Turkish leader says kids need Islamic holiday off

Yeah why not.

Then you can give them a day off for Ulambana then one for Sukkot another one for Kwanzaa and another one for a bit of paganism and another one for ........

Easiest solution would be to give every child say 3 floating days off a year in additon to the normal term holidays that they can take whenever their families skypixie tells them they have to do what ever odd things they do on those days.

"...a sign of tolerance".. Puke... Playing the PC card - whatever it takes to further Islamicize Europe.. So Green-types end up pushing for it.. Why don't they just say - "we hate Western culture and wish our culture were more dominant"? Naa.. That would be too obvious.. So they appeal to mushy-brained PC notions like "tolerance"...

Why would non-Muslim schoolchildren be interested in celebrating Muslim festivities?

Same reason as us athiest enjoy the catholic holidays. T'is a 'free' day off.

For the same reason I celebrate Christmas - it's fun!

Why wouldn't any schoolchild be interested in a day not in school?

OK, but this should be extended to grown ups as well as kids. I'd love an extra day off work. In Singapore we used to get craploads of holidays for all sorts of religious festivals that I did not care about.

Dunno if it would lead to any increase in "tolerance" though - the kids would just know it meant a day off school. I mean, we get a fair few public holidays in Bayern, but I for one have absolutely no clue what they are all about, what they mean, or where they come from, they are just days on the office calendar marked as holidays. Nothing more, nothing less.

Still, I'm behind any move to increase holidays, but as I say, for everyone. I'd be quite pissed off if I had to use a day from my annual leave to stay at home with the kids because their school was closed for the day. I doubt I am alone in that opinion either. That's hardly gonna help with any tolerance is it? Counterproductive.

It's all quite simple. Islamic countries should then have Xmas and Easter holidays as well.

Tit-for-tat.

Don Rina has got it right again. In the UK the kids have a lot of days off for other religions e.g. Eid and Guru Nanaks birthday. Fine, I understand that this is important to a lot of people in the UK now but I really didn't appreciate having to take the day off for it, it pissed me off and I found myself feeling angry with these 'foreigners' inconveniencing me. Had I got given a day off too I would have been a lot more for it!

I hope they will not say that Germans should leave Germany and go somewhere else. I would request administration not to fulfill their demands because if one is fulfilled then they will come with some other demand to the point that they will say that only muslims can live in Germany and no one else.....

It's a sign of respect and appreciation. I totally welcome this idea.

So you think Germany is like any of those Islamic monarchies except for the religion?

In a country where state and church are properly separated there should be no holidays at all for religious festivals. Even if we do enjoy them.

In most western countries, schools would grant an excused day off for religious holidays that are not otherwise "universally celebrated." Although we could disagree about it, religious holidays such as Christmas have traditionally been days off in most of Europe and the US.

In some Muslim countries, a person found celebrating Christmas would be sentenced to death for apostasy. If you wish to have governmental recognition of days which are important to your religion, then by all means feel free to live where there is no freedom to worship as you desire. If, on the other hand, you CHOSE to live where such freedoms exist, do not expect to mandate that others believe as you do.

Would the kids like the day off? Sure. What kid doesn't like an extra day away from school? Would it serve a valuable purpose? Probably not. It is highly unlikely that any significant number of non-Muslim students would learn anything more about Islam on that day.

Should we all be more tolerant? I suspect so, but mandating that we all accept your religious holidays as our own will not build tolerance. You are free to worship as you wish, and that's pretty darn tolerant compared to most of the rest of the world.

The same reason that the mussies get a 2 week break at Christmas!!!

It is that time of the year again where we all start to debate the cancellation of Christmas in order to appease the mussies.

Shock and horror....Christmas to be renamed 'Winter Festival by Oxford Council'.....:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3367390/Christmas-banned-in-Oxford-by-council-owned-charity.html

This is well off topic, but I just fancy chiming in that never, not once, in any country, have any muslims tried to make me believe their stuff. We all read stories about how some nutwing fanatic orgaisation wants to implement sharia in Berkhamstead or some equally banal shitewater, but honestly, the people who come knockin' at my door trying to convert me have always been some flavour of christians.

Even more off topic, what is the legality of showing a jehovah's witness your cock? I mean, it's my house, yeah?

The kid CHOSE to be born in Germany, cool.

It all stems down to the age of the JW!

Couldn't we all just get along and make a list of certain Muslim holidays from which a child can be excused from school if he brings a note from a parent? Something along the lines of "Murat couldn't come to school today because he had to help make a big feast for Blahblah Day. Signed, his mom." That way, it's not as if every Muslim kid doesn't come in, or is required to stay away, but we could still show respect for his culture and customs...?

