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More in France Are Turning to Islam, Challenging a Nation’s Idea of Itself
New York Times ^ | February 3, 2013 | MAÏA de la BAUME

Posted on 02/05/2013 10:22:37 AM PST by reaganaut1

While the number of converts remains relatively small in France, yearly conversions to Islam have doubled in the past 25 years, experts say, presenting a growing challenge for France, where government and public attitudes toward Islam are awkward and sometimes hostile.

French antiterrorism officials have been warning for years that converts represent a critical element of the terrorist threat in Europe, because they have Western passports and do not stand out.

In October, the French police conducted a series of antiterrorism raids across France, resulting in the arrests of 12 people, including at least three French citizens who had recently converted to Islam. Converts “often need to overdo it if they want to be accepted” as Muslims, and so veer into extremism more frequently than others, said Didier Leschi, who was in charge of religious issues at the Interior Ministry under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

There are persistent concerns that French prisons are fertile ground for conversions and for Islamic radicalism; observant Muslims are thought to make up a least a third of the inmate population, according to French news reports.

...

In some predominantly Muslim areas, even non-Muslims observe Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that requires fasting during the day, because they like “the group effect, the festive side of it,” said Samir Amghar, a sociologist and an expert on radical Islam in Europe.

In many banlieues, Islam has come to represent not only a sort of social norm but also a refuge, an alternative to the ambient misery, researchers and converts say.

For Mr. Amghar, Islam provides more structure and discipline than other religions. It is a way to “refuse modernism,” get back to a society with more family values and a clearer distinction between men and women.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: france; islam
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Nature abhors a vacuum.
1 posted on 02/05/2013 10:22:39 AM PST by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1
Nature abhors a vacuum.

Yup. If Christianity is going to retreat from the West, Islam and other faiths are going to step in to fill the void.

It is just sad to see Western Christianity all but surrender without even putting up a fight in much of Europe. That very well may be our future. Misplaced white guilt and bizarre self loathing seem to have something to do with it.

2 posted on 02/05/2013 10:28:32 AM PST by Longbow1969
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To: reaganaut1

As in the beginning, as ever, Islam picks up society’s flotsam and jetsam and allows them to feel “special” and “chosen.”

Then it sets them on the sort of violent, vengeful course which is so pleasing to haters on the bottom rung of peoples everywhere.


3 posted on 02/05/2013 10:28:42 AM PST by Jack Hammer
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To: reaganaut1

But I’m sure that fact that government has been hostile towards the Catholic Church since the Third Republic has had nothing to do with this.


4 posted on 02/05/2013 10:32:01 AM PST by Shadow44
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To: reaganaut1

All religions and cultures that Islam considers to be its enemies must combine their forces to defeat it.


5 posted on 02/05/2013 10:35:13 AM PST by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: reaganaut1

This should end well.

Maybe we can get a Charles Martel part deux.


6 posted on 02/05/2013 10:36:00 AM PST by EEGator
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To: reaganaut1

I didn’t read the entire article. Did the NYT happen to mention anything about the mysogeny, anti-semitism and rampant violence against other faiths typical of those claiming to be muslim and how that might effect French culture?


7 posted on 02/05/2013 10:37:04 AM PST by skeeter
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To: reaganaut1; All

Not so fast.

The New York Times, my hometown paper - on the kithchen table every morning of my formative years, of which, now, I wouldn’t take a used copy from Starbucks, that muslim rag, didn’t report on this I am sure:

Three weeks ago-
UK Guardian on the job, as usual:

Several hundred thousand people massed at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday to protest against President François Hollande’s plan to legalise gay marriage and adoption by June.


8 posted on 02/05/2013 10:41:27 AM PST by stanne
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To: reaganaut1

The Greatest Schism.


9 posted on 02/05/2013 10:49:15 AM PST by moovova
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To: reaganaut1

Perhaps the French soldiers who serve in Mali will give the folks back home a picture of why Islamism is something to fight against.

St. Joan of Arc must be rolling in her grave.


10 posted on 02/05/2013 10:53:05 AM PST by married21
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To: reaganaut1
In some predominantly Muslim areas, even non-Muslims observe Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that requires fasting during the day, because they like “the group effect, the festive side of it,” said Samir Amghar, a sociologist and an expert on radical Islam in Europe.

Occam's Razor says it's fear, and not "the group effect".

11 posted on 02/05/2013 10:56:58 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Rose, there's a Messerschmitt in the kitchen. Clean it up, will ya?)
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To: reaganaut1
France, Sweden.....

Interesting...

 

MOHAMMEDAN FEMINISM SPREADING TO THE WEST

 

Sweden now has the second highest number of rapes in the world, after South Africa, which at 53.2 per 100,000 is six times higher than the United States. Statistics now suggest that 1 out of every 4 Swedish women will be raped.

Sweden, like the rest of the West, will have to come to terms with the fact that it can either have female equality or Muslim immigration. It cannot have both.


 

12 posted on 02/05/2013 10:59:46 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Longbow1969

The ACLU has thrown God, the pledge of allegiance, prayer, plus all of the most very basic affirmations of being an American out the damn window. They have helped CAIR and have done zip to stop radical Islam.


13 posted on 02/05/2013 11:03:52 AM PST by Lumper20 (`)
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To: EEGator
Generation Identitaire (Gates of Vienna blog article).
14 posted on 02/05/2013 11:10:07 AM PST by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: Lumper20
The ACLU has thrown God, the pledge of allegiance, prayer, plus all of the most very basic affirmations of being an American out the damn window.

None of that could happen if the great majority of Americans had put their foot down and said "no". The ACLU is an foul organization (along with other odious supposed "civil liberties" groups), but in the end the problem is that Christian Americans did not stand up for themselves. Western Christianity needs to find a backbone and start being a lot more strident about defending its beliefs and traditions.

15 posted on 02/05/2013 11:12:07 AM PST by Longbow1969
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To: reaganaut1

Karl Jung linked a rise in mental illness to Europe’s abandonment of the church. He said the church had provided a nurturing psychotherapy to the masses, among other services. Having been taught by modern culture that the church is a dead relic, some young people are bound to embrace Islam in their natural quest for spirituality.

http://www.doxa.ws/experience/empirical_studies.html


16 posted on 02/05/2013 11:18:30 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: Charles Martel

Thanks for the link.

Man, I thought you died a long time ago. :)


17 posted on 02/05/2013 11:21:42 AM PST by EEGator
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To: reaganaut1

I cannot understand how a rational person can convert to a medieval, backward, violent, regressive, intolerant death cult cleverly disguised as a religion.


18 posted on 02/05/2013 11:52:33 AM PST by I want the USA back (Liberalism is contrary to human nature.)
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To: I want the USA back

There must be some reason, but unless you know someone personally that has, I doubt anyone would understand. I don’t imagine any freepers have, or they’d be able to explain why to us.


19 posted on 02/05/2013 12:28:43 PM PST by stuartcr ("I have habits that are older than the people telling me they're bad for me.")
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To: reaganaut1

Not a single Muslim would breath a whiff of French air if the French Government didn’t want them there. The Muslims are shipped into France for the same reason tens of millions of illegal aliens from Mexico are shipped into the US.


20 posted on 02/05/2013 12:34:15 PM PST by Count of Monte Fisto
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