More in France Are Turning to Islam, Challenging a Nation’s Idea of Itself

New York Times ^ | February 3, 2013 | MAÏA de la BAUME

[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.

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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.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I heard years ago on the History Channel that NAPOLEON, in Egypt, wanted his troops to convert to Islam but they rebelled at the thought of circumcision.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Perhaps France needs a new Albigensian Crusade, only in this one ISLAM is the culprit.

This may be the only way to save cultural EUROPE.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I know mass conversions are coming. Christianity has been under overt attack since the late 1940’s-(in America). The constant preaching of equality, the suppression of public Christian expression, nonchristian control of vital institutions, celebrity mocking of patriotism, the expression of the Christian religion and the value of any Western institution,, the destruction of any belief in the exclusion of non-Europeans; the ongoing destruction of belief in Euroamerican exceptional-ism. All that is needed is a few conversions among popular celebrities such as Oprah, sports figures, movie stars etc and millions will follow them.

[EEGator]

Europe needs to do something, and something fast. The lack of breeding by native Europeans is going to cause a serious problem soon. Demographics is destiny.