 |
| 42 per cent of French and 40 per cent of Germans consider the presence of Islamic communities 'a threat' to their national identities. Here a student in a headscarf studies in a university library in Germany |
Others – 55 per cent in France and 49 per cent in Germany – believe that the 'influence and visibility of Islam' is 'too large', while 60 per cent in both countries say the reason for the problem was Muslims' own 'refusal' to integrate.
Part of this is government interference ~ in trying to help people to 'understand' Islam ~ the religion is being forced on people. Even tough parts of Islam are not that pleasant or even pious ~ however individual Muslims may or may not act.
In addition to help 'include' Muslims ~ traditional practises are being actively discouraged. For example, to placate a Somali family, a US nursery school ~ got rid of Santa. When you can't have Christmas lights, and you can't call it Christmas, and there is a list of things that is getting longer and longer that you can't do in order to take extra care that Muslims might not get offended ~
It is no wonder people feel threatened by Islam.
We are sending out a confused message ~ we are telling Muslims to integrate ~ then we removing everything that remotely looks like western society ~ and then we are saying integrate into this.
The message is throw what westerns do in the back room ~ as to not offend.
To integrate Muslims we have been trying to move the whole society to fit around what might offend Islam ~
And what is more ~ Muslim groups who want to see Europe become an Islamic state ~ are emboldened by this.
To show the proper respect for Muslims we should get rid of what is ours and replace it with what is theirs ~ even rights and freedoms. If we don't go along we will be labelled racists and Islamophobes and other nasty names. And it works ~ not only are people fearful of offending Islam ~ they don't want their careers destroyed ~ by not going along with some ridiculous Islamization scheme or other.
It is making people uncomfortable. Now western toilets are not good enough ~ Muslims need their own toilets. Next it will be ~ replace all toilets. Muslims can't eat chicken ~ that is specifically not blessed by an Imam. Next thing, its 'you don't mind eating halal ~ do you?' Well ~ yes I do! I would prefer non-halal products ~ thanks for asking.
Muslims don't want to integrate:
60% say the reason for the problem was Muslims' own 'refusal' to integrate
In the Islamic world Muslims have more rights. The Koran tells Muslims they are superior to all others. And so the laws of Islam are based on Islamic supremacy. For Muslims that's God's will.
Christians and others can live among Muslims ~ but only after they agree to pay respect to Islam and Muslims. [See dhimmi status]
But once Muslims are with people who are non-Muslim in great numbers ~ how do they go from understanding themselves as being superior ~ to being equals. Equal under the law, free to practise most aspects of Islam that are within the law.
Not good enough
What is bothering people in Europe is that Muslims are saying it's not enough. Muslims are pushing for their our own laws. In fact they want their laws integrated into EU laws.
Some misguided folks, in the name of 'religious' freedom ~ want to allow Islamic law into state law. We are told Islamic law is not-so-bad, Muslims use it in their daily lives. That its 'Muslim' and a 'private religious' matter ~ is no longer relevant.
But of course, now in Europe the climate has changed. Those who thought that if they reached out to Muslims and offered to moderate western society with regards to Islam ~ if they have not become completely disillusioned, they most likely have been voted out of office.
~ At an Islamic Dutch state-funded school ~ one teacher who dreamed of cultural bliss ~ was made to eat her lunch separately from Muslim teachers. And was suspended for teaching her class on the three Middle Eastern religions. She was told to teach them only that Islam will conquer.
Islam has legal and political aspects ~ to be fully operational they have to erect a state. In Europe.
Fantasies aside about individual Muslim displays of tolerance ~ the practise of tolerance in the Islamic world is in short supply. Muslims are taught they are superior ~ and that one day either others will realize they Muslims too or will come under Muslim control.
Like Ghaddfi says all people are Muslims they just don't know it. Intellectuality non-Muslims are seen as being in a state of ignorance. So what the average non-integrating Muslim is likely hearing ~ is that we are asking them to integrate into our state of ignorance.
In the Islamic world the 'ignorant' are given a lower 'protected' status. Though in the west, we break all of Islam's rules ~ yet continue to be successful and prosperous ~ defies Islamic logic ~ which states, practise these Islamic rituals ~ 5 of these and 5 of those ~ and wear this or that cloth ~ and society will advance. Has failed. It has not provided for Muslims, and this has led them to the west.
Immigration
I think the west has some hard choices to make with Islam. Immigration. Why allow people in who don't want to be here. Or want to come, not to get along and help, but to supplant.
It is immigration that has allowed the unassimilable Muslim numbers to swell. If EU governments had done a better job of selecting immigrants from Muslim nations ~ it 'might' likely look at lot better. Instead they turned a blind eye while each immigrant family chose a partner for one or all of their children from the Muslim world ~ generation after generation. Instead of asking ~ What is this new person going to bring? People were frightened to challenge cultural practise ~ that was costing EU nations more than it was benefiting.
