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2006-10-08 Home Front: WoT
Tim Blair: Shocking Strictness
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Posted by tipper 2006-10-08 09:50|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 There are 400,000 Muslims in Texas alone and Islam is the fastest growing religion in the USA. Since 9/11 there have been more converts to Islam than ever

I call bullshit
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2006-10-08 10:38||   2006-10-08 10:38|| Front Page Top

#2 I dunno. Back in 2002 or so, I read an article about how the conversions to the Master Religion had sharply increased in Germany after 9/11. And from personal observance, I also noted that muslim I knew from work or else had became more observant I think (like one stopping eating pork).
Don't under-estimate the radicalizing effect of such a visible, ostentible act, especially on those laready "leaning the way there'e going to fall", IE all the West-haters of any background (think about the morabitouns converts group, spanish ex-leftists who are now prozelytizing in latin America, encouraging people to shed their "colonial european" heritage to get back at thier islamic roots...); islam as the utlimate in-yer-face to the White Male Order.
Posted by anonymous5089 2006-10-08 10:54||   2006-10-08 10:54|| Front Page Top

#3 Yes, it is. And that's one reason I've said here at Rantburg more than once that it's a mistake just to dismiss Islam as a cult of murder that only fools would embrace.

I dislike it enormously -- and I find it dangerous. And therefore I think it's important to understand why many are attracted to it.

Western culture has grown deeply decadent in many places. That decadence is both embraced and encouraged by many cultural and political leaders -- and tolerated, if not worse, by many religious leaders who should know better.

As a result, many people who detest that culture, feel powerless to change it or to protect their kids from it, will adopt the illusion of safety and holiness that a rigid set of Islamic daily rules brings.

It's happened here before, and not just among the various 19th century sects. In the 1970s, some fled from the chaos, public sexuality and drug use of the counterculture (and the lack of spiritual and political leadership in the society) to embrace forms of fundamentalist Christianity in which the husband ruled the house as the unquestioned "head" and in which small groups of leaders or individual pastors decided what jobs people should take and who could marry whom. Florida, for instance, was home to a number of charismatic groups that adopted this stance -- and that attracted many converts, at least for a while.

That simmered down in part because it never gained traction with the wider culture. But Islam has hundreds of millions of members already and it's pretty clear they are winning the culture wars around the world in most places. I fear we will see many many converts, followed by the claim that this is a Muslim country, followed by sharia, unless the rest of us speak up and demand both cultural sanity and responsible leadership.

Judicial appointments matter. What Episcopal bishops and the various Protestant groups say, matters. What the Pope says matters. What our Congress critters do or don't do matters.

Want to push back against Islamic conversions by Americans? Then every time someone in Congress does something stupid and irresponsible, CALL THEM ON IT. Write letters, to them and to the leadership and to the newspapers and to the White House. Make a VISIBLE push back.

Because just sitting at home and deciding how you will vote (or not bother to vote), or just writing at places like the Burg, isn't changing things out there. And change is desperately needed. If you and I don't do it, don't be surprised if many turn to Islam as a solution.
Posted by lotp 2006-10-08 11:18||   2006-10-08 11:18|| Front Page Top

#4 lotp, you are right, but there is more to it. At root, I think the problem is that many people live in a world they don't understand and as a consequence don't know what to do. Islam offers a certainty (as to a degree do all religions).

There are many reasons for this lack of understanding of the world, the educational system, the media, the entertainment industry.

People want to believe there are solutions to the world's problems. Actually, want is too weak a word, it's a fundamental need of people.

I'll give you one example, that reoccurs here - alternate fuels for automobiles. Many people here at the Burg realize imported oil is a huge problem and need to believe there is a solution. When hydrogen, fuel cells, biomass, whatever are touted as the solution, they suspend critical judgement.

When these 'solutions' don't materialize, it's not because they don't make sense (or put another way they are not real solutions). It's becuase there are deep and dark forces opposing their adoption (that's why Islamic societies are so awful and we don't have electric cars).

You may think that equating electric cars with conversions to Islam is a stretch, but to me they are manifestations of the same deep human need. I know that Islam isn't a solution to a society's problems, in the same way I know electric cars aren't a solution to imported oil, but for large numbers of people they will be.
Posted by phil_b 2006-10-08 12:12||   2006-10-08 12:12|| Front Page Top

#5 I'll say the same thing I said on Tim's site: I call BULLSHIT on this.

