Thursday, 26th June 2008
The lamp beside the golden door*
Being shocked is not one of the emotions that I am frequently seized by. So when it happens, it is fairly unforgettable.
Some time ago I was listening to a radio programme about irregular immigration to Malta. A woman phoned in and agitatedly said: “Don’t you know that they are coming to Malta to convert us to Islam.”
The presenter tried to calm her down and her agitation gave way to hysteria. Finally, he managed to get a word in and pointed out that a number of these immigrants are Christians, but it was to no avail. In the caller’s vision of things the dehydrated men, the pregnant women and the hungry children are the valiant front line of a great Muslim onslaught on Europe. We may have won the Great Siege and saved Europe in the sixteenth century but now we are rapidly on the way to losing our religion. And that viewpoint is worrying.
What worries me more is that some hold the belief that the Muslims have concocted a plan to convert Europe to Islam and that Malta is part of that plan. This ridiculous idea holds currency with a number of members of the Charismatic movement who spread it around with ‘Christian’ generosity. Incredible but true.
Every boat that lands irregular immigrants in Malta – and they are nowtoo frequent for comfort – generates, gives birth to and spreads fear. Those who do not fear the loss of their religion, fear their daughters’ loss of virtue, their jobs, known or unknown diseases or their neighbourhood’s identity. Fear is the name of the game. Fear spreads like wildfire and tends to beget more and more unpleasant emotions and perhaps, unwarranted actions.
In this, it seems, we are not alone.
What do Europe and Iraq have in common?
Europe and Iraq were ranked among the 10 "worst places for refugees" in the 2008 World Refugee Survey for policies such as "warehousing" refugees for decades or for forcing them back to dangerous situations in their homelands (vide www.refugees.org/survey ). “Warehousing” is another term for “detention”. The other members of the top ten are Bangladesh, China, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Sudan, Russia and Thailand.
The survey prepared by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants was released on June the 19th during press conferences in Washington and in twenty other cities around the world the same day. It singled out Europe for policies that "make it as difficult as possible to enter" that continent's territory.
Countries on the periphery of Europe had the harshest policies, it said, and some forcibly return asylum seekers to dangerous conditions.
There are more than 14 million refugees and asylum seekers worldwide.
Lavinia Limon, president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, was quoted by CNS as saying that an estimated 8.5 million refugees are "warehoused" or being restricted for five years or more in camps or other segregated housing with limited rights and restricted access to education and jobs.
Malta has been frequently criticised for the handling of irregular immigrants but this time we were not mentioned.
Living with refugees
Right after the first Gulf War tens of thousands of Iraqis, mainly Catholics, fleed their homeland. Several hundreds came to Malta. I myself met a radio transmitter engineer whom I had employed at RTK.
It was illegal but I did it in full conscience. Man’s law not to employ without a work permit is intended to protect workers from exploitation. As such, it is consistent with God’s law to help others. By giving a decent wage and conditions to Jusouf I felt that I had respected the spirit of both.
Jusouf and I became friends and in 1996 two of his wife’s siblings managed to come to Malta where they lived-with me-for a few months. Now they are settled in Canada.
Why am I sharing this story? In the first paragraphs of this blog I referred to fear. This self defence mechanism thrives upon what we do not know.
I believe that the barriers created by fear may start to fall if more and more occasions are created during which Maltese people meet and familiarise themselves with these irregular immigrants. I don’t want to sound simplistic.
I know that this is not the solution to the problem. If there is one I am sure that it will turn out to be much more complex. I am not taking a holistic approach either, nor a structural one. I am just making a proposal that will possibly help us understand these people more , their problems, hopes, anxieties and joys. I am proposing something that can help us come to terms with the fragility of their condition, as well as ours…….
Whenever we cut others out and seek refuge within ourselves it is we who become the refugees, fugitives from our own humanity.
----------------------------
* Vide “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, a poem inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty. The stanza reads: "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
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Comments
You can write a whole book on Muslim atrocities, but still, this does not make all Muslims atrocious.
Regarding moderate Muslims not doing enough to condemn the extremists, yes, here I have to agree with you.
