Rewandans turn to Islam: Ominous sign?

brightnorm

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
Non NYTIMES members may not be able to read this

RAWANDANS TURN TOWARD ISLAM

Here's an excerpt:

NYTIMES 4-6-04 KIGALI, Rwanda, April 6 — When 800,000 of their countrymen were killed in massacres that began 10 years ago this week, many Rwandans lost faith not only in their government but in their religion as well. Today, in what is still a predominantly Catholic country, Islam is the fastest growing religion...

...Roman Catholicism has been the dominant faith in Rwanda for more than a century. But many people, disgusted by the role that some priests and nuns played in the killing frenzy, have shunned organized religion altogether, and many more have turned to Islam...

Brightnorm
 

DieselDave

Super Moderator,
Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Messages
2,703
Location
FL panhandle
Scary but I'm not surprised.
Last week I watched a documentary about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, as you said, 800,000 people killed. It all happened in about 100 days. Many were shocked and angered because the US refused to get involved despite cries for help every single day.
 

Unicorn

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 19, 2000
Messages
1,339
Location
Near Seattle, WA
Why is it an ominous sign? If they don't like us for being hypocritical and not sending any help at all until it was too late, and then the APC's we did send were to a neighboring country, being Islamic won't make any difference. I suppose that is might be a new place to try and recruit young men to be further brainwashed by some fanatic group, but I just don't like the way your topic sounds. It almost implies that Islam truly is a violent, or "evil" religion. I mean, yeah, many of the terrorist attacks in the last two decades have been by Islamic extremists, but there have been plenty of nice, clean cut, white, Christian extremists as well. And plenty of European terrorists for whatever reasons. Jut because some assholes have twisted a faith, don't start stereotyping everyone who belongs to that religion as a violent person.
 

jayflash

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 4, 2003
Messages
3,909
Location
Two Rivers, Wisconsin
I have to agree with Uni; we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions yet. Maybe Islam will serve them well - we can only hope (and pray?).
 

StuU

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 13, 2001
Messages
647
Location
Virginia
The Russians in the 1970s warned that Islamic radicalism would be the the main challenge facing the world for many years to come.

However, the Islamic world has many moderate or even liberal individuals. Iran is a battleground between fundamentalist Islamic clerics and young, educated Iranians who like the freedoms & lifestyle of the west. Lebanon is supposed to have a democratic constitution and a pluralist, representative political system (but is also unfortunately the home of Hizballah).

[ QUOTE ]

Even though the vast majority of the world's Muslims oppose terrorism, religious intolerance, and the oppression of women, these remain the most prevalent images of the Muslim faith throughout the Western world. Such popular misconceptions about Islam and Islamic movements—often exacerbated by the media, popular culture, and government officials—have made it particularly difficult to challenge U.S. policy.
Steven Zunes @ Foreign Policy in Focus


[/ QUOTE ]
 

DieselDave

Super Moderator,
Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Messages
2,703
Location
FL panhandle
It's an ominous sign because no religion in modern history has been linked to so many widespread large-scale terrorist attacks. What other religions followers actively tout the reason for their murder of thousands upon thousands of people as following their religion? I'm sure the vast majority of the followers of Islam are peaceful people but that doesn't change the fact that as a religion it is the most terroristic religious group in the world. Even if it were just 1 follower in 100 that's still a big number. Having a concern or worry that Islam is growing in Rwanda is a legitimate although not a politically correct observation. Stereotyping all of Islam as a "bad" religion is wrong and wasn't stated or implied but observing it's an ominous sign, I agree.
 

JerryM

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 12, 2003
Messages
1,042
Location
New Mexico
It is ominous, but not unexpected.
Though the number of extremists might be relatively small, they have the courage and dedication to their cause to intimidate the others, and to rule as they will.

As others have said, in Nazi Germany it might have been the mojority who wanted to kill all Jews, and to conquer the world, but they let it happen. So it is in the Muslim world.

This is a war that I do not think has an end. It will get worse in time.

Jerry
 
Top