Islam in Europe

Mustn't read too selectively, though. This too was in the article: "Factors Limiting Growth of Muslim Identity in Europe "On the other hand, several factors militate against an even faster rise of Muslim communitarian identity and demographic growth in Europe, as discussed in Amitai Etzioni's seminal work: "1. The large numbers of Muslims who have assimilated over the past generation or two in their European environment, especially among the young who have been absorbed by the local educational systems, have grown ignorant of their original cultures and languages, and are more interested in developing peaceful and successful careers than in spreading Islam or responding to its call. Those Muslims may intermarry with locals and ultimately assimilate. "2. Precisely due to the ascendance of militant Islam in Europe and the West in general, with the attending violence that sometimes accompanies its assertion of its identity and its manifestation of disaffection and discontent, the more assimilated and quietist Muslims, who are reluctant to be identified with their radical kin, distance themselves from them and elect to melt unnoticed into the general population. "3.Unlike the radical militants, who do not hide their intent to Islamize European societies, the mainstream Muslims seem to have reconciled to the idea of integrating into their adoptive societies and state their intentions to maintain peace and to mind their own business. While the radicals would rather establish their own Muslim political parties, mainstream Muslims prefer to affiliate with the existing political system." And this: "The response of the Muslim minority depends in no small measure on the perceived threat posed to it by the majority host culture. Whenever coexistence with it seems feasible, as was the case with Muslim minorities in the West before the rise of fundamentalism among them, they could always say that as long that they could perform the obligations of their faith without inhibition, they could consider themselves as living within enclaves of the Abode of Islam, a state of affairs they could bear indefinitely. But as soon as perceived oppression made their lives as Muslims untenable, and they diagnosed their position as dwellers in the Abode of War, they were set on a collision course with their hosts, and conflict ensued." In other words, if you want European Muslims to become radicalized, pursue the course of angry confrontation that the "War with Islam" folks are advocating!

This is why we should return to the natural, Pagan religions of our ancestors. The arrested development brought about by Abrahamic cultural aggression in the fourth century should be addressed. We cannot continue on the Abrahamic path. There is not one week that goes by when we don't see hundreds getting murdered by Abrahamic zealots mainly in the Middle East, India and even in the West. Even the brilliant psychoanalyst Carl Jung said that when archetypes are ignored by the culture, it is as if a riverbed had run dry, but if the conditions arise again the river will again run as it did before. We can return to our natural, Pagan path, and save the Earth, the only true Goddess, the tangible Goddess beneath our feet, we don't need to revere imaginary gods. She is the one who gives us all the medicine and food that we will ever need. When we were Pagans, there was cultural tolerance and all the nations' Gods were assimilated into the interpretatio romana. Philosophy, medicine and reason were developed. Hinduism and Buddhism, also, are both founded on non violence and they are a quite attractive alternative in our day and age. The Hare Krishnas have saved thousands from drug addiction, and Paramahansa Yogananda and other Gurus have brought the wisdom of yoga to the West. It's time we abandon the false doctrines of the Abrahamic faiths for our own good. There are better ways of doing things, we just need to get informed.

This is why we should return to the natural, Pagan religions of our ancestors. No chance of that. The more Pagan a culture is, the less they breed. Hard to do a study, but I bet the Pagan TFR of the world today is below 1. Paganism is a Darwinian dead-end. Like the Shakers. Muslims and the other religious high-fertility cultures, OTOH, are the Darwinian future.

Susan: The author is a notorious Middle East scholar who caused quite a ruckus in Australia because of his anti-Muslim bias Hogwash. As I will be the first to attest, you will be denounced as an anti-Muslim bigot if you say anything that Islamists don't like. Or even ask questions that they don't like. As I've written about myself, I was denounced as a Nazi fellow traveler by the then-head of the Islamic Society of North America in a meeting here at the Dallas Morning News, simply for asking him how he squared his profession of peace and tolerance with the fact that he has on his organization's board some pretty stridently anti-Semitic, pro-extremist figures. Rather than answer the question or deal with troubling data, that crowd loves to scream "Bias!" Here is what the scholar, Raphael Israeli, said about the "ruckus" in Australia. Excerpt: I have been researching Islam in Europe and have come to some disturbing findings about the new third Islamic invasion of Europe: specifically, the Muslim neighbourhoods that breed violence and trouble and the home-grown European Muslims who have sworn to change Europe to their tune, to Islamise it and to use violence, if necessary, to that end. So much so that erstwhile proponents of immigration such as France, The Netherlands and Britain have had to revise their laws, introduce new restrictions and shelve the marvellous utopia of multiculturalism as simply unfeasible and counterproductive. There is nothing racist about adopting those policies, much less about describing them in a scholarly fashion. Moreover, it's fair, honest and educative to infer from those data to other parts of the Western world, such as Australia, which face the same issues. I do not wish to play the victim and I appreciate that Australia is noted for robust debate. But when a scholar who has no axe to grind honestly describes and analyses what policy-makers in Europe have done, and draws a straightforward conclusion about Australia, to be abused and branded as a racist is extraordinary. Shouts and abuse are not a policy, nor do they encourage public debate. If someone wishes to dismiss data by providing alternative sets of facts and arguments, that is a debate, but by shooting the messenger instead of addressing the issue, no public cause is served. It is a fact that since 2000, Jewish facilities were attacked by Muslims in Europe and Australia, but never the other way around. To state that is racism?

When has Rod been hysterical? I'm a liberal (Episcopalian) Christian and radical Islam scares the hell out of me. And I don't see any Islam but radical Islam.

Saadaaya said: When we were Pagans, there was cultural tolerance and all the nations' Gods were assimilated into the interpretatio romana. Speaking of interpretatio, you have an interesting one there. Wonder what the Britons and Gauls thought of Roman "cultural tolerance". It's pretty easy to get a broad tolerant society at the point of a sword. Think less gaia, more gladius. Religion isn't the only reason we fight. Throughout history it is rarely even in the top three. A pagan society will be just as blood soaked as a Abrahamic or athiest one. They always have been too.

I don't kow. Maybe this author is biased, but I've read similar material in quite a number of different places.

Let's face it, the influx of Muslims into Western Europe is karmic blowback from the colonialism of the 19th century. Or, as one Brit of Pakistani origin was heard to say, "We are here because you were there."

"Muslim communities have imported the Middle Eastern conflict into their host countries, with attending acts of violence and unbridled anti-Semitism toward local Jewish communities which had otherwise lived peacefully except during the Holocaust interregnum." This is comedy gold.