The problem with muslims is not only that the so called extremists (in fact they are the mainstream muslims) are not being criticised by their leaders, but at best, their leaders, including those in Malta, just shut up and say nothing when a priest is murdered in Turkey. or a monk is knifed to death in Jerusalem by a palestinian, or a Christian church is bombed in Iraq, or the millenary statues of buddha are bombareded and destroyed by the taliban......the list is endless. So the muslims just take it for granted that all their extremist actions are being condoned, if not tacitly approved by their leaders... That is the real problem.
I have explained to Kenneth Cassar countless times that when one speaks about Islam one has to refer to the flagrant majority who accept to wage war on all "infidels" as they are bound to do by the Koran and hadith and who are the instigators of the rampant terrorism that is terrorising the civilized world and who promise a heavenly reward to gullible mass murderers if they die committing their atrocities.
I have patiently and repeatedly explained to him that the few brave souls who would like to see the eventual emergence of a more humane version of Islam do so at the risk of their lives at the hands of the devout mainline Islamists. They are the exception and not true Moslems so much so that they targeted for destruction. But a blinkered Cassar would have us believe that these victims of Islam are the true Moslems!
There is no one more blind than someone who has eyes but closes them so that they will not see. Do as I do - ignore him
Conceded. But still, that the violent Muslims might (and I stress "might") be in the majority does not make them any less THE extremists, whom I obviously oppose without reservations. If it were up to me, the violent extremists would all be locked up...but how do you recognize the extremist from the moderate one before he actually acts violently. This is the major obstacle to the "war on terror". Terrorists and extremists do not have labels showing them to be so. So should we perhaps lock all Mulsims up, just in case? Certainly not, not unless we disregard human rights ourselves.
There is one muslim woman in Italy who is working for the rights of islamic woman. This woman is continuously threatened by islamic men and lives her life under police protection.
There is an Egyptian journalist in Italy who lost so much faith in islam ever coming to terms with the modern times that he became a christian. He is also targeted for punishment.
The list is endless.
Let me ask you one final question: Do you honestly believe that there aren't any decent Secular Muslims who do not adhere to sharia law, and who respect human rights?
If the answer is no, then we're basically saying the same thing but stressing different points.
If the answer is yes, then I might as well start believing that the Westboro Baptist Church ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church ) is true Christianity, and the rest are just Christian cowards (Westboro Baptists actually claim so - would you want anyone to claim that you cannot be a true Christian unless you are a Westboro Baptist?).
The Westboro Baptist Church (and other modern fundamentalist Christians) are proof enough that any religion can produce crazed fundamentalists. But seeing the bigger picture, one will know that not every religious person is a fundamentalist.
I hope this much is clear.
In my comment addressed to Alex, I was referring to Muslims in European Democracies, and definitely not in theocratic fundamentalist states where sharia is the law of the state.
So my point is that Muslims (as well as people of any other religion) must be forced to obey the laws of the Democratic countries they reside in.
In a comment which did not make it to this board, I wrote that to allow Sharia law is not "freedom of religion", but actually the imposition of religion.
As for secular Muslims, they already exist today - we do not have to wait for the distant future - although I will admit that they are perhaps relatively too few for comfort. But that they exist is what prompts me to claim that we should not judge individuals before we know anything about them.
"The Muslim community became divided into groups...This division persists until the present day (Brown 1996, Hallaq 2001, Ramadan 2005, Aslan 2006, Safi 2003, Nenezich 2006).
Secularists believe that the law of the state should be based on secular principles, not on Islamic legal theory.
Traditionalists believe that the law of the state should be based on the traditional legal schools. However, traditional legal views are considered unacceptable by some modern Muslims, especially in areas like women's rights or slavery.
Reformers believe that new Islamic legal theories can produce modernized Islamic law and lead to acceptable opinions in areas such as women's rights".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia
As for electing governments, refugees and asylum seekers can't vote.
Unfortunately there are professional international organisations who abuse the credulousness of our own charitable organisations. They boost illegal immigration and make us unwitting accomplices of organised international criminal organisations who enrich themselves at the cost of the lives of thousands of desperate. Illegal immigrants drowning around Malta.
I am not pontificating against Christianity. As to mentioning Christ (which I did, if you cared to read), isn't the Old Testament God the same Christian God?
As for Leviticus, I only mentioned it to show you that there are questionable tracts in both the Christian Bible and the Koran. It all depends on what one picks and chooses as the true word of God. It seems to me that it is you who quotes only that which suits your purpose (God the Son and not God the Father). I'd rather trust my conscience.
