Muslims outpace Anglicans in UK

The Sunday Times (UK) ^ | 1/25/04 | Nicholas Hellen

[saquin]

ATTENDANCE at Britain’s mosques has outstripped the number of regular worshippers in the Church of England for the first time.

Figures compiled from government and academic sources show that 930,000 Muslims attend a place of worship at least once a week, compared with 916,000 Anglicans.

Muslim leaders said it was a landmark in the rise of Islam in Britain and that Muslims must receive a share of the Church of England’s privileged status.

This weekend David Hope, the Archbishop of York, second in the church hierarchy, conceded defeat. His spokesman said: “The archbishop acknowledges the overtaking of Church of England numbers by the Muslim community. But he believes that many more people have an affinity to the church than the number recorded as having attended once on a Sunday.” According to the 2001 census, three-quarters of the British population regards itself as Christian.

The Muslim community does not keep registers of attendance in mosques. However, the 2001 census included a question about religious adherence.

Those results, released last year, have been supplemented by surveys to give the first reliable assessment of worshipping Muslims.

The census recorded 1.59m Muslims but academics believe the true figure is at least 1.8m. Ceri Peach, professor of social geography at Oxford University, said the census failed to record the balance because the question was voluntary.

Research by Tariq Modood, a professor of sociology at Bristol University, found that 62% of Muslims pray in places of worship. The total is about 930,000 if young children, most of whom do not worship in the mosque, are excluded. The figure underestimates the number of practising Muslims. Mohammed Anwar, professor of ethnic relations at the University of Warwick, said: “In addition to those who go to the mosque, many Muslims also pray at home.”

Immigration from Eastern Europe and conversions are adding to the number of Muslims. Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said that British converts to Islam totalled 20,000 in the past 10 years.

Muslim leaders now want to translate their numerical advantage into tangible gains. The Church of England commands 26 seats in the House of Lords but Lord Ahmed, a Labour peer, said 10 extra seats should be allocated to other religions.

Peter Brierley, executive director of the Christian Research Association, pointed out that the total number of Christian worshippers still far outstrips the number of Muslims. The Catholic church has about 1.5m British worshippers.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - TROP

[B Knotts]

Unless I'm mistaken, this will be the first self-genocide (at least of this scale) in world history.

The irony, of course, is that contraception and abortion were promoted by social Darwinists as a means of controlling the swarthy masses.

Instead, it is through these very means that Western culture and its people will be exterminated.

The heritage of liberalism and atheism is indeed harsh.

[B Knotts]

Lest there be any question about why Britain is facing this doom at this particular time, here is a fine example:

Infanticide is justifiable in some cases, says ethics professor

[wylenetheconservative]

Our liberals have gone to such lengths to ensure the culture of outsiders is respected that they have abandoned our own. While the culture of recent immigrants is celebrated and honored with Latin and day parades, the symbol of Southern heritage is assaulted with impunity every day. Soon we will not be able to withstand the assault any longer, even in my home of Mississippi. All heritage and culture will eventually be lost for our descendants. Soon thereafter, as an oppressed minority, we will assimilate into the dominant culture for survival. I hate to harbor such pessimism, but I fear this to be the reality of the situation. Western Civilization will indeed soon be dead.

[dennisw]

At least Poland is not plauged by Muslim fifth columnists. So has more freedom to do what's good and right. And has been friendly to Israel and vis versa.

[dennisw]

I noticed that Lord Achmed too. Cognitive dissonance set in.

[PLMerite]

Grand Mufti of Canterbury bump.

[TruthNtegrity]

And the Sudan.

[TruthNtegrity]

I lived in London in 1979, 1980, and travelled there in 1982, 1983, and 1984. Each trip, I saw more and more Arabs, more and more Lebanese, Moroccan, Indian (well that's part of the former British territories) restaurants but it also amazed me the number of Rolls Royces they were driving around.

I then wondered if the typical Pub-goer would disappear, and sure enough, without any controls on their immigration, that's what has happened.

Now Brits are about to let in 33,000 Gipsies (their spelling, not mine) from Poland. Oh brother, for a group who is known to make their "living" off of stealing and gaming gambits, this is insane. And they have more babies than rabbits. -Oh, here come the PC police over that last one, but it's true. 33,000 of 'em - I fear for England's future.

TNT

[TruthNtegrity]

What? You think America is not under attack by the Arab invasion?