A sign of the times: when I was a kid, Jewish and Jehovah's Witness children had to drag their desks out into the hallway and color or do extra credit work, effectively banished and alone for hours at a time, while the rest of us non-denominational heathens ate Christmas cookies, watched the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and sang Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Yet I don't seem to remember any of them getting Passover or "Family Day" excused.

It is not easy. Schools take very serious the kids attendance and parents might be fined if kids do not go to school without a real valid reason.

Plus remember that some weeks ago there was the problem in court because schools do not allow Muslim kids to pray.

Demans,

1. School hols for religious days.

2. A small mosque in the area to make it easier for the muslims from that area to pray.

3. A small islamic school for our kids to go to.

4. A small shop to sell Halal food so that we can trust the meat there.

5. A ban against banning our girls wearing burkha..

what next? They keep on demanding. I saw recently saw a video about a council meeting in a small Irish town. Decades ago few people came from middle east and settled there. Now there are about a hundred of them in a small county. Now they are demanding a Islamic school to impart knowledge about the religion to heir kids. The council dismissed the idea. The Muslims in that area were really unhappy and i saw an old man throw a bottle of water on the Mayor.

Moved to Germany, learn to accept and appreciate the things here and stop trying to convert Germany into halfway Islamic and hoping that one day it will also become a Islamic nation.

cheers

You are assuming that Mom has been allowed to learn to read and write - not at all a certainty in Islamic households.

In my school the non christian kids were asked if they wanted to take part, a letter was sent home to the parents as well and nearly every single one of them joined in the biscuit making and such like stuff. I don't remember being asked if I wanted a slice of BBQ'd goat at Eid though the selfish sods.

Why not? Islam is one of the worlds great religions so why shouldn´t we make their highest religious festivity a public holiday, provided they represent a significant part of the population? Berlin could well have another public holiday, it has six days less per year than Bavaria.

Last night I went to the British Allsorts shop and bought some nice food. Didn't come across a single sign that anybody didn't like it being there.

For lunch I just had a nice Turkish Kebab. To get to the Kebab shop you have to walk past a Catholic and Protestant Kindergarten.

There is so much hypocracy in the complaints about these requests. Why no muslim schools if we allow other single religion schools? Religious schools are the source of so many problems the answer there is simple. Remove them all.

Who gives of if there is a shop catering to muslim food tastes? We don't complain about Chinese restaurants, Indian Restaurants or other none indiginous foods do we. And many of us love a Kebab.

Why no mosque? Not a single cent of government money should be spent on the building of religious buildings but if that community has the money , why not?

Burque. Another simple one. The schools should be none religious and religion should stop at the door. But there should be no crusifixes either.

Almost anyone who has ever lived anywhere with proper supermarkets can see how shite they are in Germany, so I'm thankful for the turkish shops myself. I don't care about halal rules in the slightest, but my tastebuds tell me that their lamb is great.

When I read stories like this I question why immigrants left their homeland to move to Germany or any other country?

Europe and the Americas are primarly christian places. The majority would have not worked or attended school on certian days regardless. So the school systems and government just figured why not give the days off. In some parts of the DC area Jewish holidays are given off because that is the majority.

But lets get back to my point. If you wanted to leave your native land for a better opportunity why would you want to bring the same establishment with you. Why are chritians not flocking to Middle Eastern countries? Just some food for thought.

If it were food for thought you'd have thought before typing and realised the complete hypocracy of what you're saying. How did the Jews get to DC?

You could ask the same question of all the westerners that go to earn megabucks in Dubai, but want to be able to drink alcohol there.

Because you are humans and religious folk cling to their stupid beliefs regardless of geography. Everyone I know who lives and works in Dubai takes Christmas off and the muslims don't pitch a fit.

more like birdseed for thought.

I can't believe there are still people out there in the world--who have figured out how to use computers and breathe through their noses no less--who continue to beat this dead horse into a bloody pulp.

Newsflash: Europe and the Americas are primarily Christian places, because Christians constitute the majority of the population, NOT because being Christian is a prerequesite to living there.

White people make up the majority of the population in the United States too. So if you want to live your life in a way not recognized by the majority of white people, you ought to go back... where? You're already in the place you were born. Regardless, I don't remember the Europeans deferring to the religions of the land when they came over, so this whole "such-and-such is a Christian place" bullshit doesn't hold up anyway.

