Religion 7 - A Reaction To Islam

The following draft list (subject to amendment) is a stark indication of how the world is reacting against the encroachment of extreme Islam.  As is my way, I hope that there will be some discussion;  for example, are we over-reacting?

Angola;  the government does not legally recognize any Muslim organizations; as a result, mosques in the country have faced restrictions and most have been shut down by the government.

Australia;  there are a large number of militant Islamic groups in the country, and the government plans to broaden the listing criteria for terrorist organizations, and lower the threshold for arrest without warrant for terrorism offences.

Austria (edited);  The police have arrested 13 men ... targeting suspected jihad recruiters.  Reforms to Austria’s Islam law came into force in 2016.The most significant change comes in the shape of a ban on foreign funding, which is intended to prevent people from being “remote controlled” externally and to help the Austrian authorities maintain a certain amount of control. This will have a knock-on effect on the employment of Imams, 65 of which were commissioned by Turkish religious authorities and who will now be forced to return to their homelands, and even educational institutions will have to change, 150 Muslim nurseries or kindergartens in Vienna will be seriously affected.

Canada (edited);  There have been many arrests of suspect jihadists, returning from Iraq and Syria, and their passports confiscated.  Other Muslim suspects are also being arrested and held ... many are appealing deportation.  The wearing of a full-face veil (niqab or burqa) is banned in public places in the province of Quebec, and restricted throughout Canada.  Anti-Muslim sentiment is higher in Quebec than rest of Canada, a study finds.  But across the country, Canadians harbour more negative attitudes toward Muslims than other groups.  Even though Quebec politicians routinely claim otherwise, a recent study suggests Islamophobia is widespread in the province and more prevalent here than elsewhere in Canada.  Whites, Catholics, Indigenous people, racial minorities and members of the LGBT community all received higher average scores than Muslims when Canadians were asked to assign a score between zero and 100 to their feelings about these groups.  Muslims received the lowest average score, 56, in Quebec. The next lowest was 67, in the Prairies. British Columbians had the most favourable view of Muslims, with an average score of 77.

China;  has executed eight jihadists in China's campaign against separatism, and a Chinese court has sent 22 Muslim Imams to jail for 5 to 16 years, for spreading hatred.  Muslim prayers are banned in government buildings and schools in Xinjiang.

Cuba (edited);   The city of Havana is set to build Cuba’s first mosque, touted to be one of the largest in Latin America, as its Muslim population continues to grow.  Since 2015, when the government authorized that Cuba’s some 10,000 Muslims should have a place of worship, they have been congregating in a building space in downtown Havana for prayers, where copies of the Quran in both Spanish and Arabic are abundant. The new mosque is set to be built in Old Havana.

Czech Republic (edited);  Though no exact figures exist, the Muslim community in the Czech Republic is small, between 5,000 and 20,000, or less than 0.02 percent of the total population.  Attempts to open mosques have been stopped by local citizens.  Slovakia last year passed a law effectively banning Islam from gaining official status as a religion.  Currently, Islam is recognised as a religion in the Czech Republic, but its followers are restricted from several basic privileges enjoyed by other faiths, including the right to establish schools, to hold legally recognised weddings and conduct religious ceremonies in public spaces.  According to a Harvard University survey published earlier in 2017, of the hundreds of thousands of people in Europe, Czechs exhibited a higher level of implicit racial bias than in any other European country. 

France (edited);  The country has banned the full-face veils in public places with a 150-euro fine.  The government has yet to formulate an official policy towards making integration easier. It is difficult to determine in France who may be called a Muslim. Some Muslims in France describe themselves as "non-practicing". Most simply observe Ramadan and other basic rules, but are otherwise secular.

Germany (edited);  In the past year (2014), there were 81 attacks targeting mosques.  As elsewhere in Western Europe, the rapid growth of the Muslim community in Germany has led to social tensions and political controversy, partly connected to Islamic extremism, and more generally due to the perceived difficulties of multiculturalism and fears of Uberfremdung.  According to 2013 study by Social Science Research Center Berlin, two thirds of the Muslims interviewed say that religious rules are more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live, almost 60 percent of the Muslim respondents reject homosexuals as friends; 45 percent think that Jews cannot be trusted; and an equally large group believes that the West is out to destroy Islam.  The new Interior Minister, recently, caused an uproar when he declared that "Islam doesn't belong to Germany." 

Netherlands;  a Dutch MP, Machiel De Graaf, calls for the removal of all mosques in the country. "We want to clean Netherlands of Islam".  He spoke on behalf of the Party for Freedom (PVV) "All mosques in the Netherlands should be shut down.  Without Islam, the Netherlands would be a wonderful country”, he said.

Norway;  a record number of Muslims were deported last year as a way of fighting crime.

Poland;  the Polish Defense League has issued a warning to Muslims.

U.K.;  there are a large number of Muslim groups demanding that the U.K. should be solely governed by Sharia Law, forcing the Prime Minister to publically declare that the U.K. is a Christian community, and the British Home Secretary is preparing to introduce an 'anti-social behaviour order' for extremists and strip dual nationals of their citizenship.

Some Muslims in Northern Ireland have announced plans to leave the country to avoid anti-Islamic violence.  The announcement comes after an attack on a Muslim family in the city of Belfast, when crazed rioters broke into their home and assaulted them.

U.S.A.;  16 states have introduced legislation to specifically ban Sharia law.

A new controversial amendment that will ban the recognition of "foreign laws" — would include Sharia law in Alabama and North Carolina.