As for "You do not see any contradiction when you also criticise its violence, that 'cannot be the word of God'", I see no contradiction at all. Violence cannot be the word of God, be it in the Koran or the Bible.
Also, I never praised Islam. I'm only being fair to decent Muslims.
I don't ooze anti-Christian and pro-Moslem prejudice.
I have no more time to waste on you.
Adieu!
You are pontificating against Christianity without ever bothering to mention Christ and his New Testament teaching.
You quote Leviticus as the unalterable word of God when that suits your purpose. You do not see any contradiction when you also criticise its violence, that " cannot be the word of God"!
You consistently praise Islam and its practitioners but have to seek consolation in the fact that there may be some Moslems who reject its violence.
You ooze anti-Christian and pro-Moslem prejudice from every pore of your body but you accuse others of prejudice if they dare to point out your biased contradictions.
You are hopelessly mired in your smug self-complacency about your fancied superior knowledge regarding the true nature of Christianity and Islam. Keep on wallowing in your sea of contradictions and inconsistencies. I have no more time to waste on you.
Adieu!
Stating the truth about the obligations imposed on the faithful respectively by the Koran and the Bible is not lies and deceit.
A similar case can be made for the Koran. That there is a possibility that many Muslims still accept the violent bits as the word of God does not change the fact that there could be others who don't. To claim otherwise is to persist in prejudice or slander.
If I am lumping anyone together, it is fundamentalists of all religious denominations, and not truly concerned citizens who do not know the facts.
I would say the Salesians have succeded in showing me that one should not judge individuals before knowing the facts about them. As for you, you would rather lump all Muslims together.
Did you know that the "prophet" Muhammad taught Muslims not to convert Christians, because Christians are already "men of the Book"?
Stating the truth about the obligations imposed on the faithful respectively by the Koran and the NT Gospel is not prejudice.
What is binding on today's Christian community is the message given by Christ that imposes the responsibility to spread the "good news" without waging war and without endorsing violent acts, whether biblical or not. (Matthew Ch.5 v 17 et seq) Concerned Christians, whom you slander as "fundamentalists" would not find any gospel support for any violent acts.
Not so Moslems who are bound by the Koran and mainstream "hadith" to wage holy war against all "infidels" and to subjugate everyone to Islamic law with all its harsh and extreme measures. These are ugly facts, not prejudices, so much so that you hope that "there may be some Muslims who do not adhere to the violent elements in the Koran". At their mortal peril, may I add.
The prejudice and deceit lie in your effort to lump together "violent and unjust extracts" as seen by you equally "in both Christian and Muslim texts". The Salesians may have tried to teach you that prejudice is wrong but they did not succeed, not their fault, of course.
I do believe that "prejudice" is on-topic. Therefore, my comments regarding your prejudice with regards to all Muslims is on-topic.
I showed you that violent and unjust extracts can be read in both Christian and Muslim texts (which is not surprising since they both claim to be historically derived from Judaism). The rejection of the violent bits and the acceptance of the non-violent ones is the prerogative of the individual. Only a prejudiced fundamentalist is not capable of recognising the fact that there are good people in all religions.
Luckily for me, my Salesian education has taught me that prejudice is wrong.
Re the atrocities mentioned in the Old Testament.
Christ enjoined his followers to adopt a much more charitable application of the Mosaic Law (Matthew, Chap 5 v17 et seq) and that is the norm for today's Christians. On the contrary, for today's Moslems the norm is still the waging of holy war against all "infidels" and the preferential treatment of men, as opposed to women, in matrimonial matters.
The exceptionable behaviour of individual Christians or Moslems, obeying or disobeying the precepts of their religion, has never been the subject matter of this blog except when introduced as a red herring by those who are unable or unwilling to be consistently relevant.
Let me give it one last try. After all, I don't understand why you are so condescending and seemingly angry towards me. After all, I'm only defending decent Muslims. So here goes:
In the Christian bible it is written that adulterers, disrespectful children and gay people should be stoned to death. Of course, I will immediately say that the majority of Christians don't hold that view anymore (ok...and Jesus taught otherwise - but that's the whole point).
Is it not possible that like there are Christians who don't take the Bible as literal truth in all its details (particularly the "old testament"), there might be some Muslims who do not adhere to the violent elements in the Koran?