In the self-proclaimed "enlightened West", everyone--thank goodness--has a right to practice however he wants, and claiming that because "everyone else does it another way", minorities don't have a right to their religions is so incredibly bigoted and narrow-minded I could blog about it.

bah.

You can drink alcohol in Dubai!! Maybe you are thinking of Riyadh?

Despite being blonde, pretty , not wearing a Burque and drinking way more alcohol than you should, my little sister has failed miserably to get herself arrested despite living there two years.

That's my point - the locals have given in to western "demands"....

Ah but you forget the westerners are bringing money and knowledge so they are allowed to move there and drink.

Nobody should be allowed to move to better themselves, as that can't possibly work . Well not unless you look at the worlds most powerful country as your model.

I think you meant to say "We are humans".Dubai does not represent all the Islamic countries. It's just one big exception. The price they were willing to pay to attract foreigners to work there and for tourism. Almost all other Islamic counties differ from this view. Try going to Saudi during Ramadan. They will make you starve during the day. And again for the records, muslims and not pitching a fit don't always come true. There are many many muslims who don't care a .

Release a book/movie titled "Da Vinci Code" and the vatican will start to rumble. Publish a cartoon in Denmark about the prophet and the whole Islamic world will retaliate and burn Danish flags and attact Danish embassies.

Thats the difference.

So we should show as much tollerance as a strictly muslim country?

'The whole muslim world'. Every single one of them? Perhaps a little overreaction there?

Let me make it clear here. I am not against Islam nor agains Muslims in general. When i said the whole muslim world, i meant groups from almost all of the Islamic countries protested. I did not mean to say all the muslims in the world protested.

Edit: On the other hand, i personally do not see me being to live comfortably in an Islamic surrounding. Too many restrictions and i like wayyy to much to be in the free open world.

Second, long haul doesn't move to countries where he will be restricted to looking at boobies. No boobie show, no relocation.

The point is that Chrisitan immigrants/ex pats expect places to cater to them and their beliefs when they live abroad. The American oil workers I know in the non drinking countries all know where to get black market hooch, its not like westerners bow their heads in submission to local countries and assimilate.

I think Islam is a stupid dangerous religion (like Christianity), but lets not act like muslims are the only people that move somewhere else and expect their views to be catered to.

I second this.

Incidentally I spent my whole vacation in Turkey on the piss too. We made a drinking game out of the prayer calls, face Mecca and take a shot 5 times a day.

Sounds a bit odd/interesting, knowing the fact that you come from a country, with the second largest population of Muslims.

Ya true. But i don't come from an Islamic nation too. And i haven't been bothered about restrictions back home too. Yes, India is not western. But i like home the way it is. And freedom of speech, dress etc, weren't a problem. If you are hinting about the boobie comment, then there are many pretty ones back home too.

A country where you're not allowed in certian places based on which class you were born into.

Ya, right!

Poll results from Bild.com:

(attached image)

This is again another controversal topic and is interesting to see how much interest a topic relating Muslims generates among people here.

I am Pakistani, in Pakistan the Chrismas days are off each year and Muslims do get time off due to these Holidays. Not only this, the Christians also get a piece of time on state owned television channel to have Chrismas related religious programs. But certainely it is not the same case in every country with majority of Muslims living with minority Christians.

If German goverment was to decide (if it was raised to such level) the goverment could allow the day off in schools having majority of students from immigrants background (Turkish, Arabs etc). but doing in all schools over the country would not make sense since officially the Muslims are constitute about 5% of the population. And majority of that 5% I believe does 'cleaning' or 'catering' sort of jobs which certainly doesnt gives them much to influence political matters.

Given with overall international political disputes and reputition of Muslims in general in west, and at the end the typical German culture, I dont think this is going to happen for good or bad.

bild.com heh? %79.000001...

Exactly. To be fair to all religions, we should remove all religious holidays and replace them with some other celebration.

I'm not sure how I feel about giving all the kids a day off school to recognize a strictly religious holiday.

But we are talking about kids, here. Kids who get the message that they are not accepted in the wider society because their customs are not recognized by the population as a whole. Religious holidays don't have a deeper meaning for kids beyond what gifts they might receive/give, what special foods they might eat, what relatives/friends they might see, etc. Since most of these kids will live in Germany as adults, it might not hurt to create a universal day off school to make a gesture of acceptance, especially in areas where there are more Muslims than others.

As opposed to the forced adherence to Catholicism. Make sure you get those kids into choir with the local kiddy fiddler.

