Should Muslims Support Christians.

Salam

As we all know, pious people of all religions are under attack from those who dislike God for some reason.

Religion, especially in Britain, and particularly Christianity, is under severe pressure to give in and pack up.

Where do you boys and girls stand on this issues.

If you are a muslim, do you believe that you should defend christians?

If you belong to another religion, the same question goes to you.

Please cast your vote, and then give your views.

Omrow

P.S. Please read first the following article from the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail - Thursday 8th April 2010.

What has Britain come to when it takes a Muslim like me to defend Christianity?

By Dr Taj Hargey

[Dr Hargey is also a muslim cleric, Imam of Oxford Islamic Congregation, and chairman of the Muslim Educational Centre, Oxford.]

Christianity is under siege in this country.

Britain's national religion has never been so marginalised and derided, especially by the public institutions that should be defending it.

The case of nurse Shirley Chaplin, who has been banned by Devon and Exeter NHS Trust from wearing her crucifix while caring for patients, is a graphic illustration of this insidious trend.

Indeed, it is surely an affront to the very concept of religious liberty, which was once regarded as a cornerstone of our democratic, respectful and tolerant nation.

For make no mistake, a new form of virulent secularism is sweeping through society - and its target is Christianity.

I am Muslim. But even as a non-Christian, I can see all too clearly the shameful way in which Britain's national faith is being eroded. Indeed, banning a crucifix makes a mockery of our treasured right to religious freedom.

With a typically bureaucratic mix of arrogance and authoritarianism, the Devon and Exeter Trust has claimed that the ban is not an attack on Christianity because wearing a crucifix is not an essential requirement of the faith.

But who appointed these quangocrats to pronounce on matters of religious doctrine? What right do they have to lecture a devout woman about her cherished beliefs?

And why can't they accept that Ms Chaplin's deeply religious convictions, which she chooses to express by wearing the crucifix, also inspire her compassionate work in the NHS?

As a Muslim, I am filled with despair at the attitude of our politically correct officials towards Christianity.

For me, all true religious faith, if practised with benevolence and humility, can only strengthen our society. To undermine religion is to undermine society itself.

It is no coincidence that as Christianity is repeatedly attacked, so the social fabric of Britain becomes increasingly frayed.

As we lose our strong moral compass, family breakdown and violent crime are at record levels, while our once famous sense of community spirit is evaporating.

In the face of this kind of aggressive secularism, Christians and Muslims should be natural allies.

For contrary to what a few loud-mouthed Muslim extremists like to claim, there is no conflict between Christianity and Islam.

They are part of the great Abrahamic tradition - indeed, there is a key verse in the Koran that reads: 'The people closest and dearest to Muslims are those who say: "We are Christians." '

It is, therefore, the duty of British Muslims to defend Christianity when it comes under assault.

For it is vital to recognise the central role that Christianity has played in the creation of our shared culture.

Indeed, Christian ethics form the basis of our justice system, with its emphasis on fairness and equality before the law.

And without the restraining, selfless morality that ultimately stems from faith, the triumph of either social anarchy or totalitarianism becomes a worrying possibility.

But what is sickening about this case is the PC brigade's outrageous hypocrisy.

For in the public sector, normally so hypersensitive to allegations of prejudice against ethnic minorities, it is unimaginable that bureaucrats would wade in with the same bullying ferocity against a Muslim or Hindu nurse who wanted to wear a symbol of her faith in the workplace.

Indeed, there have recently been several cases of education officials allowing Sikh pupils to carry their ritual daggers, while banning Christians from wearing crosses.

Similarly, many schools have been sidelining Christianity, while celebrating other religions, so much so that in some areas we have a generation of pupils who know more about the Hindu festival of Diwali than about the religious meaning of Christmas.

Such grotesque inconsistencies do nothing to promote harmony in our society.

For the over-riding impression is that the state increasingly favours minority religions over Britain's own.

Equally despicable, however, is that these politically correct busy-bodies don' t even have the courage to be open about their fanatical loathing of Christianity.

Instead, they often cravenly cite 'health and safety', that catch-all term so often clutched at by bureaucrats when they want to shut down something they disapprove of.

Unbelievably, in Ms Chaplin's case, they claimed that there was a risk that a patient might grab her crucifix necklace.

That might have been valid if she had worked with small children, but Ms Chaplin cares for elderly patients.

In this environment, can a crucifix really pose a health hazard?

The evidence suggests not. After all, she has already worn her crucifix for 30 years without the slightest problem.

A strong society demands tolerance and integration. Yet the political class has made a tragic mistake in recent years by emphasising cultural differences between migrant communities and normal Britons.

This agenda has been eagerly exploited by Islamic hard-liners who thrive on division. They are so eager to promote the wearing of the burqa by women, so that the line of separation is further widened.

But these shrill demands for the imposition of the burqa in the Muslim community are utterly misguided. Nothing in the Koran says Muslim women have to be dressed in this way.

And unlike a simple crucifix, which is utterly harmless, the burqa affords a threatening anonymity, reinforcing the differences between different cultures.

Indeed, while anyone should be allowed to wear a simple cross - or headscarf - the burqa is entirely inappropriate in Britain.

I would not want to see it banned, for that might only heighten the sense of martyrdom and grievance among the zealots, but I certainly believe that mainstream Muslims have a duty to speak out against it.

The same argument could be made against minarets, which unlike Ms Chaplin's crucifix, could al so be seen as inflammatory - and for which there is no religious requirement in Islam.

I recently spoke out against plans for a mosque in Camberley, Surrey, which would have seen the present Grade I-listed building pulled down - and replaced with a vast Middle Eastern structure complete with 100ft tall minarets, which would have overlooked the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy.

Rather than being a discreet and respectful demonstration of an individual's faith, this would have been a provocative structure creating divisions, rather than forging links, in the local community.

In this instance, the council saw sense. But too often the PC brigade support overt demonstrations of faith by minority religions, while coming down hard on quiet religious gestures by Christians.

This must change. Mutual respect is the only way forward for Britain - and that has to include respect for Britain's ancient Christian civilisation.

For unless the authorities change their tune and start protecting the traditions of the British majority, we face an inexorable slide towards ever more division.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1264399/What-Britain-come-take...