Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Amid Islamophobia, Islam overtaking Catholicis m in France
PARIS, Nov 2: A majority of people in France, according
to a new poll, believe that Islam is too influential in French society, and
almost half view Muslims as a threat to their national identity.
The survey reveals a significant degradation of the image of Islam in France. The findings also show that French voters are growing increasingly uneasy about mass immigration from Muslim countries, which has been encouraged by a generation of political and cultural elites in France dedicated to creating a multicultural society.
The survey conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (or Ifop, as it is usually called) and published by the center-right Le Figaro newspaper on October 24, shows that 60% of French people believe that Islam has become "too visible and influential" in France -- up from 55% in an earlier survey two years ago.
The poll also reveals that 43% of French people consider the presence of Muslim immigrants to be a threat to French national identity, compared to just 17% who say it enriches society.
In addition, 68% of people in France blame the problems associated with Muslim integration on immigrants who refuse to integrate (up from 61% two years ago), and 52% blame it on cultural differences (up from 40% two years ago).
The poll also shows a growing resistance to the symbols of Islam. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of French people say they are opposed to Muslim women wearing the veil or Islamic headscarves in public, compared to 59% two years ago.
Furthermore, the survey shows that only 18% of French people say they support the building of new mosques in France (compared to 33% in 1989, and 20% in 2010).
"Our poll shows a further hardening in French people's opinions," Jerome Fourquet, head of Ifop's opinion department, told Le Figaro. "In recent years, there has not been a week when Islam has not been in the heart of the news for social reasons: the veil, halal food, dramatic news like terrorist attacks or geopolitical reasons," he said.
France, which is home to an estimated six million Muslims, has the largest Muslim population in the European Union. There are now, in fact, more practicing Muslims in France than there are practicing Roman Catholics.
Although 64% of the French population (or 41.6 million of France's 65 million inhabitants) identify themselves as Roman Catholic, only 4.5% (or 1.9 million) of these actually are practicing Catholics, according to a separate survey on Catholicism in France published by Ifop in July 2009.
By way of comparison, 75% (or 4.5 million), of the estimated six million mostly ethnic North African and sub-Saharan Muslims in France, identify themselves as "believers;" and 41% (or 2.5 million) say they are "practicing" Muslims, according to an in-depth research report on Islam in France published by Ifop in July 2011.
Taken together, the research data provides empirical evidence that Islam is well on its way to overtaking Roman Catholicism as the dominant religion in France.
This trend is also reflected in the fact that mosques are being built more often in France than are Roman Catholic churches; nearly 150 new mosques are currently under construction in France.
The total number of mosques in France has already doubled to more than 2,000 during just the past ten years, according to a research report, "Constructing Mosques: The Governance of Islam in France and the Netherlands." The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, has called for the number of mosques in the country to be doubled again -- to 4,000 -- to meet growing demand.
By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church has built only 20 new churches in France during the past decade, and has formally closed more than 60 churches, many of which are destined to become mosques, according to research conducted by La Croix, a Roman Catholic daily newspaper based in Paris.
In recent weeks, tensions have flared over the proposed conversion of an empty church into a mosque in the central French town of Vierzon. The controversy involves Saint-Eloi's, a small church located in a working class neighborhood that has been taken over by immigrants from Morocco and Turkey.
With six churches to maintain and fewer faithful every year, Roman Catholic authorities in Vierzon say they can no longer afford to keep Saint-Eloi's. They now want to sell the building for €170,000 ($220,000) to a Moroccan Muslim organization that wants to convert the church into a mosque.
In an interview with the French weekly newsmagazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Alain Krauth, the parish priest of the largest Catholic church in Vierzon, said: "The Christian community is not as important as it used to be in the past. If moderate Muslims buy Saint-Eloi's, we can only be happy that the Muslims of Vierzon are able to celebrate their religion." His comments were greeted with outrage by local citizens who are now trying to prevent the church from becoming a mosque.
Similar scenes are being played out across France.
In the nearby city of Poitiers, around 70 members of a conservative youth group known as Generation Identity recently occupied a mosque that is being built in the heavily Muslim Buxerolles district of the city. The dawn raid on October 21 was intended as a protest against Islam's growing influence in France.
The protesters climbed onto the roof of the mosque (photos here) and unfurled a banner with the symbolic phrase "732 Generation Identity," a reference to the year 732, when Charles Martel halted the advance of the invading Muslim army to the north of Poitiers (also known as the Battle of Tours.)