I'm not Christian, but even I know that a true believing Christian will not reject Jesus because other people are not conservative enough.

Men who "join" i-slam are looking for an excuse to be in control. Women who join are just plain nuts (or want to be controlled, or both). And their excuse that under islam they don't have to dress provocatively is horse manure. Guess what, girly - you don't have to dress provocatively in the first place, no matter what your religion or lack thereof.

Freakin' losers. >:-(

Should be interesting when they get tired of their latest incarnation and decide to "be" something else. Guess nobody told them the islamic penalty for apostacy. Heh.™
Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2006-10-08 12:18|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]  2006-10-08 12:18|| Front Page Top

#6 Bullshit indeed. The most comprehensive survey, “Estimating the Muslim Population in the United States” by General Social Survey at the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago concluded, “The best adjusted, survey-based estimate puts the total Muslim population at 1,876,000” or 0.6% of the opulation. The worrying factor was 10 years before that, the muslim population was 0.3%. This year, immigration from muslim countries has picked up again and 50,000+ will receive immigration visas. I suspect this number does not include refugee numbers like the Somalis imported by Catholic Relief Services. Suicidal behavior.

Back to numbers, therefore the 400,000 number is nothing but a BBC wet dream. Even the American Muslim Congress, which claims 5 million muslims, says there are 140,000 muslims in Texas. Muslim State Population Table Taking real survey data with the AMC claims gives a Texas muslim population of 50,000.

A Dallas Morning News article, while treating the BBC program as factual, says of the of the epicenter of islam in Texas: Texans turning Muslim?
But getting a handle on the Muslim population in Texas or the rest of the United States has daunted demographers, partly because the U.S. Census Bureau doesn't track religious affiliation. Estimates of the country's Muslim population range from fewer than 2 million to more than 8 million.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations estimates that white Americans constitute about 1.5 percent of attendees at mosques in the United States. Last year, nine people classified as "Caucasian Americans" converted to Islam at the Dallas Central Mosque, a spokeswoman said


Hardly jibes with BBC propaganda.
Posted by ed 2006-10-08 12:51||   2006-10-08 12:51|| Front Page Top

#7 At a guess, "caucasian americans" does not include Hispanics.

Who are converting to Islam in increasing percentages throughout Latin America. Islamic hispanics will increase here too, by immigration and local conversion.. The total numbers are small so far, but as the rate of conversions grows, those numbers will grow too, slowly at first but then rapidly - it's an exponential function.

But my main point holds: it's a mistake not to understand WHY people might convert.
Posted by lotp 2006-10-08 12:54||   2006-10-08 12:54|| Front Page Top

#8 Number of Hispanic Muslim converts growing
A study of mosques in the United States, published in 2001, indicated that about 6 percent of American converts to Islam are Hispanic, said Ihsan Bagby, an author of the report and associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky. About 27 percent of American converts are white, 64 percent are African-American and 3 percent are a mixture of other backgrounds, according to "The Mosque in America: A National Portrait."

Based on these claims, 6% of conversions means Hispanics convert at 1/2 the rate of the general population. Whites convert at 1/3 of the rate of the general population. More worrisome, blacks are converting at 5 times their number in the population. Grenade frag and suburb sniper attacks attest to that.
Posted by ed 2006-10-08 13:12||   2006-10-08 13:12|| Front Page Top

#9 Twice nothing is still nothing, but add just one to nothing, and it is an increase of an infinite percentage....
Posted by Mark E. 2006-10-08 13:24||   2006-10-08 13:24|| Front Page Top

#10 Most converts are haters who prefer to hate in groups.
Posted by Snease Shaiting3550 2006-10-08 14:55||   2006-10-08 14:55|| Front Page Top

#11 bingo, #10
Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2006-10-08 15:00|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]  2006-10-08 15:00|| Front Page Top

#12 Most converts are haters who prefer to hate in groups.

That may be true of some, but there are plenty of statements by Hispanic women who are converting to find protection from what they see as an increasingly coarse, decadent public culture.

