Showing posts with label Americans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Americans. Show all posts

Thursday 10 June 2021

Gradual decline by American Christians

When we see documentaries about the North American people we get a picture that they are 'very religious'.

Christianity, which was once shared by a majority of Americans, has seen a gradual decline as fewer people hold to the core tenets of the faith.

The latest research by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University continues the survey series American Worldview Inventory 2021 in examining biblical and competing worldviews of American adults.

According to the most recent release from the study, there has been a sharp decline in the status of Christianity across the nation in the past several decades. In 1980, more than 90 percent of Americans claimed to be Christian. That percentage dropped to 80 percent by 1990, in which the proportion lasted until after the turn of the millennium. By 2010, only three in four adults claimed to be Christians, with a further decline today as just under two out of three make the same claim.

In the previous century confidence in religion was still important.
About two-thirds of American adults had high confidence in religion in the 1970s. By the 1980s, however, that confidence was waning, and Christianity’s influence was declining.
At the start of the millennium, 56 percent of adults had confidence in religion. That number continued to decline, and now, barely four in ten adults hold a high degree of confidence in religion.

No wonder, you could say, when we look at how ministers used their institutions to gain money and trick people into their 'business'. Small personal family churches were taken over by mega churches where one got lost in the group and where there was not a special bond between teh believers.

A great problem is also that the majority of those churches are Trinitarian churches, where they worship Jesus as their god. Though people came to see the weakness of that person and the contradictions they can find in Scriptures, having a Jesus who can not do a lot of things and does not know a lot of things, whilst the Bible tells us God can do everything and knows everything.

The Bible is also increasingly rejected as a trustworthy and relevant document of life principles. Not many people want to know about the values and ethics presented in the Holy Scriptures.

In 1991, 86 percent of people believed in the existence of God as the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe who still rules the world today. Today, that percentage has dropped to 46 percent.

In a lot of the American churches there was not much time spend on the Word of God. Ministers only took some verses, often out of context, to bring a long sermon, often with a lot of shouting and crying about damnation and danger to burn into hell. Often people could not find a relation between the words of the pastor and the words written in the Bible. That undermined the relevance of the Holy Scriptures in the daily life.

Regarding the belief that the Bible is the accurate and reliable Word of God, the decline shifted from 70 percent in 1991 to 41 percent in 2021. On the topic of salvation, 36 percent of adults believed in salvation through confession of sin and accepting Jesus as Saviour in 1991. Today, that amount is 30 percent. The survey also noted that this measured as high as 45 percent and was 39 percent in 2011.

The percentage of Americans possessing a biblical worldview also significantly decline (12 percent in 1995; 6 percent in 2021).

Wednesday 20 May 2020

In Coronatime thinking about death

None of us likes thinking about death, but there are times when we have little choice. For weeks now we did not hear anything else that so many died. Everywhere in the world lives are lost.

The unseen enemy has reached every corner of society, being rich does not help you to avoid the death toll. The so-called most rich, developed and greatest nation in the world shows its very weak position and how capital gain has become more important there than human lives of ethical values.

We could notice an increase at certain websites and received more letters and phone calls from worried people, asking why God allows this to happen or what mankind has done wrong. The corona crisis has unexpectedly raised the specter of death itself, our constant companion even if, most of the time, we do our best to ignore it.

This month Time Magazine has taken the opportunity to write about death, heaven and hell.

There are over two billion Christians in the world, the vast majority of whom believe in heaven and hell. According to many Christian when people die they would have one part, which they call the soul going either to everlasting bliss or torment (or purgatory en route). Strangely enough, most Christians believe in a loving heavenly Father, but do not ask a question about such a father when he would have his children being tortured for ages and ages in a fire! Can you imagine yourself doing that to your children, even when they would have hurt yourself a lot?

Americans continue to anticipate a version of the alternatives portrayed in The Good Place: regardless of religious persuasion, 72% believe in a literal heaven, 58% in a literal hell.

Do they never went or go looking in the Bible to see what the Word of God really says?

