A waxing crescent: Islam is growing. But ageing and slowing. That will change the world

THE ECONOMIST [The Economist Newspaper Ltd] - January 27, 2011
[...] The authors call their calculations demographic, not political. Drawing on earlier Pew research, they say conversion is not a big factor in the global contest between Islam, Christianity and other faiths; the converts balance out. Nor do they assess piety; via the imperfect data of the United Nations, the European Union and national statistics, they aim simply to measure how many people call themselves Muslim, at least culturally, if asked.

New numbers, they say, will change the world map. As Indonesia prospers, its birth rate is falling; South Asia's remains very high. By 2030, 80m extra mouths in Pakistan will boost its Muslim numbers to 256m, ousting Indonesia (with 239m) as the most populous Islamic land. India's Muslim minority will be nearly as large at 236m-though growth is slowing there too. And in 2030 India's Muslims will still constitute only a modest 15.9% of that country's swelling total, against 14.6% now. ...

Eurabian nights
The total Muslim share of Europe's population is predicted to grow from 6% now to 8% in 2030: hardly the stuff of nightmares. But amid that are some sharp rises. The report assumes Britain has 2.9m Muslims now (far higher than the usual estimates, which suggest 2.4m at most), rising to 5.6m by 2030. As poor migrants start families in Spain and Italy, numbers there will rocket; in France and Germany, where some Muslims are middle-class, rises will be more modest-though from a higher base. Russia's Muslims will increase to 14.4% or 18.6m, up from 11.7% now (partly because non-Muslims are declining). The report takes a cautious baseline of 2.6m American Muslims in 2010, but predicts the number will surge by 2030 to 6.2m, or 1.7% of the population-about the same size as Jews or Episcopalians. In Canada the Muslim share will surge from 2.8% to 6.6%. ...

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.economist.com/node/18008022


See:
The Future of the Global Muslim Population Projections for 2010-2030
http://pewforum.org/The-Future-of-the-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx



Majority of Muslims want Islam in politics, poll says
LOS ANGELES TIMES [Tribune Company] - By Meris Lutz - December 6, 2010
Reporting from Beirut - A majority of Muslims around the world welcome a significant role for Islam in their countries' political life, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, but have mixed feelings toward militant religious groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

According to the survey, majorities in Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Nigeria would favor changing current laws to allow stoning as a punishment for adultery, hand amputation for theft and death for those who convert from Islam to another religion. About 85% of Pakistani Muslims said they would support a law segregating men and women in the workplace.

Muslims in Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria and Jordan were among the most enthusiastic, with more than three-quarters of poll respondents in those countries reporting positive views of Islam's influence in politics: either that Islam had a large role in politics, and that was a good thing, or that it played a small role, and that was bad.

Turkish Muslims were the most conflicted, with just more than half reporting positive views of Islam's influence in politics. Turkey has struggled in recent years to balance a secular political system with an increasingly fervent Muslim population. ...

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/06/world/la-fg-1206-muslim-poll-20101206

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'Self-Hating Jew' Soros: The main stumbling block is Israel

Ed. Note: George Soros exemplifies the spirit of anti-Christ. He is a self-hating Jew and billionaire with a “god complex” with nothing better to do but use his money to fund foundations that and organizations that are the resources behind much chaos, anarchy and uprising around the world. He was a large contributor to Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential election and the mainstream media (MSM) for the most part are enthralled with him. This Op-Ed is only for the obvious purpose of understanding the evil he promotes.

Why Obama has to get Egypt right
THE WASHINGTON POST [Wash Post Group/Graham] > Opinion - By George Soros - February 3, 2011
Revolutions usually start with enthusiasm and end in tears. In the case of the Middle East, the tears could be avoided if President Obama stands firmly by the values that got him elected. Although American power and influence in the world have declined, our allies and their armies look to us for direction. These armies are strong enough to maintain law and order as long as they stay out of politics; thus the revolutions can remain peaceful. That is what the United States should insist on while encouraging corrupt and repressive rulers who are no longer tolerated by their people to step aside and allow new leaders to be elected in free and fair elections.

That is the course that the revolution in Tunisia is taking. Tunisia has a relatively well-developed middle class, women there enjoy greater rights and opportunities than in most Muslim countries, and the failed regime was secular in character. The prospects for democratic change are favorable.

Egypt is more complex and, ultimately, more influential, which is why it is so important to get it right. The protesters are very diverse, including highly educated and common people, young and old, well-to-do and desperately poor. While the slogans and crowds in Tahrir Square are not advancing a theocratic agenda at all, the best-organized political opposition that managed to survive in that country's repressive environment is the Muslim Brotherhood. In free elections, the Brotherhood is bound to emerge as a major political force, though it is far from assured of a majority. ...

