37 per cent support ban on minarets in UK, 25 per cent against – opinion poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

People in Britain are open to the idea of banning minarets, according to a three-country poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion. 37 per cent of respondents in Britain would vote in favour of a ban, while 25 per cent would vote against it.

In the United States, 21 per cent of respondents would vote to ban minarets, while 19 per cent disagree. In Canada, 35 per cent of respondents would vote against a ban, while 27 per cent would endorse one.

Angus Reid Global Monitor, 22 December 2009

Cf. Sholto Byrnes’ comments on the New Statesman blog, 21 December 2009

Posted in UK

Why ‘divisive Islam’ is a threat – Trevor Kavanagh explains

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PD*1006852In an op ed in the Sun, Trevor Kavanagh sends season’s greetings to Muslim communities in the UK:

“In the spirit of Christmas, here is a festive quiz – with just one question. As the infamous Noughties draw to a close, what do these two Sunday paper stories have in common?

“Anti-censorship champ Jonathan Dimbleby vetoes cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a campaigning magazine, in case his staff are attacked by enraged Muslims. Christian teacher Olive Jones is sacked for offering a prayer for a sick child – an act deemed as ‘bullying’.

“The answer is simple and alarming. They show the Noughties as the decade when the once-mighty Christian West bowed before Islam.”

He continues: “Police say London is being set up for a murderous attack by extremists. ‘Mumbai is coming to London’, warned a senior detective from the S015 counter-terrorism squad, in a reference to the 2008 massacre in India.

“Meanwhile, we learn at least one Muslim woman a month is the victim of so-called ‘honour killings’. In a year, that’s as many as perished under serial killer ‘Ripper’ Peter Sutcliffe’s hammer. Countless more are beaten and forced into unwelcome marriage, often to ageing strangers. Countless wives and daughters, barred from learning English, live in secret terror of their own fathers, brothers and male cousins.

“Yet, apart from rare cases such as Mehmet Goren, jailed for life last week for slaughtering his teenage daughter, they rarely end in court. We don’t like trespassing on the way of life and death in this so-called ‘community’.”

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Another Quilliam witch-hunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In recent years, several leading UK Muslim organizations have moved away from hosting extremist foreign clerics and have instead begun promoting UK-born and -educated speakers who can facilitate the growth of a native, harmonious Western Islam.

“Next week, however, a major Birmingham institution, the Green Lane Mosque (headquarters of the national Markaz Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith organization) will host two extreme Wahhabi clerics who bolster al-Qaeda narratives…. The Green Lane Mosque has previously been exposed as a centre of hate-preaching. Muslims need to challenge the hateful and divisive rhetoric of such extremist Saudi clerics and those people who promote them.”

Quilliam Foundation press release, 17 December 2009

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Students condemned for ‘racially offensive’ fancy dress stunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Students as Guantanamo detaineesStudents who dressed up as prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and “blacked-up” their faces for a Christmas party have been accused of racism.

The students, part of the rugby team from the London School of Economics (LSE), were in costume for the annual “carol” last Friday, an “all-day drinking” event organised by the university’s Athletics Union. They wore orange jumpsuits, with some painting their faces brown and drawing on beards.

At around 1pm, outside the Student Union bar, in full public view, they proceeded to imitate Muslim prayer while other team members dressed as American soldiers shouted orders at them. It took place just as Muslim students were leaving the nearby Old Building after Friday prayer.

West End Extra, 17 December 2009

See also “‘Racist, religiously insensitive and demeaning’: LSE athletes’ Christmas party”, London Student, 11 December 2009

Posted in UK

Season’s greetings from the National Secular Society … as long as you’re not an immigrant

Posted on by Bob Pitt

National Secular Society president Terry Sanderson delivers his “seasonal message”:

While we know that the traditional places of worship – the Church of England and the Catholic Churches – are declining rapidly, further evidence has emerged this month showing that immigrants are importing their own brands of religion into Britain. They generally take their faith more seriously than the “I’m spiritual but not religious” brigade that makes up the majority of the population in Britain (or the “fuzzy faithful” as they’ve been called).

Muslims from Pakistan and India, Catholics from Poland and evangelical Protestants from Africa and the Caribbean are bringing with them unpleasantly conservative religious beliefs that sometimes shock and repel the majority. They often seem primitive, hysterical, fanatical and alien, full of hatred and intolerance and crazy, senseless rules. Honour killings, violent, sometimes fatal, exorcisms, denial of medical treatment to children on the assumption that prayer will be sufficient, the treatment of women as chattels and the spouting of unvarnished hatred of non-believers, gays and Jews from the pulpits of mosques.

NSS website, 17 December 2009

Racist faces prison term

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A 55 year old man who sang a racist song after an Asian male got on the bus has been warned he faces a prison sentence.

Blackburn magistrates heard that David Thompson made several references to the Taliban after Ibrahim Mulla got on the bus from Darwen to Blackburn. The court was told Thompson, who has a swastika tattooed on his arm, maintained his racist rendition throughout the 20 minute journey, until his target reacted angrily. Mr Mulla had to be restrained by the driver and other passengers as he challenged Thompson to “say it to his face”.

After he was arrested Thompson admitted to police he was racist, that he didn’t like Asians and he didn’t want them in his country. Thompson, of Glebe Close, Accrington, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated threatening behaviour. He was remanded on bail for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Scott Ainge, prosecuting, said Mr Mulla finished work in Darwen and shortly after 7 pm got on the bus to Blackburn. Thompson got on shortly after and started staring at Mr Mulla before singing; “Hey Mr Taliban give me a banana” or “Hey Mr Taliban give me Bin Laden”. He repeatedly shouted “Taliban, Taliban”.

“Mr Mulla tried to ignore him but the abuse continued all the way from Darwen to Blackburn,” said Mr Ainge. “Mr Mulla accepts that he became angry and challenged the defendant. He didn’t see why he had to tolerate such racist abuse.”

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said the offence was regrettable and it was accepted it had caused offence.

Asian News, 16 December 2009

Posted in UK

French minister wants to deny citizenship to Muslim women wearing veils

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric BessonFrance’s immigration minister said Wednesday that he wants the wearing of Muslim veils that cover the face and body to be grounds for denying citizenship and long-term residence.

Eric Besson said he planned to take “concrete measures” regarding such veils, which are worn by a small minority of women in France but have become the object of a parliamentary inquiry into whether a ban should be imposed. Besson spoke during a hearing before the panel of lawmakers as their nearly six-month inquiry draws to a close.

Besson said he believed a formal ban on veils that cover the face and body seemed to him “unavoidable,” with a ban in public services as a minimum step. Whether such veils are banned or not, he said he intends to personally move forward to ensure that women wearing such veils and seeking French nationality or residence cards are denied.

“I want the wearing of the full veil to be systematically considered as proof of insufficient integration into French society, creating an obstacle to gaining (French) nationality,” he said. He said he would advise prefects, the highest state representative in the various French regions, that the wearing of such veils is a motive for not delivering 10-year residence cards.

Besson said he was prepared to put the measures before parliament to make them law. In November, Besson ordered a nationwide debate on the French identity, to conclude by the end of January with possible measures.

Associated Press, 16 December 2009