The vast majority of these people assume also Jesus himself taught such read. But that is not true. Neither Jesus, nor the Hebrew Bible he interpreted, endorsed the view that departed souls go to paradise or everlasting pain. Though there were Roman and Greek philosophers who talked about split personalities or two or more elements in a human being that could separate from the physical human being. Only many centuries later those who agreed with the Roman rulers to go for a three-headed god, also were eager to integrate the thought of separate units in the human body with a soul going to one or another place.

Unlike most Greeks, ancient Jews traditionally did not believe the soul could exist at all apart from the body. On the contrary, for them, the soul was more like the “breath.” In particular for them it was the Breath of God Which brought the breath in man, making him able to breathe and to live. Without breathing or without breath there would be no life in man.

It is good that Time magazine in these times when so many are confronted with death, brings an article to clarify the misreading of so many books and in particular the reading of the Book of books, the Bible.
Bart D. Ehrman in his article of 2020 May the 8th is willing to look at the first human God created, Adam, who began as a lump of clay; then God “breathed” life into him (Genesis 2: 7). Adam remained alive until he stopped breathing. Then it was dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

Ancient Jews thought that was true of us all. When we stop breathing, our breath doesn’t go anywhere. It just stops. So too the “soul” doesn’t continue on outside the body, subject to postmortem pleasure or pain. It doesn’t exist any longer.

In the article, you shall be able to read that it was not only by the Christians that opinions changed. In several Jewish communities infiltrated the false teachings. Problem with lots of human beings is that it is very difficult to cope with the idea that we just can die and that everything would be finished with us. Not many people love the idea that when we die we can not do anything any more. Though the scriptures are very clear about it.
 “For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten.” (Ec 9:5 NAS)

 “Whatever your hand finds to do, verily, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.” (Ec 9:10 NAS)
For many it is unacceptable that we would just be like plants and animals and not having something better after this life. But the Bible tells us:
 “19  For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. 20  All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.” (Ec 3:19-20 NAS)
It must be said also God’s own people Israel continually were by their confrontation of difficulties in life oblidged to think about life and death.

The article writer questions
 If God loves his people and is sovereign over all the world why do his people experience so much tragedy?
And remarks
Contrary to what other Jewish leaders taught, Jesus preached that no one will inherit the glorious future kingdom by stringently observing all the Jewish laws in their most intimate details; or by meticulously following the rules of worship involving sacrifice, prayer, and observance of holy days; or by pursuing one’s own purity through escaping the vile world and the tainting influence of sinful others. Instead, for Jesus, the earthly utopia will come to those who are fully dedicated to the most pervasive and dominant teachings of God’s law. Put most simply, that involves loving God above all things despite personal hardship, and working diligently for the welfare of others, even when it is exceedingly difficult. People who have not been living lives of complete unselfish love need to repent and return to the two “greatest commandments” of Jewish Scripture: deep love of God (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) and committed love of neighbor (Leviticus 19:18).
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Please find the Time magazine to read: What Jesus Really Said About Heaven and Hell

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Find more articles about the "soul" 