That's the whole point I'm trying to make. I hope you understand. If not, no hard feelings, and have a nice evening.
A straight yes or no, please.
It's that man again!
# 1 I have already commented and agreed that the illegal immigrants' did not even intend to settle here but they were in transit towards Europe.
# 2 The comment above also applies. What I know is that Moslem men everywhere are entitled officially by their religion to privileged treatment even in matters of life and death such as punishment for adultery. I made that abundantly clear in previous comments.
There is evidently no need for me to start now giving answers which I have given already. It is up to you to ponder before starting to pound your keyboard and to give, for once, a straight answer to a straight question. That seems to be way out beyond your capabilities so, please, stop being a pest and keep your promise not to contribute any more silly comments.
Fr Joe Borg wrote that he finds the belief that "irregular immigrants come to Malta as part of (a) plan (to make Malta Muslim)" is a "ridiculous idea".
Is perhaps Fr Borg talking devious, convoluted gibberish as well? And do you really believe that ALL Muslims who come to Malta treat women worse than some Maltese men do?
But then again, once again, maybe I'm wrong.
P.s. When you start answering my questions, I'll start answering yours ;)
You do not fool anybody. You are terminating your contributuion only because you cannot keep on avoiding to answer my repeated, pertinent and specific questions. You prefer roaming about, raising one unrelated isue after another. The inevitable result is devious, convoluted gibberish about the merits and demerits of Christianity and Islam. Your attempt to "share what you know" has failed miserably because there never was enough to spread about, anyway.
Trust you to call me evasive when it is you who are actually evasive (particularly on Leviticus and Deuteronomy - still in the Bible and accepted as God's word by Catholics including the Pope). But I see where you're coming from. You probably get your information about Islam from CNN.
Since I'm not a Muslim (I actually know that Muhammad was an illiterate, and don't believe that the Koran is the word of God), I find arguing further with you pointless and a waste of time. So my contribution will end here.
I'll only end by hoping that you will shed your prejudice and will not judge all people by what you see in a few fanatics. After all, I don't believe you kill people on electric chairs, or bomb abortion clinics like some Christians do - particularly in the USA.
It is not my style to intrude into the private life of individuals. By "situation as expressed by you" I was referring to your comment (@ Franco Farrugia) claiming that you had witnessed such a deficit (of respect between husband and wife) in many, perhaps most, Maltese Christian families. I was curious to learn of any instances from your personal experience, of any Maltese Christian husbands having their wives officially beheaded or buried alive for adultery while they watched in the company of their other wives and concubines.
You obstinately refuse to admit the well known fact that jihad (holy war) against all "infidels" is mainline Islamic teaching lamely stating that there are exceptions! In contrast, you insist on acts of violence by individual Christians under the false pretext of religion when such behaviour has not been oficially approved or condoned for centuries.
Your replies are evasive, irrelevant and absolutely unconvincing.
I get your point all right. You have no answer to my simple questions, only evasiveness
Fundamentalism is mainline Islamic teaching even today. It is the undoubted cause of the intended, abhorrent and wisespread terrorism carried out by recruits from Islamic schools of religion. Rare instances by isolated unbalanced "Cristians" are insignificant by comparison and they are promptly condemnedand not encouraged by the promise of a heavenly paradise as an immediate reward. Islamic moderates do exist but they are themselves murdered by their fundamentalist co-religionists. Be honest with yourself and admit that there is nothing like it in today's Christianity.
It is God himself who is immutable not the human interpretation of his will by the unkown individuals from antiquity who wrote Leviticus and Deuteronomy or by St Paul and St Augustine.
I do not boast. I share what I know. I also treat individuals as individuals and not simply as members of a group. If you think that all Muslims think and act the same (or Christians for that matter), then no wonder we disagree, since we hold entirely different world-views.
You ask me how Muslims treat their wives and how errant husbands are treated. I could tell you that some "Christian" Maltese women, whether faithful or unfaithful to their husbands, are many times beaten up, and sometimes even killed. And before you point out that this is illegal, so is it in some Muslim countries. But like I said, I treat individual cases individually, and won't generalise. Generalisation is prejudice.
As you see, I did not keep you in suspense.
