Do you think Islam is British?

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:53

Often the question comes up about 'what is British'. Myself and others seem to be able to confidently say that Islam is not British. This seems almost obvious and self-explanatory to me.

The question is - whether it is obvious to others. Is there anything 'British' about Islam? Have we merely chosen to view it as 'unBritish'?

Also, please don't turn this into a flame-fest. If you have a strong opinion or feeling, tread carefully when you express it

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:01

I don't think there can easily be such a thing as 'British Islam' either, and I think this is evidenced by the fact that majority of Imams are foreign.

Any attempts to make a 'British Islam' would require what? A compromise by us to make Britain more Islam-friendly? Taxpayer funding?

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:09

dirtydog said:
Not everything that is 'not Islam' is British. But Islam is not British. I think 'British Muslim' is an oxymoron personally.

I think a person cannot be a British Islamist but not all Muslims are socially involved, and for some it is a personal philosophy. Not sure whether there are many like this though.

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:13

Monkey Puzzle said:
I was under the impression we are a protestant country.....

Church of England... is it true for Britain though?

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:17

Sleepy said:
Given your failings expressed above I think you've failed to define the question, hence your failing to answere it properly.

That's a lot of failure

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:26

Sleepy said:
Not really. The number of practising xians is around 850,000 now. A decline of 50% in the last 20 years. What box people tick on a census form is not a good indicator of their beliefs, not unless you really think 300,000 people do follow the ways of the Jedi. The vast difference between what box people ticked and actual numbers is simply explained by social inertia.

Belonging to a religion or taking an identity is not pivotal on whether you attend a designated building frequently.

Religion can be personal, and can easily affect a person in many profound ways without them having set foot in a place of worship

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:47

Sleepy said:
but if the religion calls for communal acts and especially regular communal acts of worship and other behaviours there coems a point when non compliance with such tenants brings into doubts a persons membership of the mainstream form of that religion. So are you suggesting that 41m british xians aren't CoE etc but actually belong to the Church of can't be assed xianity?

To call it "can't be assed xianity" is dismissive. No church is going to make you be a good person, no vicar is going to force you to understand the principles or give you the capacity to save your soul should you lack it.

Religion is personal, the church is social.
Social groups can help you with your personal religion, but they are not arbitrary.

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 12:07

Sleepy said:
True but then I'm not the one claiming that 41m people who do sit on their asses on sunday as being members of my church.

'the one'? Is this about me or about the points we are discussing?

I haven't claimed anyone is a member of your church, or my church. I am saying that you can go to Church and sit on your ass or you can stay home and sit on your ass and neither will automatically make you a good Christian.

Hence the phrasing.I accept your general point but we aren't talking about a persons personnal beliefs but about their membership of a community with similar beliefs, CofE etc. So as far as this thread goes the community is all.

And why should attendance define who is or isn't a Christian?
Christ never espoused attendance, he espoused values.
The Church is social support, it is not the Religion.

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 14:30

Hmmmm, calling everyone who disagrees with you a 'racist xenophobe' can be insulting but the words aren't insulting in themselves.

Generally it shows poor composure and lacking mannrs

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 15:02

Spawn said:
And as ive said in here before, theres an amazing lack of manners in this place but i guess thats what you get with a bunch of intarnet geeks stuck in front of their monitors all day and night.

I take it you're posting from the beach then...

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 16:51

Spawn said:
LOL there isnt an area in Canada that i have seen that has high density of muslims.

Perhaps you should take a trip there and see for yourself eh??. Instead of rambling on and on and on about something you clearly have no idea on.

Spawn has a point (perhaps its poorly expressed), Muslims in Canada may be far more dispersed than in the UK - where places like East London and Bradford are choc full of Muslimy goodness.