  1. How much does man wants to be dependent on a Divine Creator?
  2. Why is the Holy Spirit sometimes called the Holy Ghost? 
  3. Finding and Understanding Words and Meanings
  4. Preexistence in the Divine purpose and Trinity
  5. Looking at three “I am” s
  6. Non-practicing Christians widely believing in a god or higher power
  7. What is life?
  8. Concerning Man
  9. Realities concerning Human Life and Death
  10. Dying or not
  11. What happens when we die?
  12. Immortality, eternality - onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid
  13. Is there an Immortal soul
  14. The Soul not a ghost
  15. Are we taken up into heaven straight after we die?
  16. The Soul confronted with Death
  17. Consciously or unconsciously forming a world-view and choosing to believe or not to believe in God
  18. From dust and breath into living beings
  19. Bereshith 1-2 The Creation of the World – The Seven Days
  20. Bereshith 2 Man and Woman placed in a Royal Garden
  21. The figure of Eve
  22. Ezekiel 18:4 – What the Bible teaches about Soul and Spirit
  23. Matthew 6:1-34 – The Nazarene’s Commentary on Leviticus 19:18 Continued 5 Matthew 6: 24-34: e) Anxiety and neighbor love
  24. Matthew 16:5-12 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Watch Out for the Leaven of False Teaching
  25. Matthew 16:24-28 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: A Disciple Must Disown Self
  26. Calvin’s view on trying to save your life
  27. Spurgeon’s view on trying to save your life
  28. False teachers and false prophets still around
  29. We all have to have dreams
  30. Departed Souls Await Judgment
  31. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #1 Intro
  32. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #2 Psyche, the word
  33. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #3 Historical background
  34. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #4 Psyche, According to the Holy Scriptures
  35. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #5 Mortality of man and mortality of the spirit
  36. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #6 Summary
  37. Souls and Religions with Nirvana and light
  38. The resurrected Lord
  39. Who Through Jesus Sleep
  40. All Souls’ Day
  41. I Can’t Believe That (1) … God would send anyone to hell
  42. The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
  43. The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall
  44. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
  45. According the vatican ashes and bone fragments cannot be kept at home
  46. Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith
  47. The Development of Differences
  48. 19° Century London Christadelphians
  49. Today’s thought “A Perfect World” (January 02)
  50. Today’s Thought “Proclaiming the kingdom” (May 13)
  51. To be prepared for the Day of Judgment
  52. A Word and helping sites to give answers
  53. Two new encyclopaedic articles
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 Articles about hell

  1. Hellfire 
  2. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #3 Transcendence or Surpassing other gods and man
  3. Is God behind all suffering here on earth
  4. God’s wrath and sanctification
  5. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
  6. Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #5 Further steps to women’s bibles
  7. Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #9 Restored names and Sacred Name Bibles
  8. I Can’t Believe That (1) … God would send anyone to hell
  9. When there is secrecy involved
  10. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
  11. Need to reject an archaic, racist inspired interpretation of the Bible and animosity against other believers
  12. Realities concerning Human Life and Death
  13. Is there an Immortal soul
  14. Grave, tomb, sepulchre - graf, begraafplaats, rustplaats, sepulcrum
  15. This month's survey question: Heaven and Hell
  16. Nazarene Commentary Matthew 5:21-26 – 1. The Nazarene’s Commentary on Exodus 20:13
  17. A fact of History or just a fancy Story
  18. Jesus three days in hell
  19. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
  20. Jewish and Christian traditions of elders
  21. Are we taken up into heaven straight after we die?
  22. Darkness, light, burning fire, Truth and people in it
  23. Is Hell-fire something to fear
  24. Fear and protection
  25. Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures
  26. Sheol, Sheool, Sjeool, Hades, Hell, Grave, Tomb, Sepulchre
  27. Another way looking at a language #3 Abraham
  28. Fragments from the Book of Job #1: chapters 1-12
  29. From nothingness to a growing group of followers of Jeshua 3 Korban for God or gods
  30. Sources of evil
  31. Edward Wightman
  32. Dave Norris and his writings on the Belgian Bible Students
  33. Autumn traditions for 2014 – 2 Summersend and mansend
  34. Heaven and hell still high on the believers list showing a religion gender gap
  35. Indulgence still offered by roman Catholic Church
  36. Today’s thought “Whoever is not with me …” (March 19)
  37. Today’s thought “Ability to circumcise your heart” (May 13)
  38. Salvation, Baptism and Re-baptism
  39. Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building

Wednesday 23 October 2019

Main churches losing population share

In the Low Countries it looks more as if the Church is dying. The majority of main churches, the bastions of a few decades ago, are nearly empty and even have no weekly Sunday service any more.

In the United States there are still many mega-churches, but there too we can find that the main churches are loosing attending ship.

Based on telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, Pew Research Center said Thursday that 65% of American adults now describe themselves as Christian, down from 77% in 2009. Meanwhile, the portion that describes their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

The so called conservative Christian country sees her religious landscape changing at a rapid clip.

One-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009.

Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009.

As in Europe we can see that members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population.

Over the last decade, the share of Americans who say they attend religious services at least once or twice a month dropped by 7 percentage points, while the share who say they attend religious services less often (if at all) has risen by the same degree.

