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Islam said to gain converts among Mexico's Chiapas Protestants
Ecumenical News Inrernational ^
| 25 July 2005
| Manuel Quintero
Posted on 07/26/2005 12:53:46 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
The rough, dusty roads are traversed by women with veils. Nearby in the state's capital, the original inhabitants are building a mosque. "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger," chant a group of children. A scene straight out of the Middle East, Asia or Africa? No, it's in the second largest Roman Catholic country in Latin America: Mexico, in its turbulent southern state of Chiapas.
... "Among the Indian people there is a deep-seated religious identity, marked by syncretism, and a longing for hope in the different manifestations of the sacred," he added. The teachings of the Quran came hand in hand with a well-thought strategy for industrious work, something that, in Gonzalez's opinion, also explains the success of this experiment.
Islamic teachers promoted fruitful activities among their flock in three main areas: food, carpentry and textiles. An almost totally self-reliant economy was established, allowing men to practice Islam around the clock, while women - engaged in textile handicrafts - were assured of an independent income that improves the domestic economy, noted Gonzalez.
... The Catholic bishop of San Cristobal, Felipe Arizmendi, has voiced concern about the growth of Islam in the state, but traditional Protestant churches have not objected, in the belief that tolerance and pluralism is needed in a fragmented society. ...
The presence of Islam in a region where political and economic conflicts have frequently taken on a religious dimension, provoking violent clashes between Protestants and traditional Catholics, could even fuel a new dimension in a protracted conflict, concedes Gonzalez.
(Excerpt) Read more at eni.ch ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Mexico; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholicism; chiapas; cnim; conversion; convert; indigenous; islam; otm; presbyterian; protestantism
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What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer?
To: don-o; conservonator; livius; Campion; netmilsmom; Tax-chick; camle; anniegetyourgun; murphE; ...
2
posted on
07/26/2005 12:55:45 PM PDT
by
Mrs. Don-o
(Jesus, My Lord, my God, my all.)
To: Mrs. Don-o
What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer? A virgin ranch in the sky.
3
posted on
07/26/2005 12:55:46 PM PDT
by
Mr. Mojo
To: Mrs. Don-o
4
posted on
07/26/2005 12:56:35 PM PDT
by
since1868
To: Mrs. Don-o
What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer?72 virgins?
5
posted on
07/26/2005 12:56:48 PM PDT
by
dfwgator
To: Mrs. Don-o
What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer? Revenge.
To: Mrs. Don-o
My guess would be money (from the Saudis, probably) and protection from the warlords. Chiapas is incredibly poor and unstable.
7
posted on
07/26/2005 12:57:35 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
(Standing athwart history, shouting, "Turn those lights off! You think electricity grows on trees?")
To: Mrs. Don-o
Something tells me we're about to be told why this is a good thing.
To: Mrs. Don-o
Structure.
The offcial persecution by the Mexican government of the Catholic Church for decades broke down Church morale and discipline.
Slackness set in.
Many forms of Protestantism are now so content-less that Islam seems just as basic and more disciplined.
9
posted on
07/26/2005 12:58:50 PM PDT
by
wideawake
(God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
To: Mrs. Don-o
I couldn't get past the veils. Ugh!
To: Mrs. Don-o
11
posted on
07/26/2005 1:00:16 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(If you must obey your party, may your chains rest lightly upon your shoulders.)
To: Mrs. Don-o
What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer? Temporal comfort at the price of eternal bliss.
12
posted on
07/26/2005 1:00:35 PM PDT
by
conservonator
(Lord, bless Your servant Benedict XVI)
To: Mrs. Don-o
Time to build that wall ... a little higher this time.
13
posted on
07/26/2005 1:00:59 PM PDT
by
BunnySlippers
(Be a Good Mullah Now ...)
To: Mrs. Don-o
To: Mrs. Don-o
What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer? Fascism. Look for the strong stick that holds the kindling. Then burn the entire bundle.
15
posted on
07/26/2005 1:02:13 PM PDT
by
LoneRangerMassachusetts
(Some say what's good for others, the others make the goods; it's the meddlers against the peddlers)
To: cripplecreek
in the belief that tolerance and pluralism is needed in a fragmented society. ...Dear Mexico,
What goes around comes around. Enjoy!
16
posted on
07/26/2005 1:03:23 PM PDT
by
darkwing104
(Let's get dangerous)
To: conservonator
Matthew 16:26: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
To: Grand Old Partisan
Matthew 16:26: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Amen. But it's hard to look to heaven when you children are crying because they are hungry. How much culpability to we have in events like these? Matthew 25: 41-46 comes to mind. I fear His just judgment and have only His mercy and grace to comfort me.
18
posted on
07/26/2005 1:10:43 PM PDT
by
conservonator
(Lord, bless Your servant Benedict XVI)
To: Mrs. Don-o
What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer?
Just a guess, but maybe the fact that Islam indulges and legitimizes anger, hate and violence is very attractive to people for whom Christianity preaches controlling anger, eliminating hate and not being violent. I suspect that the appeal to indulge these ugly instincts is attractive to people who feel 'angry' about the situation they live with in backwards Mexico.
19
posted on
07/26/2005 1:16:02 PM PDT
by
hardworking
(Libs re terroism and a tooth ache: Pretend it doesn't hurt and it will go away.)
To: Mrs. Don-o
Good afternoon.
"What is Islam offering these people that Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has failed to offer?"
Islam tells them that the property of the infidels will be theirs.
To me, the scary part is the possibility that Islam will mix with Maoist ideas and Catholicism and mutate into something even more awful. The Sendero Luminoso guerrillas mixed Catholicism, Mao and Indian beliefs to come up with a group that liked to hang dogs from lampposts and murder educated people.
The people of Chiapas are already used to violence. We definitely need to build a wall but we probably won't.
Michael Frazier
20
posted on
07/26/2005 1:17:48 PM PDT
by
brazzaville
(No surrender,no retreat. Well, maybe retreat's ok)
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