Where is there forced adherence to Catholicism? I'm not religious - VERY much IR-religious - but first choice for my kids would be a Catholic education. Strict, rigid, and thorough.

And I mean, the Catholic church takes more of a stand against child molesters than Islam seems to do against suicide/homicide baby-and-old-lady bombing.....

There was an official policy for the highest position in the church to cover it up! And how many IRA terrorists did the pope excommunicate? There are unquestionably some people who have interpreted the Muslim faith and are using it for much evil. As there are people of all faiths who do this, and have done it all over history. I have never met a Muslim who was any more or less  loving , caring and humane than any other person. 'They' are no different. There is good and bad in all societies. The current islamaphobia and double standards is really sad and not condusive to solving the problems, that there clearly are, long term.

On a similar topic,

Egyptian woman protest ban on austere veil

I for one thought that it were the men who enforced it on women. Hmm, interesting!

Hahaha, you're kidding aren't you? The history of how the church dealt with child abusers in their ranks (in Australia, at least) was to transfer them to another parish, presumably so they could interfere with even more children without attracting too much attention - revolting. One of our governer-generals was kicked out for enabling this sort of thing. That said, there are many good catholic schools out there, but I would suggest academic performance is the sole reason to choose them.

And by taking a stand you mean actively shielding?

A priest, a rapist, and a pedophile walk into a bar... Thats just the first guy.

common HDBumps comment goes like this

Blah blah blah....PC card......blah blah blah Muslims bad!!!.....blah blah blah....losing our culture!!!......blah blah blah "tolerance" sucks......whine.

Would you not "whine" if a neighbor shat in your front yard?

There may have been some instances of cover-ups and other scandolous behavior by the Church in recent years - but I mean, nothing of the scale of full-on culture hatred exhibited my THOUSANDS of Muslims all around the world in the last 20 years.. Hatred of the West is practically a cultural pillar of Islam.. "The Great Satan", and on and on.. Was there really so much remorse among Muslims worldwide after 9/11? Was there ever more than two secons of lip-service, before ranting on about Israel, etc?? Were Catholics dancing in the streets after the earthquakes in Iran the way Palestinians were after 9/11? Were Westerners out burning flags and Islamic effigies all across the western world all over some dumbass inflated cartoon scandal? Was some SAUDI artist nearly beheaded on the streets of his hometown Ryadh for expressing views critical of the West the way Theo van Gogh was murdered?? The list is LONG.. So any "Islamaphobia" (stupid trendy word..) has not emerged out of a vacuum. Now you have un-integrated, often non-contributing Turks here in Germany demanding an Islamic holiday... If you don't see the absurdity - and yes, danger IMO - of it all, it's because you're blinded by it.

Do you ever stop for a fraction of a second to think WHY it is that there is so much hatred against the west?

So you sit there and are fed your head full of images of the 'whole muslim world' up in arms about an image in the west. What images do you think the muslim world is seeing on it's TVs about our behaviour?

You're right. 'Islamaphoia' is a silly word. Should have used racism.

Sillier yet..

My god.. Somewhere on earth last week a child was beaten, raped and murdered... But do YOU have any idea about what a terrible childhood the murderer had? Do YOU realize just what a victim he was? Yes, what he did to the child was wrong.. BUT god it's all so understandable if you look at the context...

So you understand cycles of violence. You're just too blind to see the implications.

[font="Times New Roman">[size="3">I love the hypocrisy on this forum, would one of you marry a Muslim or let your kids marry one? No. [/font]

[font="Times New Roman">[size="3">I?ve lived in the Middle east and they do hate everything western and Christian it amazes me that some people here will stand up for Islam and their beliefs but abuse the Catholic church.[/font]

[font="Times New Roman">[size="3">Some of you said don?t generalize Islam but on the other hand bashing the whole Catholic Church is also wrong because, they also do a lot of good. No one is perfect. I have nothing against any religion but living in a minority that?s just how it is sadly. Either you live where ever you choose and integrate or go back to your country, that?s what I was told in the Middle East.

[/font]

There is and always has been injustice in the world. Committing atrocities - and celebrating them gleefully - is not the way to overcoming the "cycle of violence".. (does that come before discussion of demonizing "the other" in Psychology 101, or after?) Though not a peacenik by any means..(ha ha..), I can respect figures such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, et al for embodying more .... noble ... responses to injustice.