> In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

Thursday 2 November 2017

A special anniversary for the Church where Catholics and Protestants find common ground

Luther Before the Diet of Worms, photogravure ...
Luther Before the Diet of Worms, photogravure after the historicist painting by Anton von Werner (1843-1915) in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
500 years ago 95 theses where posted at the door of the cloister church of Wittenberg, which became to serve as the catalyst for one of the world’s largest religious splits, as thousands broke off from the Roman Catholic Church.
Martin Luther his legacy, 500 years later, is 560 million Protestants across the globe, making up more than a third of the world’s Christians.

Religiously speaking, the Reformation led to the translation of the Bible into languages other than Latin, allowing many people to engage with scripture for the first time. It also brought an end to the controversial sale of "indulgences" — payments the Church said reduced punishment for sins after death, which Luther regarded as corrupt.

Universal education for girls and boys is one of the legacy which is not wiped out, but some of the early protestant teachings seem by many forgotten.

For the special anniversary Chancellor Angela Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, has encouraged German churches to promote a narrative of unity over division in their celebrations. that unity which was not present 500 years ago seems to be very close.

Many protestants today are not any more exited or more interested in reading the bible than Roman Catholics. In several countries they also are not any more interested to go regularly to services. concerning doing good a big change entered in the vision of many. In Luther’s home country of Germany, 61 percent of Protestants believe good deeds are needed for salvation. In John Calvin’s Switzerland, 57 percent agree, as do 47 percent in Abraham Kuyper’s Holland.

In the united States we can find conservative protestants and fundamentalist protestants who think whatever they do wrong they shall be saved and going to heaven when they are baptised or so called 'reborn'. Half of American Protestants say that both good deeds and faith in God are needed to get into heaven (52%).

Lots of Americans are convinced they need pastors and churches. Some even believe how bigger the church how closer it is to the 'truth'. From those American protestants 52% believe that in addition to the Bible, we need guidance from church teachings and traditions, according to two studies released at the end of August by the Pew Research Center.

Pope Francis I considers this anniversary an
"opportunity to mend a critical moment of our history by moving beyond the controversies and disagreements that have often prevented us from understanding one another.”

Not long after Francis’ address, the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury in England expressed remorse for the violence committed there in the name of the Reformation. Hundreds of churches and monasteries were demolished in the 1500s, and many people gruesomely killed, during England’s pained transition from Catholicism to Protestantism.

Since the 16th century and the tumultuous times that followed Protestant and Catholic relations have improved dramatically. At regular intervals we also can see protestants and Catholics bringing an ecumenical service. when we look at several protestant churches today we also find many which also have statues and paintings in the church depicting persons they call god or saints.

When in the 16th and 17th century so many tried to read the Bible and wanted to find the biblical Truth, today there are not many protestants really interested to examine certain dogma's or sayings by theologians. Most of them hold strongly to their denominational teachings, not giving it much thought.

Not many probably would mind if their church comes closer to other churches of the Protestant or Catholic Faith as long as they can keep to their traditions.

From that perspective the attitude of the general public has become passive not to say the least. And those who are still active in church, most often do not want to think to examine the things they are taught by their denomination.

Whilst 500 years ago many where pleased to spend a lot of time reading the Bible, today there are not so much people really interested and that reflects also in protestant services where is less given time  for the word of God and where is spend more time and attention to the entertainment factor of the service.

Today we can use some preachers who are willing to take up the task given by Jesus, to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We can use a new awakening.

Read more about it:
  1. Followers, protestors and reformers
  2. A New Reformation
  3. Trying to Get Rid of Holy Days for a Long Time
  4. 8 Reasons Christian Holidays Should Not Be Observed
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  1. Hoogdag voor vele protestanten
  2. Zijn Beelden een Gevaar of de Redding voor het Geloof?
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Sunday 17 July 2016

Living with some type of physical disability in the U.S.A.

About 1-in-5 people in the USA live with some type of physical disability; 10 million people a year experience a serious mental illness; and 1-in-6 Americans struggle with chronic health conditions, leading to roughly 65 million Americans providing care for someone with a disability or chronic illness.

