Saturday, April 01, 2006

Comment is free: Apostasy and Islam

Quote:
To force someone to remain in a faith they do not believe seems rather absurd as it negates the whole basis of sincere belief and seems closer to officially endorsing hypocrisy.

There is a famous remark attributed to the 19th century Egyptian Muslim activist and scholar Muhammad Abduh who visited various European countries and said 'I have been to many Muslim countries and found many Muslims there, but little Islam. I have also been to some European countries and found few Muslims there, but a lot of Islam'.
Look at countries which are majority Christian, if only nominally. In the U.S. , where competition is open Christianity thrives. In most European countries with some form of state sponsorship of a state church the church is dead from the inside out.

Paradoxically, the churches that grow fastest have the strictest rules of inclusion. I would guess that most Muslims in Europe set high standards for individuals. In countries where you are mandated to be a member you go through the motions.

These membership growth and retention ideas can be found developed throughout The New Virginia Church Man (where this post is crossposted).

Thanks to Instapundit for link to the post quoted above.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

To greatly amplify your comment that religion thrives when not attached to the secular state (using the U.S. vs., say Denmark, where Lutheran ministers are govt. employees), here's an excellent article exploring the historical and ethical underpinnings of this fact. The conclusion is that evangelical Christians should urge continued separation of church and state, so their religion is not corrupted by power and greed any more than sinful human nature does already. Source is TechCentralStation, one of the best news and commentary sites on the Net.

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=070105E

12:55 AM  
Blogger John B. Chilton said...

Anon:

Yes, TCS is good.

Thanks for the pointer, and for adding value to my post. And for your clear writing.

1:01 AM  

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