Meanwhile, the Socialist government in France recently inaugurated a new mega-mosque in Paris as a first step towards "progressively building a French Islam."
The new mosque, located in the northern Paris suburb of Cergy-Pontoise, is not only vast in its dimensions (photos here), but is also highly visible and symbolic: its towering minaret, which has purposely been designed to change the suburb's skyline by being taller than any church steeple in the neighborhood, is supposed to become the "new symbol of Islam in France."
Speaking on behalf of French President François Hollande at the inauguration ceremony of the mosque in Cergy, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls articulated the Socialist government's policy vis-à-vis the construction of new mosques in France. He declared: "A mosque, when it is erected in the city, says a simple thing: Islam has its place in France."
The survey reveals a significant degradation of the image of Islam in France. The findings also show that French voters are growing increasingly uneasy about mass immigration from Muslim countries, which has been encouraged by a generation of political and cultural elites in France dedicated to creating a multicultural society.
The survey conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (or Ifop, as it is usually called) and published by the center-right Le Figaro newspaper on October 24, shows that 60% of French people believe that Islam has become "too visible and influential" in France -- up from 55% in an earlier survey two years ago.
The poll also reveals that 43% of French people consider the presence of Muslim immigrants to be a threat to French national identity, compared to just 17% who say it enriches society.
In addition, 68% of people in France blame the problems associated with Muslim integration on immigrants who refuse to integrate (up from 61% two years ago), and 52% blame it on cultural differences (up from 40% two years ago).
The poll also shows a growing resistance to the symbols of Islam. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of French people say they are opposed to Muslim women wearing the veil or Islamic headscarves in public, compared to 59% two years ago.
Furthermore, the survey shows that only 18% of French people say they support the building of new mosques in France (compared to 33% in 1989, and 20% in 2010).
"Our poll shows a further hardening in French people's opinions," Jerome Fourquet, head of Ifop's opinion department, told Le Figaro. "In recent years, there has not been a week when Islam has not been in the heart of the news for social reasons: the veil, halal food, dramatic news like terrorist attacks or geopolitical reasons," he said.
France, which is home to an estimated six million Muslims, has the largest Muslim population in the European Union. There are now, in fact, more practicing Muslims in France than there are practicing Roman Catholics.
Although 64% of the French population (or 41.6 million of France's 65 million inhabitants) identify themselves as Roman Catholic, only 4.5% (or 1.9 million) of these actually are practicing Catholics, according to a separate survey on Catholicism in France published by Ifop in July 2009.
By way of comparison, 75% (or 4.5 million), of the estimated six million mostly ethnic North African and sub-Saharan Muslims in France, identify themselves as "believers;" and 41% (or 2.5 million) say they are "practicing" Muslims, according to an in-depth research report on Islam in France published by Ifop in July 2011.
Taken together, the research data provides empirical evidence that Islam is well on its way to overtaking Roman Catholicism as the dominant religion in France.
This trend is also reflected in the fact that mosques are being built more often in France than are Roman Catholic churches; nearly 150 new mosques are currently under construction in France.
The total number of mosques in France has already doubled to more than 2,000 during just the past ten years, according to a research report, "Constructing Mosques: The Governance of Islam in France and the Netherlands." The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, has called for the number of mosques in the country to be doubled again -- to 4,000 -- to meet growing demand.
By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church has built only 20 new churches in France during the past decade, and has formally closed more than 60 churches, many of which are destined to become mosques, according to research conducted by La Croix, a Roman Catholic daily newspaper based in Paris.
In recent weeks, tensions have flared over the proposed conversion of an empty church into a mosque in the central French town of Vierzon. The controversy involves Saint-Eloi's, a small church located in a working class neighborhood that has been taken over by immigrants from Morocco and Turkey.
With six churches to maintain and fewer faithful every year, Roman Catholic authorities in Vierzon say they can no longer afford to keep Saint-Eloi's. They now want to sell the building for €170,000 ($220,000) to a Moroccan Muslim organization that wants to convert the church into a mosque.
In an interview with the French weekly newsmagazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Alain Krauth, the parish priest of the largest Catholic church in Vierzon, said: "The Christian community is not as important as it used to be in the past. If moderate Muslims buy Saint-Eloi's, we can only be happy that the Muslims of Vierzon are able to celebrate their religion." His comments were greeted with outrage by local citizens who are now trying to prevent the church from becoming a mosque.
Similar scenes are being played out across France.
