The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #136372   Message #3568447
Posted By: Jim Carroll
20-Oct-13 - 04:13 AM
Thread Name: BS: Christian Persecution
Subject: RE: BS: Christian Persecution
"Looking at that list of awful atrocity. Attacked by Muslims! So its Christian versus Muslim is it?"
That seems just about the gist of it Muskie.
Despite his protestations, this is the umpteenth thread Keith has dominated in which he has openly expressed his hatred of all things Muslim.
Notably, he has presented them as implanted perverts threatening the purity of our young women and more recently as a growing threat as potential killers and bombers "The Enemy Within" to borrow a famous phrase.
He has used thread after thread to compare all Muslims with the extremists that all religions throw up and has gone out of his way to prevent discussion on why religious extremism exists and to deny that it has anything to do with the Christian religion.
Ironically, his behaviour on this forum has given us one of the most extreme examples of a Christian fundamentalist I have ever encountered.
Even here, his mealy-mouthed concessions to allowing Muslims into Britain are only extended to refugees fleeing from wars, some of which we have helped fuel with arms sales and unconditional trade and political support of despotic dictators
I travelled quite a lot in my lifetime; my travels have included three Muslim Countries and half-a-dozen Communist ones, along with another half- dozen which would describe themselves as 'Christian' (some of these with strong Muslim influences); several of my trips were spent hitching lifts from generous locals over long distances.
I lived for 30 years in multicultural London, Manchester and Liverpool.
In London I worked for Muslims, and my interests led me to discussing politics and general religion with my customers.
In Manchester I was befriended by several Jewish families, where politics was one of our main topics of conversation.
The first five years of my working life were spent on the Liverpool docks, working on servicing vessels that sailed into Liverpool from all over the world and manned by workers from many countries.
Pat and I visited Ireland throughout the decades of violent inter-Christian strife in the six Northern Counties that once considered themselves 'British' (happily, a view rapidly declining and now only strongly held by a few fundamentalist fanatics).
I now live among people who, I once heard described by a Londoner as dangerous (he said, "we have an Irish family living next door – we always check under the car before we drive off in the morning")
Throughout my life I have never encountered a moment's hostility because of the colour of my skin, my non belief or the fact that I came from 'somewhere else'.
The only violent religious disturbances I have ever personally witnessed are those between different brands of Christianity, when work was short in the North of England, or on the deliberately choreographed "peaceful days out" (Keith's phrase) on the 'Glorious Twelfth'      
I read (and sang) about 'Colour Bar Strikes' and race riots and I watched with horror Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' hate marches on television, and I still cringe in horror at the homophobic and sexist bigotry oozing from some of our 'Christian' churches, but these excepted, by and large I find humanity as a whole a fairly friendly, tolerant and hospitable species.
I have no idea how far Keith has travelled, but I am left with the strong impression of somebody who would crumble into dust if he crossed the town boundaries (or ventured outside in daylight)   
I can't think of one single race or religion I would not be happy to describe as a neighbour (though I might consider applying for an ASBO if Keith or any of his extremists moved in next door.
Jim Carroll