Death of a Denomination Part 2

Perhaps I should explain the "pro-Muslim" comment from my last post. The preacher who visited a URC and expressed the sentiments that went down like a lead balloon, was reacting against what some have called the Islamization of Britain.

This is not the place to go into a debate about multi-culturalism, so I will confine myself to observation. I need to make sure that you do not see these comments as racist. They are nothing of the sort. They do, however, reflect a radical change in the cultural landscape of Britain.

My old high school, Billinge, no longer exists. It was, at one time, the most successful State-run secondary modern institution in Blackburn. In terms of results, it was second only to the private, Royal Grammar School. Billinge is now for Islamic students only.

St. John's school, which my grandmother attended 100 years ago, which was run by the adjacent parish church, has been replaced by a huge mosque.

Instead of flat caps and shawls, Blackburn town center is now full of asian gangs, and women in full-length chadors or burqas. Whalley Range, which I often visited as a child, has become a ghetto where white faces are rarely seen.

We visited Tesco, a large grocery store, driving past another huge mosque. Inside the front door we were greeted by a large sign proclaiming "Happy Ramadan." All of the check-out girls were Moslem. All wore Islamic clothing.

I visited Blackburn Cathedral, which was empty. A display at the rear of the church showed photographs of staff members, including one of a young Pakistani woman wearing a hijab headdress - a liaison to the Muslim community.

In church on Sunday morning, at Trinity United Reformed Church, the minister suggested that we should use Ramadan as an opportunity to pray for our Muslim neighbors.

White flight has taken those who can afford it to the suburbs, or to neighboring small town such as Clitheroe. Blackburn is, as a rsult, almost unrecognizable. One interesting thing I noticed in the indoor marketplace: most of the stalls were run by Pakistanis. Many of them were selling Islamic clothing. Of those stalls still operated by white people, the majority sported Union flags, or flags of St. George, almost as though they were asserting their nationality in the midst of an alien culture. None of the Asian-run stalls bore English flags.

Then, when we returned to Texas, I got a letter from Lloyd's Bank, where we still maintain an English account. The letter was to inform us of changes in banking charges. I noticed that there were categories for Islamic students and graduates, and that those forms of banking are based upon Sharia law.

Yesterday, booking a flight from England for my mother, I noticed that one of the choices for mid-flight meals was 'Muslim'.

How has a minority become so dominant is such a short space of time? Multi-culturalism brings many benefits. I live, happily, in a multi-cultural community. But when one culture sets out to dominate another, and is not coy about declaring its intentions, then it is suicide for the host to fail to protect its own cultural heritage. Secularism seems to have no answer for the rising tide of Islam. No wonder Europe is beginning to produce its own radical terrorists. If the current disparity in birthrate continues, and if immigration from the Indian sub-continent does not diminish, then cities like Blackburn will be bastions of Islam within a generation, and non-Moslems will be reduced to dhimmitude. This is not a prospect I relish.