As for the situation as experienced by me, please explain better. If you mean my relationship to "my" wife, I treat her as an equal.
My point, which amazingly you have failed to grasp, is that discrimination and unjust treatment is many times performed out of word-for-word adherence to ancient religious texts. That is why Muslim fundamentalists violate human rights, and that it why culturally, many Catholic Maltese men also treat women as inferiors.
Of course, just as there are non-fundamentalist Christians, there are also non-fundamentalist Muslims.
Also, perhaps it should be pointed out to you that the "word of God" is supposedly unchanging (so talk of millennia is irrelevant for the point I'm making). Try reading Leviticus and Deuteronomy if you want your stomach turned by the atrocities supposedly ordered by God. Of course, only fundamentalists take Deuteronomy and Leviticus as literally "God's word".
This blog IS about the third millennium, but unfortunately much of our prejudices seem to suggest that most of us still live in the second or first millennium.
You boast that you know enough about the equal tor unequal treatment of wife (or wives) by their husbands under Koranic practice and also that you do not detect much difference between Islam and Maltese Christians. Please teach those of us who are not so knowledgeable us how do Moslems treat unfaithful wives and again how by comparison errant husbands are treated. I am under the strong impression (correct me if I am wrong) that unfaithful Moslem wives are beheaded, buried alive etc according to the locality while unfaithful husbands sometimes get their wrists slapped.
Don't keep us in suspense, please.
While you are about it, make a comparison with the situation as experienced by you.
It is most comforting that in your attempt to equate the treatment actually meted out to women, today, repeat to-day, by Christians and Moslems, you could only dredge quotations from St Paul and St Augustine (precisely over 1500 years ago) and which have been in abeyance for centuries.
If you have not yet realised it this blog is about the third millennium.
Here's what St Paul has to say on this issue:
"A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I don't permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (I Timothy 2:11-14).
Or how about St Augustine:
"What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman......I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children."
Of course, just as many Christians thankfully do not heed the above advice on this question, there is no reason why many Muslims could not do likewise.
Shed the prejudice - know the facts. http://www.islam101.com/religions/christianity/women3.html
You say: "besides religious implications, there are many social and humanitarian implications when a 'daughter' decides to marry a Muslim". I think that's quite a generalisation you make. Regarding narrow-mindedness, I know a lot of Maltese "Christians" who are so narrow-minded that one cannot really tell who is more narrow-minded - fundamentalist Muslims or them. You cannot judge people on hearsay. I would suggest a reading of Karen Armstrong's "A history of God", which is a study of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
You write: "Have you never heard or seen with your own eyes the deficit of equal status between husband and wife when it comes to such a tie?". Actually, I have witnessed such a deficit in many (perhaps most) Maltese Christian families.
Regarding the upbringing of children, a woman who freely chooses to raise her children as Muslims was never a real Catholic to begin with - and she has every right to be so.
You may also wish to note that underage children never choose their own religion - not even those of Christian parents.
It's not a question of "knowing it all". It's a question of knowing enough.
This criminal activity, like any other criminal activity, must be truncated at its base, wherever this exists, most probably in Libya. People are dying on the high seas due to this criminal activity. Should the potential immigrants really be considered as truly justified in their hope of immigrating to Europe, then such immigration must be conducted in an organised way, like the emigration procedures that are in place in all civilised and democratic countries, including Malta. Then these poor people will be flown or shipped to Europe in a safe and legal way. All other talk is just appeasing the criminals. When people write that Europeans should do everything to help the illegal immigrants, the criminals just smile while seeing more money pouring into their pockets and more victims floating dead in the Mediterranean sea. Politicians: Please stop this.
It is your crystal clear conviction, acquired after residence in a Moslem country that "talk about religion is so childish and boring" and that "the less we bring religion into the subject, the better". That complacent attitude is precisely what disturbs us, Catholics residing in Malta, facing a flood of uncontrolled illegal immigrants mainly from Moslem countries. In answer to their demands, endorsed by some of our religious charitable organisations, we lean over backwards to accomodate them but there is no reciprocal tolerance towards Christians in Moslem countries.
