"I may not be perfect, but if someone is trying to blow me up in the name of Islam, I tend to get nervous, to have those people living here and we do nothing about them is criminal in itself, and would not be tollerated if the boot was on the other foot. " Spot on Pete
Pete said, you cann't condemn all muslims because some of them are fanatics,don't forget we were targeted by the IRA Mrs Walnut was in Warrington when the Warrington bomb went off and was lucky, we both were in Manchester when that went off covered in debris and were lucky to escape injury,we did not want all the irish repatriating.
Out of curiosity - has anybody here that is making the comments regarding Muslims, actually met one, got to know them - or has the fact that they are Muslim made you turn and look the other way? I have dealt with many Muslim youth - working with one group of students currently that is fundraising to donate money to their local air ambulance unit. Why? Their quick response and action saved the life of one of their teachers - oh, and the teacher is a Caucasian English woman. There is definitely a select few within the religion who are fanatical, and have given them all a bad name. But, remember the two ten year old boys who tortured and killed little Jamie Bulger? They were white british weren't they? Does that mean that all white British ten year old boys are torturers and murderers? No, of course it doesn't. Try getting to know the individual rather than branding a whole culture with the negative views that the media has fed us.
I think comments are slightly being misconstrued, the Muslims that we are objecting to are the criminal and religious fanatic element. Personally I have no major issue with immigrants in general as long as they are willing to integrate into society by way of WORKING, PAYING TAXES an and ACCEPTING WESTERN CULTURE. If they will not then to my mind they are not welcome and no benefit to OUR country. Sadly this has not happened and the country is becoming almost compartmentalized in cities with groups of Nationality's living in tight intolerant groups with minimal intergration..... a breeding ground for fanatics. Likewise mainstream political parties stray away from discussing immigration leading to it becoming a taboo subject as redwings comments illustrate. I firmly believe that the first step in tackling the situation of immigration will be to leave behind Europe along with the idea of European citizenship and more importantly the human rights act that rather than protecting the rights of the majority is being used to push the rights of the minority and often criminals.
Most definitely. The UK is giving up it's identity by cow towing along with the EU. Bring back rights for the normal everyday person. Human rights issues have gone bizarre here, where the ones with the rights are usually the ones who have taken others away! My post above Pro Gard was in reference to comments made in others' posts about Muslims - charitable work etc.
Yes. A very good friend in London is Muslim. He is a 2nd generation Brit, his parents are both from Guyana (former British colony) and I remember the issues he had after 9/11 and 7/7 - stopped and searched, harassed and even graffitti daubed over the mosque he and his family attend (built and paid for by other Guyanese muslims in London). I remember he told me some of the graffitti said "P**** go home"...so in his words, they went back to their house in Hackney! He is also doubly screwed as he is gay, parents don't know (but suspect) and has been going out with a non-denominational Christian minister for the last 5 years, so he is having to reconcile his religious beliefs (I understand Caribbean/South American Islam is very different to that practised by the "fanatics" in some other parts of the world) with being gay. He considers himself a Londoner 100%, speaks an incredible Queen's English, more so than a lot of the thicko chavs who contribute nothing to this country yet are the first to shout "P**** go home" at him, but also gets annoyed by the police harassing him simply because of the colour of his skin and the religion he follows.
I was brought up in London with multi-racial/ethnic/religious friends and have great respect for all of them. They are all intergrated into British culture but are, and should be, able to practice their cultural and religious backgrounds as they wish. Integration shouldn't mean that they are prohibited from practicing their own culture as well. To want to face Mecca when praying doesn't impinge on anyone else's liberty and should be encouraged. It can't cost more than a few pence to place an arrow pointing in the right direction and to deny this to prisoners seems petty. I'm all for locking people up if they do things against society (and even more so if they do it against me) but these people are criminals not Christian criminals or Muslim criminals. I have my own opinions about the severity of punishment (or lack of it) for certain crimes but that is a different topic. Terrorism, no matter by whom, is to be abhorred. Inciting to violence is also to be abhorred (I agree we don't seem to do enough about it) but this is also a non-racial/ethnic/religious matter. Our (the world) society is becoming more violent and there seems little that we can do about it and the media seem to exacerbate it. We have always had incitement and intolerance at all levels (mods and rockers, Moseley, Roundheads and Cavaliers, the Inquisition etc) so we should do what we can to encourage tolerance and integration. Natalie, to answer your question. Last week I was discussing with a group of friends (who were Christian, Muslim and Jewish) the differences and similarities between our religions. :thmb:
To deny someone the ability to follow the doctrines of their faith goes against basic human rights-and whatever any other country does with their prisoners, to do this is wrong. I cannot remember where I get this from but wasn't there some very famous quotation about a country being judged by how it treats it's prisoners?
And how ironic (or crazy?) that all three religions spring from a common source, hold Jerusalem as a holy city and are today the monotheistic faiths of the world. "God" must have a really odd sense of humour:hehe: As an exponent and non believer in any of them, I can only stand back and shake my head in confusion
