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| Arabia |
| BBC - Expats in Saudi: 'Fear on the Streets' |
| 2004-06-10 |
| Posted by:.com |
| #10 Here are just 2 articles on Hispanics' attraction to Islam. If you google Hispanics and Islam, as I recall there were 29,000 plus or minus hits. http://www.watchman.org/epnews.htm "Many Hispanics returning to the faith of their Fathers-Islam" 7/22/02 ...Dr. Ed Joseph, whose organization, the Fellowship of Isa (Arabic for Jesus), reaches Muslims worldwide with the gospel message, says the number is closer to nine million Muslims in the U.S. out of a total of 1.4 billion worldwide. Whatever the total, Hispanics who convert to Islam do so for a number of reasons. Most Hispanics from the U.S., Puerto Rico, Central and South America were raised Catholic. Catholic Hispanics who turn to Islam have become isolated from the faith they grew up with, and no longer see it as relevant to their daily lives. The barrage of high-profile scandals the church in America has faced over the last year - and how the church's cardinals have handled them - certainly hasn't helped. Joseph said that the exodus by many Hispanics in the U.S. from Christianity to Islam stems from an isolation they feel from the culture, and an antagonism they feel from non-Hispanic Americans. "As hard as this is to acknowledge, many white Americans look down at Hispanics as foreigners," Joseph said. He noted that when Whites see Hispanics who don't speak English working at menial jobs in fast food restaurants, their tendency is to reject them, "like they're trying to take over the country. They don't get that same rejection from Muslims. Muslims say to them, 'See, we're the same color, and our clerics aren't involved in abuse [like Catholic priests].' There is an openness they don't feel from the American culture." ...The Associated Press quotes one former Catholic Hispanic, Ibrahim Gonzalez, as saying that he didn't convert to Islam, but rather returned to his ancient spiritual roots. "We're returning to a religion that we once belonged to and was very much a part of our historical heritage," AP reporter Deborah Kong quoted Gonzalez as saying. Gonzalez and other Hispanic Muslims trace their Islamic roots back to the Muslim Moors, who ruled in Spain until the 1400s... Also, here' another cheery article about How Hispanics, along with whites and blacks, are helping people convert to Islam right here in the USA. Nice. http://www.islamfortoday.com/ohio.htm "Influx of Muslim immigrants attracting Americans to Islam" COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Each time the plain, wooden door to the Omar Ibn Kahttab mosque swings open a man from another part of the world walks in. India, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco. They line up in rows just before the evening prayer and bow under humming fluorescent lights in a small, plain room that used to be a Jehovah's Witnesses hall. Women gather in a separate room. Over the last decade, about 15,000 Muslim refugees have come to Columbus, according to Interfaith Refugee Services. Of the 800 refugees the group has resettled in the city this year, 99.9 percent of them are Muslim. There are about 25,000 Muslims in Columbus. Nationwide there are from 6 to 8 million Muslims. Based on anecdotal accounts and interviews, the refugee service estimates that nationwide there could be as many as 18,000 converts a year, or one convert per mosque per month. Muslims don't actively seek converts, but a concept called dawah encourages sharing information about their religion with others...there are two main Muslim ministries -- in prisons and on college campuses -- which differ in approach. ``One is appealing to intellectuals and is focusing on the absurdity of the trinity -- that is the classical way that Muslims undermine Christian thought,'' said Haddad, a Syrian-born Christian. ``The other ministry is focusing on rebuilding the individual and focuses on black and Latino power.'' Zakiyah Al-Husaam, 41, who is from Panama, said she and her husband, Abdul Kariym, who is a black American, are sometimes mistaken for African Muslims. The two, who were Christian, met in a class about Islam in Panama, where Abdul Kariym served in the U.S. Army. They both converted to Islam in 1982,before moving to the United States and later to Columbus. Both said that Islam had answers for them that Christianity didn't. ``We are showing that this religion has no boundaries,'' he said. ``The second generation of Muslim immigrants are learning what Islam is from blacks, whites and Hispanics.'' |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-10 4:39:40 PM |
