As reported in the States some of the 21 bombers arrested in London were British born and raised. Were these people converts to Islam? How will this effect British attitudes towards Muslims in general? If American born and raised Muslims carried out terror attacks here I think the backlash against the Muslim community would be severe.
Arrested bombers British?
by frozen one 5 Replies latest social current
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Crumpet
The majority I hear are Pakistani Muslims - there is a huge population of them scattered around Britain, primarily ariound the bigger cities. Many of them are 3 or 4 generations born in Britain but the majority have maintained more of their own culture than inmmersed themselves in Anglo culture. They tend to keep their own religion - you dont find many pakistani JWs - in fact have never ever met one. In addition they tend to have extended families still in Pakistan - so the sons will marry girls from "back home" ie India and Pakistan etc and the daughters too - bringing their spouses back to Britain through arranged marriages and cultivating a further generation of Anglo Asians in this country.
Hence why Britain boasts some of the worlds best curry houses.
On the whole White Brits and Indian/Pakistani Brits get along without really encroaching on each others lives - they run our pertol stataions, 24/7 off licences, taxi companies and restaurants etc. But Diwalhi and their traditional festivals are celebnrated in preference to traditional British Christian festivals.
IF it is confirmed that the bombers were Pakistanis bred here then I am afraid the implications could be pretty dreadful for that community in some cities especially where racist parties such as the BNP have such a strong hold - they could be street violence on a major scale - however not a patch on what might have happened if the plane bombers had not been caught and stopped.
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Dave_T
The terrorists don't even give a damn that the other Muslims who live in the western world will suffer a greater discrimination because of their murderous behaviors. I hope most people will be clever enough to see that the great majority of Muslims in Europe and the US condemn these terrorist attacks. After all, people were clever enough to see that the majority of Catholics had nothing to do with the IRA bombings, for example.
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vitty
I was watching a news programm, were they were discussing the stop and search by police. Complaints had been made that they were being discriminating against who they were stopping................wait for it..................young asian and middle easten men, carrying rucksacks...duh
It would be silly to say that ALL black young men are terrorists, its just they fit the profile.
It would be a waste of time stopping.........old white ladies .
Only one said he realized why he was being stopped and said it was good, and that he felt safer as the police were doing their job.
I can only forsee huge problems for Britain, for ordinary muslims wanting to live a peaceful life, and the police trying to find young british muslims who have become extremists
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frozen one
people were clever enough to see that the majority of Catholics had nothing to do with the IRA bombings
This is true. On the other hand if the Pope, or other prominent Catholic leaders, had called for an international war based on Catholic ideology, clever people would have reached a different conclusion. Were these apparently British citizens acting as British citizens or were they inspired by prominent Islamic leaders in foreign counties?
I read today that 2 Muslims from Dearborn, MI (Dearborn has a rather large Muslim community) had been arrested in Ohio on terrorist charges:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060810/ap_on_re_us/terror_charges_ohio_1
If (and I hope this never, ever happens) a Michigan born and raised Muslim carried out a terrorist attack on American soil, Dearborn would probably be in flames before the day ended. I suspect that Dearborn and the surrounding area (including Detroit) will be on edge as news of the arrests in Ohio, combined with the events from Britain, makes the rounds. People will be wondering what exactly goes on in the mosques.
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Dave_T
Hi frozen Actually, there's no equivalent to the Pope in Islam. There are several Muslim denominations and there are different religious leaders who don't teach the same doctrines (as in Christianity). Not all Muslims acknowledge the same laws. I understand that people get angry. I do too when I see such things on the news. But we shouldn't accuse all the Muslims of terrorism just because one or two members of their community carried out a terrorist attack. It would be unreasonable. Most Muslims I've known (and I've known many of them) just want a job, a house, a family and want to be free to worship their god. Most Muslims are not dangerous fanatics. However, if we, westerners treat them with contempt, we will be partly to blame for the increase in terrorist threat. Having said that, I think that no country should enforce religious laws such as the sharia. This automatically leads to cruel punishments and deprivation of freedoms. But this is what happens when religion and politics are mixed or, in other words, when there's no separation of church and state. The same situation existed in Europe a long time ago. People have been publicly executed in the most gruesome ways for centuries. The secularization of Europe is, in my opinion, the consequence of the abuses of power by clergymen. Ergo the French Revolution for example. Religion should be a personal matter. No one can tell you what religion you should be or should not be. Period. And, sorry if I drifted off the topic.