The main stumbling block is Israel. In reality, Israel has as much to gain from the spread of democracy in the Middle East as the United States has. But Israel is unlikely to recognize its own best interests because the change is too sudden and carries too many risks. And some U.S. supporters of Israel are more rigid and ideological than Israelis themselves. Fortunately, Obama is not beholden to the religious right, which has carried on a veritable vendetta against him. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is no longer monolithic or the sole representative of the Jewish community. The main danger is that the Obama administration will not adjust its policies quickly enough to the suddenly changed reality.

I am, as a general rule, wary of revolutions. But in the case of Egypt, I see a good chance of success. As a committed advocate of democracy and open society, I cannot help but share in the enthusiasm that is sweeping across the Middle East. I hope President Obama will expeditiously support the people of Egypt. My foundations are prepared to contribute what they can. In practice, that means establishing resource centers for supporting the rule of law, constitutional reform, fighting corruption and strengthening democratic institutions in those countries that request help in establishing them, while staying out of those countries where such efforts are not welcome.

The writer is chairman of the Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Foundations, which support democracy and human rights in more than 70 countries.

Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/02/AR2011020205041.html

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Home of the Deceived and Land of the Depraved

Home of the Deceived and Land of the Depraved

The rot in values that is causing America's decline
THE JERUSALEM POST [Mirkaei Tikshoret] - By Shmuley Boteach - February 1, 2011
Science and math. Science and math. President Barack Obama's new mantra is science and math. If only America's students focused on science and math, he told us in his State of the Union address, then we'll be as innovative as China and will no longer have to farm out the building of wondrous handheld gadgets. The gods of science and math will make our economy blossom.

But missing from the president's new, post-midterm vision for America is any mention of the rot in values that is causing our decline. The reason we don't excel in education is not because our schools focus on philosophy and the humanities to the exclusion of science and math, but rather because we are becoming a pack of ignoramuses watching inane TV shows, following the lives of mostly decadent celebrities, and engaging in an endless orgy of consumption. Our problem is not that we read too much Nietzsche and too little astrophysics, but rather that our character is becoming corrupt.

Thomas Jefferson knew tons of science and math. So did Benjamin Franklin. But George Washington did not. No historian claims that Abraham Lincoln knew calculus like Einstein. The point is that science and math made some Americans great, but were passed over by others who were equally great.

But what all these men possessed in abundance was a sense of mission. Whether it was a hatred of oppression and tyranny, or a desire to see the dynamic American spirit supplant the ossified European aristocracy, or contempt for brutal institutions like slavery, they all embraced America as a great idea, a living dream, one that could lift men and women and inspire children. ...

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=206126



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Aaron Klein: Why Glenn Beck is right on Egypt chaos

WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - February 10, 2011
JERUSALEM - A conflict has erupted between conservative pundit William Kristol and Fox News host Glenn Beck over the chaos in Egypt, with a number of right-leaning authors taking sides, and a few even hurling insults. In my job as a Mideast-based, boots-on-the-ground reporter who has lived and breathed these issues for the past six years, in constant communication with all sides of the Mideast conflict - including near-daily interviews with Arab officials, jihadist leaders (such as those from the Muslim Brotherhood), as well as average citizens - I feel compelled to join Glenn Beck's side.

Chastising Beck from his position as editor of the influential Weekly Standard, Kristol criticizes the talk-show host for his "rants about the caliphate taking over the Middle East from Morocco to the Philippines, and [he] lists (invents?) the connections between caliphate-promoters and the American left." Kristol then evinces a highly optimistic view of the upheaval now roiling Egypt and hails the protests there as a precursor for democracy, while urging the United States to support "the Egyptian awakening."

Besides excoriating Beck, Kristol takes issue with Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, who warns the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood may come to power as result of the revolution, but quotes approvingly of Krauthammer's view that the "Egyptian awakening carries promise and hope and of course merits our support." Krauthammer also asserts that "our paramount moral and strategic interest in Egypt is real democracy in which power does not devolve to those who believe in one man, one vote, one time." And to top it off, Kristol compares the Egyptian revolution to America's own founding. "The Egyptian people want to exercise their capacity for self-government. American conservatives, heirs to our own bold and far-sighted revolutionaries, should help them," he writes. Unfortunately, the Egypt Kristol wishes for does not reflect reality on the ground. Glenn Beck's vision of an emerging Islamic caliphate - with the radical American left aiding and abetting the Muslim Brotherhood - is far closer to the truth and supported by abundant evidence. (Beck is not the only nationally syndicated commentator to make this argument. Popular talker Michael Savage devoted an entire broadcast last Friday to showing that leftist American figures had their hands in the Egyptian revolt, which, he said, will favor Islamists.) ...

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=261681


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