Reply to Be Wary of Racism and Islamophobes

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Be Wary of Racism and Islamophobes"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

It's clear you didn't view all of the links I provided. You're bent on just arguing. Here is another link but since you are not likely to watch it, I'll summarize:
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/a-bad-moon-rising-the-growth-of-islam-in-the-us/

It's written by a Christian missionary group (I am not seeking these out, but these groups are worried enough about the spread of Islam in the US that they are writing about it more and more). The article claims Islam is growing rapidly due to immigration, procreation, and conversion. It does not identify which contributes the most to the Muslim population growth, but finds conversion significant enough to mention:

"Estimates vary, but Islam now seems to make up about 2.4 percent (or six million) of the United States population. Making up fifteen percent of all legal immigrants, [b]over a hundred thousand Muslims enter this country legally each year.[/b] Furthermore, it is estimated that there are annually tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who are believers in Islam. In addition to immigration, there is also procreation. Muslims tend to have more children than non-Muslims because most do not practice any form of birth control. [b]Conversion also adds to Muslim growth. [b]It is estimated that there are over 25,000 conversions to Islam in this country each year.[/b] Because most of these converts come from Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish backgrounds, they not only entail the expansion of Islam but a shrinkage in other religions. [/b]There are now over 12,000 mosques in the United States with at least one in each state. In California, Muslims make up 3.4 percent of the population, and 4.7 percent of the population of New York state. As of 1995 there were 165 Islamic schools, 426 Islamic associations, around 90 Islamic publications, and twelve national Islamic organizations. Just like Webb’s American Islamic Propaganda Movement, many of these projects receive funding from Islamic nations such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. [b]By the next millennium, Islam will probably be the nation’s second-largest religion[/b]."[/quote]
Leaving alone the fact that you've quoted a biased, agenda-driven source, let's focus on the numbers:

Over 100,000 Muslims immigrate to America every year.

It is ESTIMATED (not known) that 25,000 people convert to Islam in America every year.

I'm going to ask you two questions. One is very simple. The second is less so.

A simple question: what number is higher, a hundred thousand (immigration) or twenty-five thousand (conversion)? Remember, you said Islam in the U.S. is growing NOT by immigration BUT by conversion. So?

I think an average nine-year old ought to be able to answer that question.

A less simple question: If I wanted to know how many people convert to Islam in America every year, who would I call? How are conversions recorded? How are they reported? HOW DO YOU KNOW how many convert every year?
[/quote]

Different PP here. I posted last night (pls go back and read it) that I DID view all the links you put up, and they're irrelevant. To recap. You posted links about relative growth rates among different religions. But you never provided links about the growth rates of [i]immigrants to the US,[/i] so you hadn't provided enough evidence to support your assertion. That assertion, as we remember, is that Islam in the US is growing faster through conversion than through immigration. You also asserted that, soon, there will be a Muslim on every block and in every family. So now you've given another link, which is good, and PP has done the work for you in making the comparison between 100,000 immigrants per year and 25,000 converts (maybe) per year in the US.

Since you keep pushing this, here are a few more points.

1. As a researcher, I HATE it when sources say, "It is estimated that...." Give me a source, so I can evaluate your so-called estimates. Did you call a store-front mosque and simply extrapolate from there?  The figure on Muslim illegal immigrants is particularly suspect, because I've worked with figures on illegal immigrants in another context, and we really have little clue about the demographics of illegal immigrants. I tend to agree with PP's that the passage above was put together by a Christian group that's looking for donations.

2. Attrition. Another PP here is correct, it's impossible under Islamic law to leave Islam it (the penalty is death). Also, family pressures can be enormous. So to the extent actual numbers are collected from mosques, if any Muslims once on the mosque's rolls have left Islam for atheism or (gasp) Christianity or Buddhism, the mosque's rolls would never reflect that, because again it's legally impossible to leave Islam. Yet I, and apparently some other PPs here, know some secular ex-Muslims and my friend even attends a church (gasp) in VA with some ex-Muslims.

3. A lot of conversions are required by Islam's own laws, or result from family pressure, so they're pragmatic. Islam requires a non-Muslim man to convert to Islam so that the children will be Muslim. For non-Muslim women the same rule doesn't exist but, as a PP mentioned, family pressures can be huge because the innocent children might be exposed to Christianity (gasp) or something. I worked at a big international organization here in DC, and just in my office there was a woman who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim diplomat but still attended her (gasp) Episcopalian church.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics