Day 23 - Islam in Europe
I'm still sick, but starting to get better. Today it gave me plenty of time for reading and thinking. Two questions have been on my mind a lot today: Is Islam on its way to becoming the dominant religion in Europe? And if so, what are the implications of that?Here in the UK, approximately 72% of the population is Christian and 3% is Muslim. But that doesn't tell the whole story. According to polls, only about 7% of the Christians attend church regularly. Of that 7%, another poll shows that 32% do not read the Bible outside of church. Thus, the percentage of (what I would consider) practicing Christians in the UK is only about 3.5%, not much different from the percentage of Muslims, most of which are practicing.
In France, the Muslim population is exploding. Practicing Muslims already outnumber pracicing Christians there. Some project that Muslims will outnumber non-Muslims in France (and perhaps all of western Europe) by 2050.
The dramatic rise in the Muslim population of Europe is mostly the result of immigration and relatively high birth rates. Unlike most Muslim immigrants to the U.S., they tend to be poor, uneducated, and are concentrated in ghetto-like areas where they form the vast majority of the population. Thus, European Muslims do not assimilate into the culture as much as American Muslims.
What are the political implications of this? Secular liberals, especially in the U.S., seem very tolerant of Islam (as opposed to Christianity, of which they are generally not very tolerant). But that may not be so true in places where Islam is a bigger force. France recently banned the wearing of religious symbols (including veils) in schools, which created a huge controversy. It'll be interesting to see the clash between liberal secularism and Islam as the percentage of Muslims increases. These two worldviews, in my opinion, are very incompatible.
This affects America as well. I think it had at least something to do with the opposition by some european countries to the war in Iraq, for example. And it may be a source of conflict in America's war on terror (particularly radical Islam and countries that support it).
I'd love to hear what you think about all this.
2 Comments:
Well, the first thing I would say is it is almost impossible to project demographics as far out as 2050. That would be like predicting the current impact of the Muslim population based on data from 1960. There are way too many variables to forcast that far out.
I agree that it will be interesting to see how these two worldviews collide. Secularism is very 'tolerant' until another view becomes strong enough to challenge it. I wonder what it would be like for Christianity to witness in a culture dominated by that kind of debate.
In a side note, I saw an article that I'd be fascinated to hear your comments on. It's about American attitudes toward global warming from a British liberal perspective: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article306881.ece
Glad to hear you're getting better!
"YA ALI YA ALI MADAD IDRIKRNI"
"I AM PROUD TO BE IMAM ALI LOVER"
MY FRIEND ISLAM ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE FACE ,ONE PATH N ONE WAY THT IS PEACE AND HELP MAN KIND FOR ALL NATION FOR ALL MAN N WOMEN.
ISLAM CANT BE DIVIDED IN SCULER OR IN RIDICAL .
ITS A BAD LUCK FOR US THT TODAY THE WEST AND THE MUSLIM NOT PROJECTING ISLAM IN HIS RIGHT WAY.
I HAVE NO ANY OBJECTION TOWARDS WEST BUT I ASK TO THE MUSLIMS THEY HAVE RESPONSIBLETY TO PROJECT THE RIGHT FACE OF ISLAM...
ISLAM NOT TEACHES US TO BE SECULER OR EXTREMISM....
IN MY VIEW ITS TURE THERE ARE TO MANY MUSLIMS IN THIS WHOLE WORLD
BUT ONLY FEW KNOWS ABOUT REAL ISLAM.AND THE ONLY FEWER ONE TAKE LIGHT TOWARDS IMAM ALI AND SEE ISLAM IN CONTEX OF IMAM ALI POINT OF VIEW .
ISLAM IS ACCORDING TO NATURE
ISLAM IS NOT AGAINST CHRISTIANTY BUT ITS AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS AND ISLAM IS AGAINST MUSLIM TOO....(THOSE MUSLIM AND THOSE CHIRSTIANS WHO SAYS THT WE ARE MUSLIM AND CHRISTIANS BUT THEY ARE NOT)
I ASK THE QUESTION TO ALL MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS THT THEY ARE LIVING THERE LIVES ACCORDING TO NATURE?...
NON OF THEM BUT ONLY FEWER MUSLIM AND CHRISTIANS ARE DOING THT....
ISLAM, CHRISTIANTY ARE ONE ....
MANY OF THE CHRISTIANS ARE ALSO WORKING FOR MAN KIND DOING RESEARCH ON SCIENCE ISLAM RESPECT THOSE PEOPLE...
MANY OF MUSLIM ARE ALSO WORKING TO MAINTAIN PEACE IN SOCITY MAKING GOOD MUSLIM.. MAKING GOOD CHARACTER BUILDING.
I HOPE ONE DAY MAN WILL FIND THE ANSWER AND SOLVE HIS PROBLEMS ,
ITS TIME TO SEE ISLAM IN THE LIGHTIN OF IMAM ALI .
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