[See Bible Gateway Blog post: Tyndale to Release Beyond Suffering Bible]


Suffering always prompts heart-wrenching questions: if God is good, why would He allow this pain in my life? Is God truly sovereign over accidents and birth anomalies, or does the devil set the world’s agenda? How do I counsel people who are despairing of their condition? What are the right choices when it comes to assisted-suicide and other tough ethical issues? For that matter, where does a person struggling with a life-altering accident or illness find peace of mind and a purpose for living? 
says singer, artist, radio host, and bestselling author Joni Eareckson Tada, one of the the experts at Joni and Friends Christian Institute on Disability which publishes the first Bible with study notes that address the topics of disability and suffering. The new Beyond Suffering Bible (website) will release from Joni and Friends and Tyndale House Publishers this October. It’s a combination of both a study Bible and a devotional Bible, with knowledge and insight gleaned from the Scriptures, as well as encouraging words from a wide array of top Christian experts who are often the “go-to” resources when people are looking for direction or next steps when ministering to individuals with disabilities, pain, addiction, and suffering.

Not enough people who suffer realize that the Bible contains answers for their plight. Lots of people who might know that the answers may be there in that Book of books just don’t know where to look.

This was my story shortly after the 1967 diving accident in which I became paralyzed—even in my despair,
says Joni Eareckson Tada who continues
I knew in a vague way that the Bible held hope for me in its pages. I just didn’t know where to begin. Thankfully, God brought wise Christian friends alongside to help me discover life-transforming precepts in his Word. The Beyond Suffering Bible can be that “wise Christian friend,” helping those affected by disability grasp the goodness of God amidst critical questions about pain and hardship.

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The Beyond Suffering Bible: An Interview with Joni Eareckson Tada

Buy your copy of the Beyond Suffering Bible in the Bible Gateway Store

Saturday 2 January 2016

America’s Changing Religious Landscape

Christians Decline Sharply as Share of Population; Unaffiliated and Other Faiths Continue to Grow
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Changing U.S. Religious LandscapeThe Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an extensive new survey by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages. The same trends are seen among whites, blacks and Latinos; among both college graduates and adults with only a high school education; and among women as well as men. (Explore the data with the Pew Research Center interactive database tool.)

The percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.

continue reading:

America’s Changing Religious Landscape

How importance on religion is placed

In the past India has always been a special place concerning the spiritual. Today still close to 80 per cent Indians think religion is an important part of their lives, according to a recent Pew Research Center report, where they ask if the American public is becoming less religious.

The most populous landlocked country in the world, as well as the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria, Ethiopia, which has a close historical ties with all three of the world's major Abrahamic religions, tops the chart with 98 per cent nationals saying that faith plays a crucial role in their lives.

In the November survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults it was found that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years, from 56 per cent in 2007 to 53 per cent in 2015.

The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries, has declined modestly, from approximately 92% to 89%, since Pew Research Center conducted its first Landscape Study in 2007.
The share of Americans who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists has dropped more sharply, from 71% in 2007 to 63% in 2014. And the percentages who say they pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion to be very important in their lives also have ticked down by small but statistically significant margins.
The figures suggest Americans place less importance on religion than those from African and Asian countries.
U.S. is in the middle of pack when it comes to importance of religion in people's lives
Pakistan with 93 per cent and Indonesia with 95 per cent, come ahead of India in believing that religion is very important in their lives. On the other hand, France (14 per cent), Japan (11 per cent) and China (three per cent) rank the the lowest.
Generally, poorer nations tend to be religious; wealthy less so, except for U.S.

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Trump brand of migrant demonization #2

English: The Ethnic composition of Muslims in ...
English: The Ethnic composition of Muslims in the United States, according to the United States Department of State based on the publication of Being Muslim in America as of March 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The so called Christian American politicians John Kasich, Bobby Jindal, Rick Scott,
Rick Snyder, John Kasich, but also democrat Maggie Hassan have made declarations to refuse refugees, to see the South rising up to keep brown-skinned people out instead of in, not because they are overwhelmed by the refugee influx and find resources stretched to the limit.