| #9 I find the Hispanic angle very surprising. I always thought they were devout Catholics for the most part, and this Mulsim conversion fad is more than a little shocking. There's got to be more to this story. Perhaps Hispanics living in America might latch on to the "mutual oppression" rhetoric (I doubt this as well... Hispanics generally don't dwell on such things like certain other "ethnic groups" do), but it makes no sense in Latin America. How is whitey keeping you down in the Latin nations? Did I miss something? |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-06-10 11:50:12 AM |
| #8 /irony |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2004-06-10 9:12:07 AM |
| #7 Catholic you say? Burn him! Hello Hello Hello, Hello We are the Billy Boys, Hello, Hello, You'll know us by our noise We're up to our knees in fenian blood surrendur or you'll die cos we are the glasgow billy boys |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2004-06-10 9:04:10 AM |
| #6 Arguing with people like NMM is USELESS True, but I do find many of the trolls out there weirdly intriguing. I can't help wondering, for instance, what makes NMM 'tick'. He's viscerally anti-British (or is it only anti-English?), excessively pro-French and thinks himself pro-Irish (confusing the interests and actions of terrorists with those of ordinary people), determinedly pro-Catholic and anti-Protestant (this seems to be related to his nationalistic biases), yet doesn't come across, to me at least, as in any way 'Catholic'. Sometimes trolls can be quite fascinating. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-06-10 8:53:17 AM |
| #5 why don't these Bible banging nutz go to the ME? Arguing with people like NMM is USELESS. Their ignorance is absymal, and I have no idea if they even are rational enough to reason from cause to effect. These people won't take into accout that christian missionary activity is ILLEGAL in the Arab Mideast. Importation of bibles is banned. Converts are executed as traitors. Existing believers are persecuted. Does this make a difference in these people's thinking? No. not a whit. It is an open question whether they are UNABLE or UNWILLING to distinguish between religious people who use words, generosity, and kind deeds to win converts, and those who use threats, punitive taxes, guns, bombs, and rape to get their way. Perhaps the two are blood brothers, secretly willing to use such means to get their way, yet terrified to do so in the USA because of the Second Amendment? |
| Posted by: Ptah 2004-06-10 8:34:33 AM |
| #4 Make light of this recent phenomenon in Latin America, #3, but it represents yet another front for Islamic extremists to penetrate and influence and unfortunately, there's no ocean that separates the USA from Latin America as per Saudi Arabia. Check out the IslamicFinder website by country for Islamic associations and prayer meetings, and you might be surprised: http://www.islamicfinder.org/world.php |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-10 2:48:18 AM |
| #3 Hispanics are leaving the Catholic Church in droves because of the protestant (heretics) influence with their missionaries down there--why don't these Bible banging nutz go to the ME? |
| Posted by: Not Mike Moore 2004-06-10 2:24:46 AM |
| #2 It's time for all westerners to depart no matter the ultra-high salaries within the Saudi oil industry. What good is a fat paycheck in the graveyard? Let the Saudis stew in their own making. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-06-10 1:59:44 AM |
| #1 It definitely is the case now that if you have a white face and you are driving around - you look vulnerable...There are a lot of British Asians out here and they feel a bit tense, but they don't feel that same level of vulnerability. I completely blend in - if I were Caucasian it would be very different. Ironic isn't it? Western countries take pains not to "profile" racially for potential terorrists, but terrorists do profile when selecting their prey. This religious war also is taking on skin color hues. Indeed, when I was researching information on Islam gaining in popularity in Latin American countries for another discussion thread, what I stumbled across complements what "Fahim" observes in this article...the color of skin protects people and it also attracts new converts to Islam. For example, Hispanics are leaving Catholicism because they see a brotherhood with ME Arabs and Asians-they perceive themselves in the same boat of being "downtrodden" and/or enslaved by Westerners. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-10 1:45:21 AM |