In the nearby city of Poitiers, around 70 members of a conservative youth group known as Generation Identity recently occupied a mosque that is being built in the heavily Muslim Buxerolles district of the city. The dawn raid on October 21 was intended as a protest against Islam's growing influence in France.
The protesters climbed onto the roof of the mosque (photos here) and unfurled a banner with the symbolic phrase "732 Generation Identity," a reference to the year 732, when Charles Martel halted the advance of the invading Muslim army to the north of Poitiers (also known as the Battle of Tours.)
Meanwhile, the Socialist government in France recently inaugurated a new mega-mosque in Paris as a first step towards "progressively building a French Islam."
The new mosque, located in the northern Paris suburb of Cergy-Pontoise, is not only vast in its dimensions (photos here), but is also highly visible and symbolic: its towering minaret, which has purposely been designed to change the suburb's skyline by being taller than any church steeple in the neighborhood, is supposed to become the "new symbol of Islam in France."
Speaking on behalf of French President François Hollande at the inauguration ceremony of the mosque in Cergy, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls articulated the Socialist government's policy vis-à-vis the construction of new mosques in France. He declared: "A mosque, when it is erected in the city, says a simple thing: Islam has its place in France."
Declining Faith in the West, where do we go
from here?
1.Although 64% of the French population (or
41.6 million of France's 65 million inhabitants) identify themselves as Roman
Catholic, only 4.5% (or 1.9 million) of these
actually are practicing Catholics
2.More and more churches are converted to
mosques
Being a born and bred catholic and one who
strongly believes in the teachings of Jesus, I feel extremely sad to read of
the developments of our church in France and Europe in general. It is on the
decline with less and less people practicing their faith and more and more churches
are being converted to mosques. I am not against the flourishing of Islam there
but the decline of Christianity that is deeply disturbing.
France was once the centre of Catholicism and
we all remember the dedicated priests who came all they way leaving their
country, homes and loved ones behind to serve us even in the most remote areas.
Many of them never returned home as they died serving us here. Most of those
dedicated priests practiced what they preached and they were not just pastors
but a father, a guardian and a true friend in need in who we could confide.
Well those were the good old days of our
glorious past. Europe is fast falling as far as Catholicism is concerned. We in
Asia and in Malaysia are not too far away from a scenario like in France and
other European countries. We seem to be following them as we never seem to
learn from the experiences of the West
In the West the people are leaving the church
in droves due to loss of faith but ironically in our country practicing Catholics
are ‘chased’ out of the church not because they are non-believers or
anti-catholic but because they disagree on the way the church is administered
and speak up against many what they see as not right.
If we do not check these unhealthy developments
and take pains to keep every member of the flock together in the family and
make the church more people-friendly we too will hasten the process of our
downfall here. If the church fails to touch the hearts of the people in their
struggles through life, like in the West, it will soon become irrelevant to
them in their lives.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Sunday reflection,21 October 2012
Being
great in the eyes of God
Last Sunday's Gospel reading ( Mark 10:35-45 ) impressed me a great deal that I feel compelled to share my
thoughts with others who care to read and appreciate the words of Jesus.
.
Jesus in no uncertain terms
describes what a leader or for that matter what we all must be, “Anyone who wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave
to all. For the Son of man
himself came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many”.
We are all ambitious as we all want
become somebody great in our lives, to be the best in what we do. Often our
ambitions are selfish as they are all for the betterment of ourselves or our families.
The aim to achieve excellence may be noble especially when it is to help others
but often it is ego-driven to gain recognition and fame. Will we strive so hard
to achieve something if it does not bring power, wealth or fame to us or to our
loved ones?
As a young man my ambition was to be
a doctor and when I achieved that I wanted to excel in my job to become the
best doctor around. However after some time I realized that was not God’s
description of greatness. He will only accept me as great if I become the
servant of the sick under my care. It was easy to become a great doctor and
surgeon and carry out fantastic life-saving surgeries which brought me a lot of
praise in my early days but it was more difficult to become the servant to my
patients, to be always there unconditionally when they needed me most. After
over 30 years being a doctor, I have achieved a great deal and treated many but
I am still struggling to become great in the eyes of God, which is totally
different from greatness in the eyes of men.
The words of Jesus in the Gospel, “Anyone who wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave
to all”, is a reminder that we in our own life must be the servants of
those whom we claim to lead or serve; members of our families, our colleagues, our subordinates and our employees. Unless we
can do that we cannot be great in the eyes of God. Therefore let us reflect to see
how we can become the first among those we deal with daily in our lives, being
not their masters but their servants and slaves?
