Posted February 2, 201015 yr England is 'cesspit' breeding Islamists, says Soyinka The Guardian, Tuesday 2 February 2010 Wole Soyinka attacked UK's 'openness' England is a "cesspit" and breeding ground for fundamentalist Muslims, the Nobel laureate and political activist Wole Soyinka has said in an interview in which he also accused Britain of allowing the existence of "indoctrination schools". His extraordinary attack on what he views as Britain's part in fuelling Islamist terrorism was published on the US news and opinion website The Daily Beast. It was coupled with his assertion that the 1989 fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie meant that the assumption of power over life and death had passed "to every inconsequential Muslim in the world". Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1986, made his claims in response to a question about his homeland of Nigeria being added to the watchlist of countries deemed to be incubating terrorists, after the failed attempts of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bring an airliner down over the US on Christmas Day. "That was an irrational, knee-jerk reaction by the Americans," the writer said. "The man did not get radicalised in Nigeria. It happened in England, where he went to university. "England is a cesspit. England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence. "And yet England allows it. Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there …" Soyinka added: "This is part of the character of Great Britain. Colonialism bred an innate arrogance, but when you undertake that sort of imperial adventure, that arrogance gives way to a feeling of accommodativeness. You take pride in your openness." The attempted Christmas Day bombing has helped to raise fears that some British universities are becoming places in which young Muslims are radicalised – Abdulmutallab attended University College, London. But Soyinka, who splits his time between the US and Nigeria, suggested that British Muslims were being radicalised earlier in their lives. "I doubt you can have the kind of indoctrination schools in America as you do in the UK," he said. "Besides, there's a large body of American Muslims in the US – the Nation of Islam – which has created a kind of mainstream Muslim institution. The Muslims there are open Muslims, whereas in Europe they tend to go into ghetto schools. "The Nation of Islam provides an antidote in the United States to fundamentalist Islam – which is why individuals from America have to go abroad to find radical teachings." And , speaking about the fatwa issued by Khomeini against Rushdie, he said: "It all began when he assumed the power of life and death over the life of a writer. This was a watershed between doctrinaire aggression and physical aggression. There was an escalation. The assumption of power over life and death then passed to every single inconsequential Muslim in the world – as if someone had given them a new stature. "Al-Qaida is the descendant of this phenomenon. The proselytisation of Islam became vigorous after this. People went to Saudi Arabia. Madrasas were established everywhere." Do you agree with his views or not?
February 3, 201015 yr sounds like the rantings of a devout christian to me.... no i dont agree, there are indoctrination schools in most countries, does his condemnation of these only focus on muslim schools? i bet there are more christian/catholic schools then muslim in the uk/america/western europe. regarding the fatwa against rushdie 'giving the power of life and death to any inconsequencial muslim in the world'... well id suggest that historically thats already been done....... by christians! how many deaths have been committed by 'incosequential' christians in the name of 'god'?..
February 3, 201015 yr sounds like the rantings of a devout christian to me.... no i dont agree, there are indoctrination schools in most countries, does his condemnation of these only focus on muslim schools? i bet there are more christian/catholic schools then muslim in the uk/america/western europe. regarding the fatwa against rushdie 'giving the power of life and death to any inconsequencial muslim in the world'... well id suggest that historically thats already been done....... by christians! how many deaths have been committed by 'incosequential' christians in the name of 'god'?.. I'd totally agree with that.... There's just as much indoctrination going on in Catholic and Jewish schools.. If not more... If he were to say that ALL religious schools should be shut down, then I'd agree with him.. His assertion that no other religions teach apocalyptic violence is laughable... What about the Pentechostals and their "End of Days" ideaology....?