Catholic Malta grants you automatic freedom to express your irreligious views freely, even on a Rev. Fr. blog, but you would never dare to do the same in the Moslem country of your residence without a precautionary and abject declaration that Islam is not one of the religions which according to you are childish and boring and which should be precluded from any discussion. You know the reason why - if not, remember the assassination of President Anwar Sadat at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists, not to mention the innumerable other harsh punishments meted out daily to less renowned victims of Islam's intolerance to other religions.
I do think that a mother is right to worry about her daughter in such a situation. Have you never heard or seen with your own eyes the deficit of equal status between husband and wife when it comes to such a tie? Especially when there are children? Have you ever noticed the names that are given to the children? Are they Christian or Muslim? And which school will they go to? And which religion will they practice, even though they live in Malta?
I don't think that some of us are living in reality, for all we profess that we are know-it-all.
Being "brought up as a Christian" is not the same thing as actually being a Christian. After all, most atheists were brought up as Christians.
As for "chiding a caring mother because she worries that her daughter may change her religion", I never implied so. However, it is also true that some mothers apparently need growing up as well. Religion is a very personal issue, and mothers should resign themselves to the possibility that their free-thinking "children" might freely change religion or become atheists or agnostics. Of course, some mothers would rather have robots as children - but robots cannot be true Christians.
Regarding being misled into a marriage, I know of plenty Maltese people who mislead their Maltese partners into marriage - a day at the law courts is sufficient to show this. I also know that some Maltese women (and men) marry foreigners on payment. I wouldn't say these women (or men) are misled into marriage.
As to the "ongoing Islamic crusade" you mention, true, you do find fundamentalist Muslims conducting crusades. But you also get fundamentalist Christians bombing abortion clinics as well. Neither all Muslims nor all Christians are fundamentalists.
The latter to the phenomenon that we are experiencing. And it is this phenomenon that worries me because the numbers are too great for our little overcrowded rock and we simply do not have adequate resources to deal with the problem. The most scarce resource we have is land, and we can do nothing to make it less scarce. That is why I believe that Europe needs to share the burden and take a large number of migrants that land here.
One also needs to remember the we negotiated a period during which mass immigration from EU member states would be controlled for exactly the same reasons. It is not the individuals that should be feared, but the phenomenon which places an unsustainable strain on our resources.
If a daughter chooses to exercise her right to become a Moslem that does not necessarily mean that she had not been brought up as a true Christian. Neither is it a legitimate excuse for chiding a caring mother because she worries that her daughter may change her religion only because she has been misled into a marriage whose real scope is that of providing an illegal immigrant with a right to a Maltese passport or freedom of movement.
The Crusaders' claim to invade the Holy Land as an expression of God's will has been abandoned by Christians for hundreds of years. On the other hand, Islam's on-going crusade to subjugate everyone, by force, to its laws, irrespective of his religious persuasion, is still very much in evidence today even though biased critics of the Crusaders close their eyes so as not to see the obvious.
If a Maltese adult "daughter" chooses to marry a Muslim, even after knowing that she has to renounce "her religion" to marry a Muslim, it is obvious that the Maltese "daughter" was never a real Christian to begin with.
Freedom of religion means that it's none of anyone's business if someone "converts" to another religion. The crusades have long been consigned to a dark chapter in our history books.
Final 114 word instalment.
Nowhere in his blog does Fr J Borg state that his Yusouf was an "irregular" immigrant. He gives enough clues to conclude that he was one of the hundreds of genuine Christian refugees seeking asylum from Sunni Moslem Sadam Hussein, who entered Malta legally with visas from Malta's embassy abroad and who were given "irregular" temporary employment here until they were re-settled permanently with relatives in Canada. Their "irregular" charitable employment here was well known and generally tolerated by the authorities until the legal status was clarified. Unfortunately, this opened the door wide to an influx of illegal immigrants with no claim to a genuine persecuted refugee status.
"Irregular migrants" is a euphemism intended to disguise the truth. People who pay criminal organisations handsomely to enable them to enter clandestinely into other countries without any documents are indisputably "illegal immigrants". The degree of culpability varies according to their motives and this is recognised by the granting of refugee status to genuine deserving cases.
Fears that "Muslims have concocted a plan to convert Europe to Islam and that Malta is part of that plan"
It is immaterial what Ghaddafi said exactly and whether he meant to include Malta or not. The Koran itself imposes the obligation on male adult Moslems to wage war (lesser Jihad) against all non-Moslems, both dar al-harb and kafir, and to subjugate them to Islamic law (not compulsory conversion)
"Those who do not fear the loss of their religion, fear their daughters' loss of virtue...."
