That is true. A Canadian actress has caused a twitter row with a Northern Ireland politician because he was awarded an MBE last week despite having controversial views on gays. He said the people killed in Hurricane Katherina was God's punishment for homosexual activity. The actress (Ellen Page) apparently engages in a bit of homosexual activity herself.
remember we now live in a country that has sold out completely to commercialism by that I mean any of our old religious lead routines have been replaced with Sunday shopping now normal and any holidays based from a religious calendar now mean spending money Both parents having to work to pay for a over inflated home The Internet has made us think we are all more clever than we are We have become our own little gods Yet we can't handle fear The truth is a lot of people dream and strive to live the western way and a lot of people choose to live in a way of their tradition. It has gone so far in the uk that people forget this Respect the fact that some do not agree that we are living the right way I certainly don't agree that we are This country and system who it seems has grown so clever it now pays very little attention to faith has killed millions of innocent people throughout history in the name of their gods ... There's the irony as we base our successes on being just and right Wake up there are many more languages in the world other than English ... How many do you speak? How many do you understand ? The answers will generally be one Ask other cultures it will be more than one Who understands who ? the funny thing is we believe other cultures are backward and behind us
You only ever criticise the West and I agree that there have been a lot of mistakes made. However, you never seem to insist that people of different cultures and beliefs need to respect OUR way of life when they come to our country. You never seem to criticise the people who want me and mine dead. Your World view is very lopsided and completely blinkered by your dislike of the Western World. I find it very puzzling that you want to live in France, a Country that is far less tolerant of other people's beliefs than our own Country. Why not aspire to live somewhere where you don't dislike the fabric of the place so much? Why not go and live away from the West? I'll tell you why................because you enjoy the freedoms here that allow you to talk freely about religion etc. Or........................maybe you're just playing Devil's advocate all along eh?
You raise some interesting points, Abercrombie. On language, you are spot on. In our ignorance we generally pat ourselves on the back that the world has to learn our language in order to do business, yet it is we who are disadvantaged. In my world I've sat in many meetings with, in particular, Norwegians, whose English is generally better than many of my own countryman, yet they can easily slip into their native tongue, or often any number of other Europeans lingos, in front of me and I havent a clue what's going on. The universal use of English hasn't made us more dominant, it's made us more ignorant. Having said that, I don't believe it's helpful that some immigrants coming to Britain don't ever learn English. I worked with a young Pakistani lad a few years back whose grandmother was admitted into hospital in Manchester with a long-term ailment. When I enquired, as I often would, as to how she was doing, he confessed that her situation was exacerbated by her not understanding the doctors. She had emigrated to Britain from Pakistan some forty years previously, yet had never learned the language. The reasons for this, of course, are complex. The gradual de-Christianisation of Britain over the last century in particular has, I believe, created a religious vacuum into which other faiths such as Islam is moving into. That is not to say that vast numbers of indigenous white Britons (if there is such a thing) are turning to Islam when previously they'd be Christians - this is patently not true - but I think there can be little doubt that Muslim extremism is given greater fuel when clerics can rage against a Godless people. Christians are not Muslims, but I suspect Islam has a healthier respect for a people with a higher degree of religious observance than those with none whatsoever. I am no more "God squad" these days than Stan or Stroller, but I do believe that a stronger Christian Britain would have offered a greater barrier to Mulsim extremism in this country than what often seems to me to be a Hedonistic Britain. Again, nothing is ever as simple as what I have attempted to articulate above. There is good and bad in a deeply Christian Britain as has been witnessed throughout our history. But there is also good and bad in the society we have today, just as there is good and bad in Islam, and undoubtedly in other faiths too. I just find myself wondering whether what we have lost, or rather given up voluntarily, is something we may live to regret.
I speak 3 languages and go to church as often as I can. I like to have faith that there is more than just this life. People take religion to the extremes and here lays the problem. It's ironic that many non believers ( I take what I want from it and leave what I don't believe) get married in churches, get their children christened etc yet denounce their belief in a god. Maybe just maybe if we as a Christian country frequented church more often then the spread of such extremism may slow down.
Some good observations there Ubes. However, although I agree that there is "good and bad in Islam and in other faiths too", only the followers of Islam are trying to kill me and mine at this present time.
Respect Bob. Point is, I don't want to kill you because you have a faith and I'm pretty sure that you don't want to kill me because I have no religious faith.
Far more succinctly put than I could ever manage, Bob. I speak three languages too: English, Bollocks and Utter Bollocks, though not necessarily in that order.
Ha ha Col. No I certainly don't want to kill you. I've never been christened, I got we'd in a hotel. I don't knock people for their beliefs or not, but when people like these in Paris do what they did, it makes it very difficult to tolerate the Muslim religion. In all honesty, I wish people would truly say what they believe without fear of being labelled a racist or whatever.
Utter bollocking is a tricky language to conquer but becoming more universal everyday especially in Westminster!!