I'll say it again: if you don't listen to why people say they are converting, you will fail to understand the nature and the scope of what's going on IMO.
Posted by lotp 2006-10-08 15:17||   2006-10-08 15:17|| Front Page Top

#13 Remember that female LTC Muslim convert I mentioned? My hubby had a real interesting talk with her Egyptian hubby. Ran into him at a cafe, and while they chatted, he was inhaling his pastries and cappucino. During the daytime, during Ramadan. So my hubby said, "hey. Aren't you supposed to be fasting?"

He smirked and explained that he had made careful study of the Qur'an and Bukhari, to find all the loopholes that exempt one from fasting. Traveling more than a certain distance is one exception, and he'd driven someone to the airport that morning. "If you're gonna claim an exemption, he grinned, you may as well go all the way."

Funny how he, a born Muslim, invests such enormous effort to evade the rules, while his wife, a convert, invests the same effort to comply. Incidentally, she converted 3 years after they got married, entirely of her own choosing. Like most Western secularists, he seems to view it all as a major drag. I heartily approve.
Posted by exJAG 2006-10-08 15:57||   2006-10-08 15:57|| Front Page Top

#14 It's happened here before, and not just among the various 19th century sects. In the 1970s, some fled from the chaos, public sexuality and drug use of the counterculture (and the lack of spiritual and political leadership in the society) to embrace forms of fundamentalist Christianity in which the husband ruled the house as the unquestioned "head" and in which small groups of leaders or individual pastors decided what jobs people should take and who could marry whom. Florida, for instance, was home to a number of charismatic groups that adopted this stance -- and that attracted many converts, at least for a while.

Paging Jim Jones, David Koresh and Fred Phelps to the main lobby.

Because just sitting at home and deciding how you will vote (or not bother to vote), or just writing at places like the Burg, isn't changing things out there. And change is desperately needed. If you and I don't do it, don't be surprised if many turn to Islam as a solution.

Which is why I take information gathered here at Rantburg and spread it to everyone I know. I tell them about the "Obsession" video, I bring them to my home to watch it on my computer, I give them copies of Wretchard's "The Three Conjectures". More than anything, I make sure that people understand how Islamism is Nazism. I teach them to substitute the terms and make all decisions based thereon.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2006-10-08 16:03||   2006-10-08 16:03|| Front Page Top

#15 while they chatted, he was inhaling his pastries and cappucino.

How much does anyone want to bet against the fact that this guy's wife probably is not permitted to break her fasting under any circumstances at all?

[crickets]
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2006-10-08 16:08||   2006-10-08 16:08|| Front Page Top

#16 No, no, Zenster, read the rest. Her submission is self-imposed. I've spent enough time in their house, with the whole family, to see that he doesn't give a damn. My comment is meant to note the peculiar zealotry of the convert.
Posted by exJAG 2006-10-08 16:20||   2006-10-08 16:20|| Front Page Top

#17 exJAG, there is a Czech saying "Poturčenec horší Turka". that can be translated: A convert to Turkishness (mohamedanism) is worse than a Turk.
Posted by twobufour 2006-10-08 17:30||   2006-10-08 17:30|| Front Page Top

#18 exJAG, my post was just a humorous reference to how this woman's husband probably holds her to a higher standard than himself, if she doesn't already do it for him (per post # 17).
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2006-10-08 17:46||   2006-10-08 17:46|| Front Page Top

#19 Don't converts to anything tend to be more enthusiastic and "fundamental" in their adherence to whatever program they've joined?
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-10-08 18:26||   2006-10-08 18:26|| Front Page Top

#20 Don't converts to anything tend to be more enthusiastic and "fundamental" in their adherence to whatever program they've joined?

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2006-10-08 19:30||   2006-10-08 19:30|| Front Page Top

#21 Can't we all just get along ?
Posted by John Fn Kerry 2006-10-08 20:13||   2006-10-08 20:13|| Front Page Top

#22 #1 "There are 400,000 Muslims in Texas alone and Islam is the fastest growing religion in the USA. Since 9/11 there have been more converts to Islam than ever"
A friend of mine who has been in family law for decades has noted this several years ago as a response to what many non-custodial father's see as the state using it's police powers to strip them of their families and wealth. As one of his client's said "this would not happen under sharia" aftr a ninth attempt to get his visitation enforced.
Posted by Sloling Gliting6453 2006-10-08 21:33||   2006-10-08 21:33|| Front Page Top

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