It is perfectly reasonable for Maltese mothers to express a justified fear that a daughter consorting with a Moslem male is in great peril of losing her religion. In fact that is an indispensable prerequisite before being allowed to marry him.
The problem of perception does not lie with me. You definitely did make an unfavourable comparison between the Malta of to-day and our AD 60 ancestors. You stated that they "were definitely more welcoming to Paul" whom you incorrectly described as a "refugee" from Tarsus. You also made the blanket accusation that we "reject to love these people in need". I disagreed and I mentioned undisputed facts (not arguments) proving that we are doing all that our ancestors did and much more besides. The fault lies in the glib repetition of a slur which has been created as a cheap commercial advertising ploy to acquire more and more funds. There is no need to make uncharitable accusations against an entire population in order to attract contributions for worthy causes.
Concerning your problem with "pedestals" - you created the problem, you solve it.
Wrong again. It is you who "lashes at people", "jump at people's throats" and order fellow contributors to "go, scream on another blog". If you have any doubts just read your and my contributions when you are in a calmer state of mind.
It's the website of the Jesuit Refugee Service here in Malta whose cars were burnt for being the voice of the voiceless.
http://www.jrsmalta.org/
British police have uncovered an Islamic court in London, condemning women to physical punishment and even death, while in Italy a girl was literally butchered by her muslim father and uncle just because she wanted to wear westernised clothing, while muslim leaders in europe keep mum about it all and back in Taliban country, men and woman are beheaded on a whim. No wonder we suffer og xenophobia, which is a very different thing from racism.
On the othe hand, all the offsprings of the Maltese who emigrated became American, Canadian, English, Australian......
First off excuse me for addressing you with the wrong name. Secondly, I think you meant that you should control yourself. What right have you got to lash out at people in this way? We are here to discuss and not to jump at people's throats. And you call yourself a Christian!
I still stand by what I said. Punto e basta. Go scream on another blog.
What I hinted at was not my superior goodness but the inherent goodness of the Maltese which some what word have you used? ah besmirch.
I think you have a problem of perception. Whatever else you might wish to address to me please do so but I will not bother to address one more sentence to you since I cannot stoop so low from my pedestal.
http://www.unhcr.org/basics/BASICS/3c0f495f4.pdf
Are some countries being swamped by asylum seekers?
Countries around the world, including some in Europe, believe they are being overwhelmed by asylum seekers. The global number of asylum seekers did increase in the 1980s and 1990s, but then decreased sharply during the first years of the new millennium. The concerns of individual states are relative. The bottom line is that some nations in Africa, Asia
and the Middle East – states with far fewer economic resources than the major industrialized countries – sometimes host much larger numbers of refugees over much longer periods.
Unlike Fr J Borg I did not listen to the radio broadcast during which someone allegedly protested that illegal immigrants were entering Malta to convert us to Islam. The intention of these illegal immigrants is to bypass Malta on their way to a Christian Europe where a more advanced stage of islamic culture is already a fait accompli. This was achieved insidiously and much more successfully than Suleiman ever achieved by military conquest.
What shocks me is the apparent unconcern of Gospel-spreading Christians regarding a similar creeping islamic expansion here. This started when our political leaders "discovered" a common parentage with our Moslem neighbours. It is gaining momentum through "marriages" of convenience contracted solely to gain Maltese citizenship and freedom of movement. These brides will quickly come to grief when they realise what it means to be married to someone who is entitled to four wives and innumerable concubines, to be a mere chattel in her husband's family and to be bound to a husband who is enjoined by the Koran to kill all infidels (including you and me) and that by embracing Islam they become liable to be murdered if they changed their mind.
.............In Holland ( the country which some of us think is one step away from Satan) has integrated some of their immigrants really well...they taught them the language....taught them what to do and what not to do in certain places in Holland...and since Holland is Europe's most Liberal country they also showed them films and pictures of two gay men holding hands or even kissing and if they don't like it then they can buzz off to some fundamentalist regime......................what do these people think of women's rights? How will they react when they see a gay couple?? What do they think of our Christian traditions??
