The Islamification of the UK and Europe is well under way. Creeping sharia continues unabated, and the indicators of this transformation are everywhere to be found. The most recent was this headline from the Daily Mail: “Mohammed is now the most popular name for baby boys ahead of Jack and Harry.”
When the 12 different spellings of the name are combined, this is now the most popular name for boys. This of course is not surprising given the demographic changes which have occurred in recent decades. Indeed, Brussels and Amsterdam have already beaten the UK with Muhammad being the most common name of newborn boys.
In both the UK and Europe these changes are quite pronounced. The statistics are plain for all to see. Consider these recent figures provided by Barnabas Fund, a group which works on behalf of persecuted Christians:
-In Western Europe there were only about 50,000 Muslims in 1900.
-By 1970 that number had grown to 3-4 million.
-By 2008 it exceeded 25 million.
-Forty per cent of Rotterdam’s population is Muslim.
-Brussels is one third Muslim.
-Muslims comprise a quarter of both Marseilles and Malmo’s populations.
-An estimated 20 per cent of inner London’s population is Muslim.
-Birmingham’s population is 15 per cent Muslim.
-A tenth of both Paris and Copenhagen’s population is Muslim.
I can add a few figures of my own concerning the situation in the UK:
-England has around 2 million Muslims, out of 60 million people.
-In London in 1960 there was one mosque. Today there are over 600 mosques in London.
-After the July 2005 London tube bombings, a poll of British Muslims found:
• 13% said the bombers should be regarded as “martyrs”.
• 16% said the cause was right, although the attacks may have been wrong.
• 7% said suicide attacks on civilians in the UK are justifiable under some circumstances.
-There are one million Muslims in London, half of them under 25. If 7% think suicide attacks on civilians are justified, that means there are 70,000 potential suicide bombers in the nation’s capital.
-Another poll found that over 60 percent of British Muslims want to live under sharia law in the UK.
-Nearly half of Britain’s mosques are under the control of a hardline cleric who loathes Western values and espouses bloody jihad.
The situation is clearly not looking very good for the UK. The situation is much the same in many European countries. And all around the Western world, demographics alone will mean that Muslim populations will continue to rise while non-Muslim populations will continue to decline.
Threat or opportunity?
So how should Christians look upon these trends? There are two responses, both of which seem valid. This is all certainly a threat in the sense that Islam is as much a political regime as a religion. The proper understanding of separation of church and state is quite absent in Islam. It is a true theocratic system.
Since it allows no freedom of religion or freedom of conscience, it is incompatible with modern free Western democracies. Its aim is to see sharia law spread throughout the globe, with everyone submitting to Allah. Christians in Muslim-majority nations are forced to live in a state of dhimmitude, and that will be their lot when Muslims take power in the West.
Thus the expansion of totalistic Islam must be stopped, and Christians can in good faith join with non-believers and others in resisting this very real threat to freedom and democracy. We are nowhere told in the New Testament to simply allow ourselves to be rolled over by imperialistic religious faiths.
But this is also a wonderful opportunity. Christians find it near impossible to freely share their faith with Muslims in Muslim-majority countries. In most such countries it is illegal, and for Muslims to convert to Christianity means they face the death penalty for apostasy.
Thus it may well be the grace of God that so many Muslims are now in the West. If we simply allow them to extend Islam and sharia law, it is of no advantage. But if we use this opportunity to befriend our Muslim neighbours and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ, then this will be a most welcome development.
The problem is, few Christians are sharing their faith with Muslims here in the West. Too often instead they are either engaging in wishy-washy interfaith dialogue, which is usually all one-way traffic (in favour of the Muslims), or they are simply capitulating to the surrounding secular culture.
Thus while mosques are being built all over the West, churches are closing down. This is especially true in Europe and the UK. For example, many mosques in London today were once Christian churches. In fact, the church which long ago sent out William Carey as a missionary to India is now a mosque as well.
So it is high time that Western Christians took advantage of this opportunity before it is too late. We need to use this situation to win Muslims to Christ. If we don’t, the reverse will occur, and Christians will either willingly or unwillingly come under the rule of Islam.
Now is not the time to live in fear. While we must rightly resist creeping sharia, and seek to defend Western goods such as freedom and democracy, we also must capitalise on this development and use it for Christ and his Kingdom. Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. Neither will the rise of Islamic hegemony.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1324194/Mohammed-popular-baby-boys-ahead-Jack-Harry.html
[921 words]