The problem really is we have a two-front invasion - Arabs are using our Southern border to invade, or coming in on education or temporary work visas, then overstay them, and the Mexicans are invading us from the South.

Whether it's the border as represented by airports, or our actual border with Mexico, we need to do something to stop just letting everyone come here who wants to. We need to invoke the INS rules on percentages from countries and put control back in the process.

England has lost their typical Pub-goer. America is soon to lose the backbone of America. What happens then?

[PattonReincarnated]

>> Ditto. I'm keeping an eye on the conservative dissidents (the ones with traditional Anglican beliefs). Know anything about the Reformed Episcopal Church?

There have been some meetings recently. There is a bishop from Pittsburgh that is active in this, and another from Texas. The talk I have heard is something along the lines of a church within a church. I will have to see how the money flows on that one. If my local bishop (Harrisburg, PA) gets the money, I will still be out of a church. I sometimes feel that I should be in church, fighting the battle from the inside, but I can't have my kids exposed to this crap. Just before 9/11, our church added two part-time priests. The one in charge of the youth program is divorced, and he brings his ex-wife to church with him. He holds this out as, "Hey, look at me, I'm such a good guy, I got a divorce, and I'm still good friends with my wife." Forget that crap. My wife was on the selection committee (by the way, prior to this, my entire family was very active) for the two priests, and it seemed to the majority on the committee saw no problem that a priest was divorced, or that his favorite past-time was fantasy football (it was all he could talk about.) Sorry, I don’t worry about football until after church.

After 9/11, the Presiding Bishop did me in when he could not differentiate between good and evil when it came to the war on terror. My family came to America for religious freedom, and they fought for their freedoms some 227 years ago. Personally, I have no problem saying that Muslims want one and only one religion in the world. They have spread it by the sword in the past, and now they are spreading by terror. What I needed from the Church after 9/11 was not there – simply put, how to be the best Christian as possible during a time of war. The two are not incongruous.

[BigBobber]

"Latins" are generally white and Christian. Spanish is a western European language.

Europe has a much larger problem with their Muslims than we do with Latins.

[Siamese Princess]

Thank you for you thoughtful and well-written reply. I agree with you wholeheartedly and am waiting to see what happens, too. Currently, I'm in the Church of Sleep-In on Sunday. I have some disagreements with the Roman Church and have studied the Eastern Orthodox one, but when all is said and done I am a thorough WASP (albeit one of modest means). There are a couple of Reformed Episcopalian Churches here in New Jersey. I have a friend who belongs to a nearby Lutheran-Missouri Synod Church so perhaps I will check them out.

Gen. Patton was a great man, general and Episcopalian, too. I wonder what he would have to say about all this. Probably not something printable on a family forum!

[PattonReincarnated]

>> Gen. Patton was a great man, general and Episcopalian, too. I wonder what he would have to say about all this. Probably not something printable on a family forum!

Thanks for the compliment. I was a great man. (j/k) What Patton would say is, "Read the Bible every God D@mn day."

[Blood of Tyrants]

As a counterview, the Souther Baptist church I attend, has doubled in attendance in tha past 4 years and is growing steadily. We teach that there is onle ONE way to heaven and that trying to straddle the fence, i.e. trying to live a "moral" life but rejecting Christ, won't help because Satan owns the fence.

[bereanway]

I would much rather have our immigration problem than the Euros; however, given the lack of backbone we've shown in securing our borders I'm not convinced we won't soon have a major Muzzle problem as well. We're bound and determined to destroy Western civilization and at some point we'll probably achieve that ignoble goal.

I only hope there's enough of a Remnant remaining who hold to traditional, Biblical, Western values to stem the tide and return us to a culture which values what is good. Given the insanity which seems to pass for public discourse and policy I'm not encouraged.

[tubavil]

ATTENDANCE at Britain's mosques has outstripped the number of regular worshippers in the Church of England for the first time.

Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, a base for homicidal muslim terrorists.

[bereanway]

It's difficult for me to tell, but is that picture you posted an actual photo of a banner hanging outside that snakepit you noted in Britain?

If so, I believe that pretty much sums up the gravity of the problem.

[lsmith1990]

"Europe has a much larger problem with their Muslims than we do with Latins."

absolutely, there is no comparison. Hispanics are better stewards of Christianity than many "good" white americans

[tubavil]

Yes. Here is a better pic and some more.