But when we look at European Muslims and the need to integrate ~ we have to look at Russia's Muslims. Who are not immigrants. Besides attacks, there are also calls for more Islamic laws and restrictions on freedoms ~ particularly women's rights.
The Muslim idea is that one day the world will be happy to live as they do in the Islamic world ~ but we are content with rights and freedoms and equality under the laws ~ that we make.
That Muslims want religious law where they are made superior ~ means that we are going to need to take an honest hard look. First we can stop blaming ourselves for some old colonial guilt. Turkey had colonies and Islam's story is littered with brutality and colonization. They feel no guilt because they believe it was God's will. We have to get smart and understand this mindset. And stop tearing ourselves apart.
Islam comes with arrogance ~ but western society has almost had the arrogance beat out of them ~ as we acknowledge our past mistakes. Islam has taken no time for introspection. It is therefore a perfect delusion. Unfortunately, because it refuses to learn from its past ~ as it doesn't admit to mistakes ~ it is an accident ready to happen. Though, as with developments in Pakistan ~ the Islamic accident ~ needn't happen here.
Islam is considered a 'threat' by millions of French and Germans, with the vast majority believing Muslims have 'not integrated properly', a devastating new poll revealed today.
Le Monde newspaper ran the results under a headline which brands efforts to get different religious and cultural communities to live side-by-side as a 'failure'.
It will be viewed with particular dismay in France and Germany, as the two countries have the biggest Muslim communities in Europe.
German Chancellor Merkel said her country's cultural integration had failed, while in France Sarkozy's government has displayed an increasing hard line towards religious extremism, recently banning Islamic veils
Last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded that her country's multicultural society had 'completely failed', while French President Nicolas Sarkozy has also frequently complained about the growing influence of radical Islam.
Britain also has a sizeable Muslim presence, with members often complaining of discrimination and prejudice.
'Islam and integration: French and Germans admit failure,' writes Le Monde, the most famous newspaper in Paris.
According to its poll carried out with marketing firm IFOP 68 per cent of French and 75 per cent of Germans believe Muslims are 'not well integrated into society'.
Others – 55 per cent in France and 49 per cent in Germany – believe that the 'influence and visibility of Islam' is 'too large', while 60 per cent in both countries say the reason for the problem was Muslims' own 'refusal' to integrate.
42 per cent of French and 40 per cent of Germans consider the presence of Islamic communities 'a threat' to their national identities. Here a student in a headscarf studies in a university library in Germany
Just as crucially, 42 per cent of French and 40 per cent of Germans consider the presence of Islamic communities 'a threat' to their national identities.
An editorial in Le Monde adds: 'As Islam becomes a permanent and increasingly conspicuous fixture of European societies, public opinion is clearly tensing up, though disparities do appear between young and old and between left- and right-wing.'
Jerome Fourquet, of IFOP, said the results 'go beyond linking immigration with security or immigration with unemployment, to linking Islam with a threat to identity'.
Mr Fourquet said he would like to extend the research to countries like the UK, where he believed the results would be pretty much the same.
The threat of terrorism has increasingly been linked with Muslim communities in all European countries, including Britain, since the 9/11 attacks on the USA in 2001 and the 7/7 atrocities in central London in 2005.
In France, Mr Sarkozy's government has displayed an increasing hard line towards religious extremism, recently banning Islamic veils.
Meanwhile, Mr Sarkozy has courted the voters of hard-right parties like the National Front as he tries to reassert traditional values.
Two Muslim women wearing niqab in northern France. Sarkozy's government recently banned Islamic veils and Sarkozy has courted the voters of hard-right parties as he tries to reassert traditional values
Following the publication of the new poll, French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said it was important not to confuse moderate Muslims with radical or fundamentalist parties.
She said: 'I believe that we are not afraid of the person we know, the concern is about Muslims in general. We are not afraid of our neighbour across the hall.
'The trap set by Al-Qaeda was to push us towards a general confrontation, towards a war between the Muslim and Western worlds. We must watch out for anything that goes in that direction. We must not confuse Islam and terrorism.'
France is a secular society, but the vast majority of its inhabitants are Roman Catholics. No official figures are available, but the country is estimated to be home to around six million Muslims, many from its former North African colonies.
German federal authorities estimate their own Muslim population to be around 4.5 million, many of them Turks who emigrated in the 1960s.
The Le Monde/IFOP poll saw 1600 adults – 800 in France and 800 in Germany – interviewed about Muslim integration during one day last month.
Daily Mail
No comments:
Post a Comment