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To: Jim Scott

I simply don’t share your pessimism about this. For a start, you understimate (as do many others) the degree of religious diversity which exists here in Britain - it’s every bit as diverse as in the U.S. (although with different emphases), and has been much enriched by immigration, including the various Christian traditions of the Afro-Caribbean immigrants, and the great strengthening of the Catholic tradition by the large number of Eastern Europeans (especially Poles). The problem with religion in the UK is not the lack of diversity - far from it- but the much larger proportion than in the U.S. of those who have no faith. As for the influence of Islam here, it’s not remotely as pervasive as tends to be believed in this forum. Although startling and often rebarbative where it occurs, making for good press copy (hence the overrating of its significance by observers from abroad largely reliant on that media coverage for their information) it’s much more localised and limited than you (and many others) suppose. The greater part of British society, geographically or however else defined, is affected by it little if at all, and will remain so. And it’s counterbalanced, as I indicated in my earlier post, by the influence of other immigrants originating from cultures historically inimical to Islam. You may think this complacent - it certainly isn’t, and I don’t pretend there isn’t a potentially serious problem. I happen to believe that that problem is much more to do with the total volume of immigration, which is unsustainable, rather than the Muslim component within it. I am, however, optimistic about the eventual outcome - and I do live here.


67 posted on 03/21/2011 1:33:42 PM PDT by Winniesboy
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To: Winniesboy
....and I do live here.

Touché!

That being the case, I'll defer to your proximity to the situation and hope that you are correct in your assessment, but I remain skeptical of your rather sanguine conclusions on the matter of immigrant Muslims' negative effect on British society and culture.

68 posted on 03/21/2011 1:53:59 PM PDT by Jim Scott
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