What I really can't abide is left-wingers in the West pointing fingers back at the West itself and assigning blame on ourselves for the atrocities committed against us - atrocities committed against innocent people. It's one thing to target the Israeli army, quite another to blow up discos full of adolescents, or buses full of grandmas.. And precisely THAT is how the Muslim world chooses to react to the injustice they face. No, not all of them perhaps.. But there certainly doesn't seem to be much vocal outrage against that kind of thing in the Muslim world. Much more like making excuses for it.

I've never sent a fxxing check to Israel, but there are plenty of Muslims who would be happy to see me blown up on a Berlin U-bahn or bus in LA..

Uhhh ... because we're not Muslims? Just a wild guess.

Or because the West had a good deal of history of colonizing them, carving them into poorly designed countries and using them as proxies during the co…[/quote]Um, I think the people here who are not bigots like you would let their kids marry whomever they pleased. I personally wouldn't marry a Muslim, but I wouldn't marry anyone with religious faith since I wouldn't be able to respect them. Plus Muslims would probably frown on my alcoholism.

So close to understanding. Both sides are committing their own attrocities and both sides media is building up a huge catalogue of wrong commited by the other side while failing to admit the fault of their own.

As the old joke goes, they'll be fighting as long as they keep pissing in our coffee and we keep shitting on their shoes.

Yes the reaction in the east is wrong. But so is ours. Which have we more control over?

Wrong.

@ Liplatium, well you dont know me so dont call me a bigot I did marry one and have 2 kids from him. I know first hand what it was living with one so yea when you do, come back and call me a bigot.

Yea making fun and putting it lightly doesnt make you any better than me.

@ Kreig you are in the minority!!

Nice rhetorical flourish there at the end pas. Touche´.. Yes, we can only control our actions. But I would argue that giving them a freakin' holiday is not the kind of action we need to take. I'm no fan of Israel, and god knows the whole region is a bloody complicated mess, and yes, historical circumstances going way back - including much bungling by the West - have led to that mess. But still, AFAIC you have to draw a line. And blowing up grandmas is WAY over that line. Far beyond the pale. But precisely that has become the modus operandi for dealing with injustice as they - the Islamic world writ large - perceive it - from Europe to Iraq and Afghanistan to Indonesia to NYC.

I guess now somebody will jump in and yell at me for constantly bringing up blowing up grandmas. But no matter how you slice it, Islam is not an entity worth taking seriously or even respecting until that kind of thing is gotten more under control. Preferably eradicated. But again, all you ever hear from Muslims spokesmen is excuse-making, NOT outspoken and heartfelt criticism of that kind of evil.

I don't accept that we as a culture in the West would ever sink to such nihilistic and fanatically religious depths as modern day Islamic fanatics do btw. And I still maintain that Islam as a whole's response as been WOEFULLY weak and inadequate in trying to curb or halt any of it... Therefore no holiday IMO.

You do realize that saying you wouldn't let your children marry a large percentage of the Earth's population because of a bad experience you h…[/quote]Like fundie christians who blow up abortion clinics? Also, suicide bombing is not nihilism. Nihilism is a belief in nothing, it is by definition incompatable with religious fanatacism. People who blow themselves up general have strong faith is something.

You don?t understand where I?m coming from or ever lived in the Middle East so it would be futile to explain, so whatever floats your boat...@ Lip...

Which is entierly true but we need to engage the reasonable and open Islamic leaders and encourage them to sort out their house. We won't do it by stick alone.

If we treat the muslims in the west as equals I do strongly believe that over time there will be improvement. But they must expect to be treated by equals if they break 'our' rules as well. A dialog is needed.

Northern Ireland is a conflict that has lasted over 100 years and only recently have things calmed down. I'm not saying that conflict could not return and there is still a lot of mistrust but there is hope there. We need to learn from something like that.

And Chelle63. You can say the same thing about a Catholic marrying a Protestant in Ireland in the 70s. It happened. If we learned that all human beings are equally capable of love then perhaps some of this wouldn't happen.

Ah, the old "You wouldn't understand, but trust me my grossly bigoted statement does not make me bigoted" defense.

It seems to me you seem to think creating the same sort of bigatory in the west would be a good thing?

We've come a long long way in the last 50 years. They not. I know what sort of society I want to live in. And I'd gladly marry a muslim if I loved her and she loved me. Why not?

Good for you...

Dude, I am from the weathiest country in the world and trust me when I tell you that we have not put religion behind.