February 5, 201015 yr sounds like the rantings of a devout christian to me.... no i dont agree, there are indoctrination schools in most countries, does his condemnation of these only focus on muslim schools? i bet there are more christian/catholic schools then muslim in the uk/america/western europe. regarding the fatwa against rushdie 'giving the power of life and death to any inconsequencial muslim in the world'... well id suggest that historically thats already been done....... by christians! how many deaths have been committed by 'incosequential' christians in the name of 'god'?.. Absolutely agreed. And we don't even need to go back in history to find appalling Christian atrocities. Take Uganda for example, a country that is currently debating the "Kill The Gays" bill which will, at best, send homosexuals to prison for life and at worst, execute them. This is not fringe movement but a bill that has huge support in Parliament and has millions of supporters who have marched in huge rallies for it. Uganda is 84% Christian, split almost evenly between Catholics and Anglicans. And worse, a bunch of American preachers may have sparked the movement by attending a radical conference in on homosexuality last year in Uganda, spreading lies and deceit about how homosexuality destroys families (and in Africa, family is a very protected cultural institution). So it's CHRISTIANS who are indoctrinating members of an impoverished, poorly-educated country to, quite literally, KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE. Edited February 5, 201015 yr by Consie
February 8, 201015 yr Absolutely agreed. And we don't even need to go back in history to find appalling Christian atrocities. Take Uganda for example, a country that is currently debating the "Kill The Gays" bill which will, at best, send homosexuals to prison for life and at worst, execute them. This is not fringe movement but a bill that has huge support in Parliament and has millions of supporters who have marched in huge rallies for it. Uganda is 84% Christian, split almost evenly between Catholics and Anglicans. And worse, a bunch of American preachers may have sparked the movement by attending a radical conference in on homosexuality last year in Uganda, spreading lies and deceit about how homosexuality destroys families (and in Africa, family is a very protected cultural institution). So it's CHRISTIANS who are indoctrinating members of an impoverished, poorly-educated country to, quite literally, KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE. Yes, absolutely.. Soyinka should really set about trying to put his own house in order before he starts shouting the odds at others.... The facts are, the problems in the world are not confined to one religious zealotry or another, it's ALL religious zealotry that's the problem.. Period.... And it needs to be stopped... If that means getting rid of religion itself, so be it.... We've grown out of religion anyway... It may have served a purpose hundreds/thousands of years ago, but now it's simply obsolete.... Like a ZX Spectrum..... :rolleyes:
February 8, 201015 yr Yes, absolutely.. Soyinka should really set about trying to put his own house in order before he starts shouting the odds at others.... The facts are, the problems in the world are not confined to one religious zealotry or another, it's ALL religious zealotry that's the problem.. Period.... And it needs to be stopped... If that means getting rid of religion itself, so be it.... We've grown out of religion anyway... It may have served a purpose hundreds/thousands of years ago, but now it's simply obsolete.... Like a ZX Spectrum..... :rolleyes: I doubt all those thousands of people in Britain and around the world who attend services every week think it's obsolete Grimley!!!
February 8, 201015 yr I doubt all those thousands of people in Britain and around the world who attend services every week think it's obsolete Grimley!!! They're just fools using religion as a crutch because they think their lives have no meaning without it..... It's really rather pathetic tbh.... You come from nature, you go back to it when you die, that's the simple universal truth....
February 9, 201015 yr They're just fools using religion as a crutch because they think their lives have no meaning without it..... It's really rather pathetic tbh.... You come from nature, you go back to it when you die, that's the simple universal truth.... indeed, however theres more too it then that. children are being brought up inside a religion... especially those outside christianity. jews, hindus, muslims etc are 'given' their religion as much as they are given their name and ethnicity. it is part of their identity and culture, therefore religion is here to stay :( , itll never be dropped (like it should be).
March 26, 201015 yr "I doubt you can have the kind of indoctrination schools in America as you do in the UK," he said. "Besides, there's a large body of American Muslims in the US – the Nation of Islam – which has created a kind of mainstream Muslim institution. The Muslims there are open Muslims, whereas in Europe they tend to go into ghetto schools. "The Nation of Islam provides an antidote in the United States to fundamentalist Islam – which is why individuals from America have to go abroad to find radical teachings." And , speaking about the fatwa issued by Khomeini against Rushdie, he said: "It all began when he assumed the power of life and death over the life of a writer. This was a watershed bet...
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