.....many would just answer with an "I don't care" but tomorrow you might have a neighbour from Africa or your daughter falls in love with one of the immigrants or the person working with you might be Eritrean and who knows we might have an African contesting the election in the next 20 yrs.......so it is in everyone's interest to see to it that the illegal ones are dealt with accordingly and the rest integrated even if for a short while!! Those who don't like our culture can get a boat and go back!!
Please control yourself enough not to address yourself to some Spiteri when you mean me, and to realise that it is you, not I, who is spewing anger when you venomously accuse me of racist sympathies which I do not hold and which I never suggested, even remotely, in my contribution. My prudent criticism is directed at the local "holier than thou" Pharisees who would fault the entire nation by accusing all and sundry of being less Christian than their sanctimonious selves and less than our Pauline ancestors. I would be greatly disturbed if I were to be approved by such people.
@ Victoria Grech.
I produced facts, not "arguments". I am all for helping genuine refugees to the utmost of our abilities but without stooping to hurt my fellow countrymen by questioning their Christian values, while hinting at my own superior goodness.
That's because Gaddafi once said so.
My, my Mr Saliba, why spew such anger at Ms Grech? Why didn't you do the same to Fr Joe Borg who gave us a concrete example of some of the Maltese intolerance towards immigrants? Your reasoning is a little off, for whether st paul was shipwrecked or was on his way or only stayed 3 months here, the fact remains that he was welcomed. I am sure that had the armed forces existed at that time they would have intervened anyway. She was not 'besmirching' devout Christians such as yourself who show no tolerance for opinions that do not match yours. Ms Grech spoke about people like the one that Fr Joe mentioned. That woman isn't the only one// Do you forget those unknown persons who torched cars belonging to the Jesuits? or the billboard by Anglu Xuereb's party against immigrants right next to the immigrants' shelter in Balzan? If anything such people bismirch christians, the woman on the radio and those who carry out intimidating acts, and not ms Grech who essentially told us to look back on our christian roots. Mr Saliba, I am sorry to put you with them too.
So, in view of all the arguments you brought forward, you want us to do nothing at all to help these people?
Human behaviour – From my humble experience I believe that humans have a potential to kindness but are more likely to do so when they are in a comfortable situation. I reckon human nature is more shrewd than benevolent. I agree that fear is the name of the game but what I fear most is that this fear turns to wrath. When things turn sour blame is always put on something or someone without any regards to truth or justice. Decisions are hard to make but burying our head in the sand will only complicate things. Nothing endures but change! Acceptance to that change is generally a very slow process though.
Structures of Power – Equality does not seem to exist when it comes to economics. I will not go into details about global economies but will just say that some countries screw other countries up while others screw their own country up (usually they do this with the help of other countries or businesses). Indeed most of the miseries in Africa are to be blamed on some European countries (definitely not Malta). We (all Europeans) are all also to blame up to a certain extent though. I would like to make a difference between acts of kindness, act of cunningness and acts of exploitation.
Tolerance – Europe has a system and legislations (built after plenty of struggle) that make us tolerant. How tolerant are they outside of Europe is another question which I will not delve into. If they aren’t then the outcome can be disastrous (and we already have seen many cases in the past).
The accusation that today's Maltese are less hospitable than their ancestors of 60 AD is an unjustified slur that is being repeated unthinkingly.
St Paul and his companions were shipwrecked on our shores and afforded hospitality for three months only until improved weather conditions allowed them to resume their journey. Today's illegal immigrants, more often than not, are rescued at considerable risk by our armed forces scores of miles from our shores, brought safely to harbour, accomodated and fed better than in their country of origin. We do not obstruct them to continue their interrupted journey but destination countries refuse them entry and the countries from which they sail refuse to have them back.
If anyone is being uncharitable it is those "holier than thou" Maltese armchair critics who ignore these undeniable facts and besmirch their fellow Christians.
The term 'warehousing' illustrates the wrong approach to immigrants. It is so degrading for it brings to mind mass storage of objects.
On the other hand I think that one has to be realistic in the view that the Islamisation of Europe is not something that one should ignore.
Only last year Pope Benedict’s private secretary Monsignor Gorg Gaenswein warned of such a thing, and stressed the need for European Christian roots not to be ignored.
He is quoted as saying that the attempts to Islamise Europe cannot be denied.
When respected people in the Vatican become concerned, then I do not ignore them.