I’m not talking about my friends and my neighbours who are Muslim, I’m talking about the organisation and upper echelons of Islam AND the UK.
The people at the top, like the Saudi Royal Family, The Ayatollahs, the politicians, the people who are just plain scared of being called Islamophobic are actually damaging relations between cultures. No just in this country but across the world.
So why does Islam scare the hell out of me?
Well, let’s just look at the countries that are predominantly Muslim. The people are poor, there is inequality between men and women, people are tortured, stoned to death, beheaded, have limbs chopped off. Their very dubious Sharia courts provide a legal system that is archaic and unfair.
Women in many of these countries are forced into wearing the Burqa or the Niqab. Personally, I do not believe that any God demands that level of modesty. I feel that it is a symbol of oppression and I don’t want it here in the UK.
We can see that Christians, Jews, atheists and non-Muslims in predominantly Muslim countries are tortured, killed or forced to convert.
We also have a situation where Muslims are killing Muslims for not being the right kind of Muslims. Some are Sunni, some are Shi-ite, then we’ve got Wahhabis. Very tribal and very judgemental of each other.
In some countries, gay people are thrown off the roof of a high-rise building.
I’m not ashamed to say that I’m scared stiff of those kinds of things and I certainly wouldn’t want to live in a country where these things happen.
About 400 years ago in this country, we experienced a religious fundamentalism that forced people to deny their Catholic beliefs and embrace the protestant faith. It was brought in by Henry the Eighth. Over a period of one hundred years, it changed the face of the countries belief system. Many people died. Many people were tortured. Do we really want that to happen again?
No, we don’t but I’m not feeling a strong defence of our cultural roots, beliefs and values by our politicians and people in power. Why? Because they are terrified of being called Islamaphobic – there’s that word again. However, whilst the politicians are terrified of being labelled Islamaphobic, they don’t mind sending bombing Muslims in other countries
We hear nothing from the Sikhs, the Buddhists, the atheists, the pagans, the Jews – complaining that they are oppressed but then we don’t have terrorist bombers being spawned from those communities either.
In the last Census in 2011, 59% of the population identified themselves as Christian and 33% identified as atheist or agnostic. Only 4.5% of people identified as Muslim.
With such a small proportion of the population following Islam, you may be wondering why it scares me so much. Well this is the only group that complain so loudly about ‘their rights’ and this is the only group that has hate preachers speaking in Mosques around the country.
And, of course, this is the only group that we are currently bombing nine bells out of in other countries. It’s bound to make them a bit cross and there are bound to be some of them, living in the UK, that want to seek retribution. Unfortunately, none of these people walk around with “I’m a terrorist” printed on their T-Shirt.
We see headlines that Christmas has been replaced with Winter tide or The Holidays rather than actually calling it Christmas because our crazy counsellors are terrified of offending someone.
Now let me point something out right now, the majority of Muslim people are no more offended by us celebrating Christmas than we are by them celebrating Eid.
So, this brings me back to the people in power. How come our counsellors and politicians are frightened of standing up and saying… No, this is what we do in this country… deal with it!?
Well, let’s look at the city of Leicester as an example. Out of 40 counsellors in Leicester, 24 of them are Muslim. The non-Muslim Counsellors are terrified of being accused of ‘Isamophobia’.
This is the word that people use to insult anyone who tries to be patriotic or defend British traditions and values. I’m expecting to be called Islamophobic after posting this blog.
So, in light of this fear, the counsellors get together and start spouting words like ‘inclusivity’ and cross-cultural celebrations’. They believe that this will prevent them from appearing to be Islamophobic because to be accused of that would certainly end their career.
There must be Muslims on the council who are secretly thinking… “So you’re willing to sell out on the single biggest Christian festival of the year?” But remember, they are quite happy to let them do this because the Muslims want everyone to throw away their own belief system and join Islam.
Real inclusivity doesn’t mean that you have to water down traditional celebrations. No, it means that the UK still has its own celebrations, that we have had since the dark ages and we say – “Hey, if any other faith or community wants to join in, that’s fine!”
I used to love to go and see the Duwali celebrations (A Hindu Festival) because the food was good and the lights were pretty. It didn’t ‘offend’ my Catholic values but I didn’t expect them to have a Priest on hand and some holy water to make me feel ‘included’.
Christmas and Easter are long standing traditions in the UK. Many of my Muslim friends buy presents for their kids at Christmas and take them to see Santa Claus. The only difference between me and them is that they don’t recognise it as the birth of Jesus Christ. Is anyone offended? No!
So, let’s get back to the people at the top. The ones with the power.
We all know that Saudi Arabia funds terrorism, runs a society where women are second class citizens and actively builds mosques in and around Europe to promote the growth of Islam in those areas.
So, what does out government do? Sit’s down to tea and buns with them.
What our government should be doing it telling the Saudi’s that if they want to trade with us, they’d better well make some human rights changes in their own country and when they send their royal family over to the UK, they won’t wander around in a black tarpaulin, looking like a napalmed pillar box!
Now let’s have a look at Baroness Sayeeda Warsi – How she became a Baroness, goodness only knows. When she commented on last summer’s terrorist attacks in London, she didn’t come right out and say “This is outrageous” No! She said “Britain has got to find a new way to connect with the Muslim community to ensure that they feel included” Oh? So now it’s Britain’s fault that we were attacked by fundamentalist lunatics, is it?
So, the whole rhetoric and political ideology is geared to make the traditional British people feel that we are the one’s who have to adapt our lifestyle, our values, our norms, to accommodate a minority group. Sorry but that isn’t the way it works.
Anyone who is part of a minority group needs to realise that they are the one’s who need to adapt to fit in with the rest of us and not the other way around. In fairness, I think that the majority of Muslim people do integrate and live their lives quietly and as part of the wider British culture.
The main problem is that when the people in power hit the headlines, it’s usually because they have done something newsworthy and don’t the UK newspapers just love to tell us when one crazy council has banned Christmas? So it appears to the general masses that our whole culture is under threat. The fact is that we’re only under threat from the crazies that have found themselves in a position of power.
We now realise that the Brexit vote was a vote largely against immigration. A huge amount of people voted to come out of Europe because they thought that it would stop the continual introduction of different cultures into this country.
The fact that it’s not going to make a single jot of difference will soon anger those who voted to come out the EU but the government must see and act on the will of the people.
The British people are crying out to keep their own, traditional, long standing traditions, their National identity, their pride in the country that their ancestors fought to protect and whilst they feel that these things are being eroded… trouble with remain.
The fact is that the politicians, the counsellors, the religious leaders in this country have got to stop being ‘seen’ to defend invading cultures and stand up for ours.
We all know that they don’t actually care about Muslims or they wouldn’t be bombing them, so why don’t they stand up and say so?
Oh yes! Because if they did this they would be called Islamophobic and lose their careers – Well! Every cloud has a silver lining x