindu garb, and couldn't speak a word of English. The parents ran the store, dressed in typical English clothing, and spoke English with heavy Indian accents. Their children had strong Mancunian (Manchester) accents and apart from the color of their skin, you would not be able to tell them from any other British kid.
Now, this family was Hindu, but the same pattern is being repeated again and again with immigrant families across Europe and the USA. By the third generation, the vast majority of immigrants are thoroughly integrated into the culture of the host country, having attended public schools (imagine if only private religious schools were available -- they wouldn't be going to the Christian ones), and been immersed in the entertainment and political ways of the local society. People start to intermarry, their religious faith is likely to be more secular (i.e. less radical) and their birth rate trends towards the norm of the country they are in. Muslim families are no more immune from the pressures of society than are Christian families.
Of course, you never hear about any of this fearmongers who much prefer to send a thrilling shiver up their spine than do any hard investigation into the matter, covering all bases, all variables.
Yes, integration doesn't mean that immigrants will not have some impact on society. My Dad's cousin, a very sweet person in all other aspects, harbors a deep resentment against "the Pakis" as she calls them (yes, a racial slur) in her home town because they have greatly changed the character of some parts of the city she's lived in all her life (she turns 80 next week). Yet, if you walk down those streets, you'll find young Pakistanis speaking with the broadest of broad Yorkshire accents, supporting Leeds United or Bradford City football clubs, and the Yorkshire Cricket Team. Yorkshire now has three home-grown Muslim immigrant cricketers playing for them, and two of them have already represented England at the national level and they are every bit an England player as any other member of the team. It's been a long time coming, but it's happening, and will continue to happen.
Finally, the number of Islamists within the Muslim immigrant population is small. They are dangerous, yes, and they have tried to engineer take overs of the local mosques in order to recruit more radicals, but in places like France and England, they have largely failed. Not because of law enforcement, but because the majority of Muslims themselves don't want them and have resisted their attempts. There will always be a few radicals who are intent to cause major harm and suffering, and we will always have to be on the lookout, but tarring all Muslims with the same brush (which is effectively what this "Muslim Takeover" is all about) is just plain rabble rousing.
So, those statistics do not tell the whole story, and can easily tell the wrong story completely (you know the quote).
Of course, in the USA there is no danger of Christians becoming the minority -- the number of Christians in the illegal immigrant population alone probably greatly outnumbers all the Muslims in the USA and their birth rate! So, wohoo for illegals! [;)]
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