Blah blah blah, another thread turns into yet another bipolar argument about the west v. islam.Fairplay, the middle east is a twathole, sure, but you don't exactly get many Turkish muslims over here bitching about the 'west'. Not atall. We had a village fest thing a few months back, and the local Turkish people put on a load of food, served tea and didn't care that they were alongside a traditional Gerry beer & pork extravaganza. Everyone was just cool and got along. Tons of the Turks here don't wear all the silly tentlike clothes, and you'd probably not guess that some were muslim atall. Turkey is a bit different to the whackjob kingdom of Saud.

Anyway, back on topic. Should we ban or rename all religious holidays, to be all secular and ? Nah. Happens on it's own anyway. Christmas nowadays is about Santa and coca cola, not Jesus. Divali is a massive fireworks display. Why not let Ramadan be recognized, and in a few years it'll just be another party day. In fact, we could hijack it and turn it into a day when we all listen to 50's rock and roll. We could even start calling it "ramadanadingdong".

Live and let live for gods sake. Just because there are a load of dickfuck extremists in the middle east, I for one ain't gonna start saying "ooooh, they burn churches, so we shouldn't allow mosques!" that. Let's be better than them

Amen to that D.R.

This is an apt time to pause for thought at the passing of the entertainment centre of the Eastern Province in Saudi.

Had its own Oktoberfest, 300 villas, 30 were bars, own nightclub, real looking pub called The George. Out in 45 degree heat at 11pm then off to some bar till dawn. Wonderful times.

The air hostesses flying into Dhahran used to ask straight away for Algo when they landed such was its international reputation (or notoriety!)

Bilingual Muslim children need to learn standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher stuies and research to serve humanity. They need to learn Arabic, Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.. State schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers have been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for a long time. Majority of them leave schools with low grades. They find themselves cut off from their cultural roots, literature and poetry. All of them suffer for identity crises. They do not know where they belong.

Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school.

British tax-payers have been funding nearly 7000 Church schools for a long time and not a single Brit ever raised his finger against them.

Now Muslim community has the right to demand state funded Muslim schools for their bilingual children and each and every Tom and Harry do not want to see state funded Muslim schools. If Muslims have their own school that's indoctrination and segregation, according to British society.

State schools with monolingual non-Muslim teachers have been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 60 years. Majority of them leave schools with low grades. They find themselves cut off from their cultural roots and are unable to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.

British schooling is the home of institutional racism and native teachers are chicken racist. This is the main reason why all minority groups would like to have their own state funded schools with their own teachers. Now Hindu community has set up the first state funded school in Harrow and next year in Leicester. Black community is also thinking and planning a school for their children with black teachers as role models.

According to a recent report, Muslim schools performed best overall, although they constitute only a fraction of the country's 7000 schools. Muslim schools do well because of their Islamic ethos and a focus on traditional discipline and teaching methods. They teach children what is right and what is wrong, because young children need structured guidance.

We would like all Muslim children to be educated in Muslim schools with Muslim teachers as role models. They need to learn and be well versed in standard English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages. After leaving Muslim schools they can decide whether to follow their own culture and faith or follow western culture and way of life. For the time being they have no choice. All of them suffer from identity crises. They do not know where they belong.

Iftikhar Ahmad

www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Yeah, um, no.. The solution is shut down state funding for Christian schools, if you want to brainwash your kids do it with your own money.

Not true at all.

All religious schools should be stopped. To allow a catholic school and not allow a Muslim school is totally wrong. Integration will not happen if children maintain the idea they are different by living their lives separately. There are plenty of hours in the day for the parents to brain wash their children into the religion of their choice later but the state should not be paying for it.

Edit: Just like lp said.

One can agree or disagree with the Turkish leader's views, but I for one fail to see anything offensive about what he has said.

Not nearly as vile as the comments by Sarrazin about Turks and Arabs being good only for selling vegetables - not that there is anything wrong with selling vegetables

I wonder what the reaction would be if we decided that blacks and muslims should have their own schools and refuse to allow them in 'white' schools because we feared our children having their culture compromised?

And then the when adult we shouldn't allow those blacks and muslims to work with us or eat and drink in the same places as they are culturally a risk?

It seems that a world without any religion (or even just one common religion) would be a safer, happier place to live.

The "one common religion" is exactly what every version of skypixie belief is trying to bring about - their own version of course and some are not particular about how many people have to die to get there.

Homeschooling is very popular in the US (I learned a few days ago that in fact, my state has the highest concentration of homeschooled kids in the country.)

I suspect if more homeschoolers here were Muslim fundamentalists rather than Christian fundamentalists, homeschooling would quickly be banned. (Not all homeschoolers here are Christian fundamentalists, I realize.)