The media, political parties and the public seem to becoming increasingly obsessed with Islam in Britain and other Western countries. Why? There are many reasons. One of these is that the media must always have a target religion/race/ethnicity. Another, is the concern surrounding terrorism, especially following 9/11 and 7/7. This has intensified with the rise of ISIS and other terrorist organisations.
A lot of people appear to be concerned with the rise of immigration, and I find myself often debating with Daily Mail readers who fear these people who are different coming into their community and ‘taking their benefits’, ‘using their NHS’ and ‘taking their jobs’. I personally find these views beyond me. I’ve grown up in one of the most multicultural cities/counties in the UK. I’m proud of this fact, and love that I’ve been able to learn about and be part of lots of different cultures and celebrations. It is beyond me how anyone can target someone for being of a different skin colour, religion, country of origin, accent, sexuality or sex.
History has shown many examples of different religious and ethnicities being used as scapegoats. The Jews have often been on the receiving end of this – in this country amongst many others (see Nazi Germany). A lot of right wing and those who fear ‘white genocide’ appear to have jumped on the ‘blame Jews for everything’ bandwagon. I’ve read many blog pieces and twitter status’ and comments. It’s ludicrous.
I’ve gone into several debates with people recently following the imprisonment of Garron Helm. I’ve lost count how many idiots have claimed that he didn’t deserve to get in trouble for claiming Hitler was right (to target and kill Jews). Barmy!
The current fear about Islam is that “within the next 100 years, Islam will become the dominant religion in Britain with our society and culture focusing around muslim culture as opposed to British culture.” Now I’m confused how Islam will rise so much in less than 100 years. Let’s look at the figures:
The 2001 Census found that:
- 71.6% of the population were Christian
- 23.2% of the population had no religion/didn’t answer
- 2.7% of the population were Muslim
- 0.5% of the population were Jewish
The 2011 Census found that:
- 59.5% of the population were Christian
- Is this something we should fear? No. More people felt able to select ‘no religion’.
- 32.8% of the population had no religion/didn’t answer
- 4.4% of the population were Muslim
- 0.4% of the population were Jewish
Now for Muslims to be a majority, they would need to increase hugely in the next 100 years. The community would have to double itself every 10 years for the next 40 years for it to become a ‘problem’. With it still below 5%, I can’t see that being a possibility.
Not only that, what about these Jews who appear to be ruining our country? Their numbers have dropped by 0.1% and remain well under 1% of the population. Their logic is, well, illogical!
Anti Semitism and Fear of Islam present in the Far Right.
I’m sure in 20 years the public, the media and the more extreme political parties/organisations such as UKIP and Britain First will find another target. It saddens me that this is true, and it saddens me that I believe public attitudes towards Muslims (and potentially Jews) could become even worse before that happens. There are many examples of anti-Semitism and a fear of Islam in Far Right blogs. This has led to a rise in imprisonment of internet trolls, such as Garron Helm, and I think there will be a lot more cases to come. I hope one day, this country will become more accepting.
Source:
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