The Gospel reading for the Sunday
Gospel,
Mark 10:35-45
James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
approached him. 'Master,' they said to him, 'We want you to do us a favour.'
He said to them, 'What is it you
want me to do for you?'
They said to him, 'Allow us to sit
one at your right
hand and the other at your left in your glory.'
But Jesus said to them, 'You do
not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I shall drink, or be
baptised with the baptism
with which I shall be baptised?'
They replied, 'We can.' Jesus said to them, 'The
cup that I shall drink you shall drink, and with the baptism
with which I shall be baptised you shall be baptised,
but as for seats at my right
hand or my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they
have been allotted.'
When the other ten heard this they
began to feel indignant with James and John,so Jesus called them to him
and said to them, 'You know that among the gentiles
those they call their rulers lord
it over them, and their great men make their authority felt.
Among you this is not to happen. No;
anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant,and anyone who
wants to be first among you must be slave to all.
For the Son of man
himself came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many.'
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Sunday Reflections 7 October 2012
Marriage,divorce and adultery
"Will be true to you in sickness,good and bad times ... till death do us apart"
I like to share some thoughts as put to me by the priest at the sermon last Sunday.
Jesus was very clearly against divorce as can be seen from his words, “What God has united,
human beings must not divide. … Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her
husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.” We all know that adultery was a very serious and shameful
act punishable by stoning to death at that time.
Knowing
Christ’s strong words against divorce, why do Christians, his followers, still
condone divorce? The Catholic Church’s teaching is very clear and it has
definite guidelines on divorce and remarriage. But dos did waver when those
involved are powerful personalities?
Our parents
and grandparents did not have any option when their marriage got into problems
as divorce was not acceptable to them. Therefore they stood by their marriage
wows till death did them apart, thereby saving their marriage and the family
unit and peace.
Today things
are totally different. We have divorce as a solution for our marital problems
and unfortunately it has become the first and most easily available option to
us even for the most trivial reasons.
With the
increasing rate of divorce the family unit and the moral values of society is
rapidly disintegrating so fast that the basic human values are at risk of being
totally lost in the near future. Despite we becoming apparently more religious,
our morals and values have all deteriorated to the extent that it has become
irreversible. Where have we gone wrong?
Is there a way to correct the situation?
As Christians who
are married or intending to do so, let’s take seriously the teachings of Jesus
on marriage, divorce and adultery. Let’s do our utmost and exhaust all means
available to us before resorting to divorce. We must remember that God had
sanctioned our marriage and our wows we made in front Him. If we truly love Jesus
as we claim then we should not divide whom He had united.
Gospel, Mark 10:2-16
Some
Pharisees approached him and asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' They were putting him to the test.
They
replied, 'Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.'
Then
Jesus said to them, 'It was because you were so hard hearted that
he wrote this commandment for you.
and the two become one flesh. They are
no longer two, therefore, but one flesh.
Back in the house the disciples
questioned him again about this,
and
he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her.
but
when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little
children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of God belongs.
In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'
Then he embraced them, laid his hands on
them and gave them his blessing.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Monday, June 04, 2012
Arresting the commercialization of our feasts
Anyone attending mass
at the church of St.Anne last Sunday would have realized the serious concern
expressed by its Parish Priest, Rev.Fr.Hendry Rajoo on commercialization of the
yearly feast of St.Anne in Bukit Mertajam. This was also clearly printed in the
weekly bulletin. This is indeed a concern that most of us share but the
question is what are we doing to stop this commercialization of our faith?We all seem to join in the fun to celebrate the feast in ways contrary to what St.Anne would have wanted.
I fully agree with Fr.Rajoo that we must put a stop to
activities dealing with making money in the premises of the church during the
feast. This is a good move although many may not agree but as it is the right move
we should not hesitate to push hard for it.
In fact I feel we should stop celebrating the feast on the
scale it is done today. Celebrate it just like any other feast, one a small scale
and making it more solemn and personal to the heart. Unless we take deliberate and
bold measures to put a stop to the commercialization of our feasts, I am afraid
they are going to soon lose the real meaning and significance in our lives.
As the people of God let us give our support to Fr.Rajoo in
his efforts to halt the continuing commercialization of the annual St.Anne’s feast,
which is becoming a major money-spinner for the church and many others who use it to make quick money. The
money spent on the feast can be put to better use on those who are in dire need
of material and spiritual help.
Friday, June 01, 2012
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