The Hereford Mosque debacle.
The islamic group in Hereford wants to build a mosque/community centre whatever. Now I believe that people should be allowed to worship whatever sky pixie they choose but sadly there is something about Islam that raises genuine concerns (probably the propensity to violence although NOT ALL muslims are violent nutters.) When dealing with religions and races it’s vitally important to separate the individual from the ideologies. To give an analogy I don’t like socialism but I’ll still have a beer with a socialist.
Now I’ll be quite frank I don’t like much of Islam. That is partly because I’ve seen the islamification of formerly mixed areas and it hasn’t improved them not for the muslim or the non muslim. I’m very glad I moved away from an area where Islam was dominant as it does affect issues such as free speech, freedom of action the position and safety of women and LGBT people etc etc. Oh and there’s the violence thing as well.
I’m very aware of Islam’s history its actions and it’s modus operandi. I don’t like it for theological reasons one of which is that the religion appears to demand unquestioning submission to the Islamic God. That is NOT healthy especially when Islamic culture is placed within free societies as it then comes into conflict with the mores of the community that surrounds it especially when the community is broadly secular and because of this becomes more insular and ghettoised. This benefits no one not muslim or non muslim. I don’t like Islam for political reasons (an islamic state is not one I would want to live in and neither would many muslims or non muslims to be quite honest.) I don’t like the expansionist arrogance of Islam although I recognise that in the past Christianity and ancient Judaism shared a similar way of operation.
I also dislike Islam because I perceive it as a threat as do many others. Certain types of Islam are a clear and present danger but some are not it’s just a case of getting educated enough to distinguish between the two types.
Now to the positive. There are good muslims and bad muslims and I can’t say it enough that you need to separate the individual from the ideology. Those who have an enquiring and questioning attitude to Islam I don’t have a problem with it’s the total submitters I have an issue with. Also in a lot of cases a person is a decent person in spite of their religious belief rather than because of it.
In this case I’m worried as all many of us know about the group and the proposal so far is as follows
1. They’ve got feet under table in Kindle Centre and there may be issues as to how much influence the islamic group has on the management. This brings up issues of keeping secular public spaces just that, secular. The Kindle Centre promoting friday prayers smacks of a lot of influence with centre management. I’d be grateful for an explanation.
2. The local rent seeking Diversity officer wants it (sometimes diversity officers make things worse). Some of us can respect difference but to not want to be forcibily ‘Culturally Diversified’ or enriched.
3. The BBC is cheerleading for it.
4. There appears to have been trolling for funds by someone on behalf of or using the name of the mosque on an Islamic extremist / one NOT completly opposed to jihad, site – bad bad sign.
Check out the Hereford Times thread. It’s got the lot, it’s got knee jerk lefties, Islamoloons, offence takers the odd anti Jihadist and more than a few beer fuelled posts from me.
There are also a few good people on there who are thoughtful and who are more than welcome here. The loonies I’m just going to laugh at 🙂
If I’m wrong about any of this I will put my hands up and admit when I am but I’m going to take a lot of convincing that there are no underlying problems here both with the local Islamic community or with it’s interreaction with the local authority. In a lot of the country Islam has lost the trust of many non muslims and it is vital that hard questions are answered.
For those of you who are opposed to the mosque all I can say is if you are going to protest do it peacefully, legally, cleverly and with a bit of style.. Don’t be a complete dickhead and give it large with threats.
To those who want the mosque I would ask you to think why there are objections and work towards a situation where trust can return.
To add and expand my previous post.
1. They’ve got feet under table in Kindle Centre and there may be issues as to how much influence the islamic group has on the management. This brings up issues of keeping secular public spaces just that, secular. The Kindle Centre promoting friday prayers smacks of a lot of influence with centre management. I’d be grateful for an explanation.
I would most certainly encourage people to write to the centre management and ask the question about the islamic groups involvement in the management of the centre. It may well be that there is a bit of naive hippy-ness involved here or someone wanting to tick the right diversity boxes for funding reasons and giving influence to this group helped them do this. I’ve worked in local authorities and know the shenanigans that go on especially with lefty councils and council officers
2. The local rent seeking Diversity officer wants it (sometimes diversity officers make things worse). Some of us can respect difference but to not want to be forcibily ‘Culturally Diversified’ or enriched.
I got the impression that this particular person was criticising Hereford for not being diverse enough and that we needed some enforced cultural diversification. I don’t by the way.
3. The BBC is cheerleading for it.
Since when was the BBC a fan of the ordinary man on the clapham omnibus? They are fans of leftisim, a large state, Islam and a lot more but the views of the BBC sometimes vary considerably from what is known as Real Life.
4. There appears to have been trolling for funds by someone on behalf of or using the name of the mosque on an Islamic extremist / one NOT completly opposed to jihad, site – bad bad sign.
This matter needs urgent investigation and I’d urge people to get onto it.
XX (an islamic state is not one I would want to live in and neither would many muslims …..) XX
That is why they are all here poluting our countrys and demanding “muslim rites” is it?
Can’t be so bad, if the first thing they demand is that we allow them to do exactly the same as they did in their homeland, which they have just “escaped” from, can it?
Hi FT – good to hear from you. One of the things that really pisses me off about organised Islam in the UK is the fact that they have abused our policy of freedom of religious concsience.
The ironic thing is when an area becomes Islamised religious freedom goes out of the window. Try being a Christian evangelist in Tower Hamlets or Rochdale or bits of Bradford and I bet you’d get hassle from a bearded mentalcase or two.
Oh and big up to all those who peacefully got the Islamia Village hatefest cancelled last week. Way to go!
Cheers. 🙂
Aye, we have similar areas here in Berlin. Kreuzberg, Neu-Kölln, Schöneberg, among others. As do many other German citys, particularly in the Ruhr valley area.
I work with quite a few, and they are basically great, and want nothing to do with the “radicals”.
Unfortunately, it is the radicals that bend the politicians ears, and get what they want, over and above any other opinions.
Take for example an area that is split about half and half between Germans and muslims. You have an “election”, or rather a referendum on whether a pub should close.
The muslim radicals pull out every stop to make sure “their communitys” vote. Naturally against. The argument “a pub in “our” area is against our religion”.
So, the pub closes, even though in the strictly LOCAL area, or the pubs catchment area, they are 90% German. But even if 90% went out to vote, it is only a small percent of the entire VOTE “catchment area”. A German ten Kilometers away will not bother his arse to vote for a pub he has never set eyes on. But the muslims have another agenda.
Now. We see this happen time and time again. And what happens? Ten weeks later, or whatever the “waiting period” is, these same buildings nearly invariably open as “Turkish” or “Arab” or one of those, kebab places, and what is even MORE bloody annoying, they also invariably sell….you guessed it, beers wines and spirits!
They are only SUPOSSED to be ten percent of the population, But their political “power” goes WAAAY beyong ten percent. Because of this “bussing” when it comes to a local issue vote, the mafia like way they control “their” communitys (ie, other muslims, radical or not) and because the politicians are only too willing to roll over and support them in their every whim.
THAT is why, even though only 10%, and the “radicals” even a smaller percentage, they are a bloody danger to our way of life.