These governors’ objections to the Obama administration’s resettlement plans revolve around the belief that Syrian refugees, the majority of whom are Muslim, have not been properly “vetted.”  So some of them could be ISIS operatives trying to sneak into America to launch terrorist attacks and weaken the country. (Ridiculously some wants American citizens to believe the black president is also a 'Hussein' Obama Islamic mole.) 

Many Americans do not seem to know or to believe that most of the plotters and attackers involved in the Paris slaughter were (so called) Muslims of French and Belgium origin. They did not come from an influx of people who tried to escape just the sort of violence which struck Paris last weekend.

Also the faith issue seems to have deeper wounds, because it is a matter of frustrated boys who did not find a place in our society but also not in the present Muslim communities. Whatever radicalisation they underwent has deeper roots in the societies of France and Belgium, where most of them lived. Will this have to mean that America is also going to stop any Belgian or Frenchman entering Belgium? Or are they prepared to stop anyone with a passport from a European country from coming into the United States of America?

The pope may look at those American politicians who try to create division between people who want to worship God. They want to let the Americans believe that all refugees are Muslim, which they are not, and that they are all extremists and dangerous for our society, which is not true. 

On Thursday September 24 in a historic address to Congress the pope had already called to open the hearts to new generations of immigrants.

Pope Francis’s passionate call for
 “as many young people as possible [to] inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to dream”
comes amid a fierce national debate over how to handle an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US.

“In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom,”
Francis told hundreds of lawmakers, cabinet members and supreme court justices in a packed joint session of Congress. It was the first time in history a pope had addressed the legislative body.
“We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners,”
 added Francis, who was born in Argentina to Italian parents.
 “I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants.”
What is also so contradictory is that most of those complaining about emigrating people to the United States are children of descendants from people who also emigrated from their country to look for better pastures. they too were people looking for a nicer place to stay. But often they were not fleeing such horror as those immigrants and refugees of war zones are today.

Perhaps it is good to remember those words spoken by the pope wo months ago:
“We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation,” he said.
“To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal,”
 added Francis.
 “We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”
Speaking during Sunday Mass, November 15, the Pope expressing his
 "deep sorrow for the terrorist attacks that bloodied France late on Friday, causing many casualties."
condemned the Paris terror attacks, calling it "blasphemy" to use the name of God to justify "violence and hatred."
"We wonder how can it come to the heart of man to conceive and carry out of such horrible events",
 he said.
"The road of violence and hatred does not resolve humanity's problems. And using the name of God to justify this road is blasphemy."
Reading from Sunday's scripture, the Pope spoke of Jesus' preaching on the end of the world containing
"apocalyptic elements, like war, famine, and cosmic catastrophes."
Although he acknowledged these signs, he highlighted that they are not the most important things. Rather,
 "our final goal is the meeting with the resurrected Lord."
Rather than focusing on when or how the end will come, Francis compelled his audience to
 "live in the present."
For him we all should have the same goal, to meet the returned Messiah, who is a bringer of peace.
"This is our goal: this meeting. We do not expect a time or a place, but we encounter a person: Jesus."
At the end of the world, Francis said,
"Jesus' triumph will be the triumph of the cross, the demonstration that the sacrifice of oneself out of love for one's neighbour, in imitation of Christ, is the only victorious power and the only stable point in the midst of the upheavals and tragedies of the world."
This time imams in France and Belgium came out to tell the public those people are not real Muslims. They also wanted to warn their Muslim brothers that the violent reaction France took will not solve the problem but if some Muslims in turn would like to go to Syria they better think twice.  It is good that the public could see and hear the open public warning for the members of their community in France and Belgium that joining the jihadist group will only drag them to their death,
"to hellfire, because suicide and slaughter are not permitted in Islam."
Based from information shared by the French interior ministry, French nationals comprise the biggest number of European jihadis in Iraq and Syria with at least 570 of them fighting for ISIS.

Abdalali Mamoun, an imam at a southern Paris mosque, was one of 20 Muslim clerics who came to lay flowers near the Bataclan theatre where four terrorists wearing explosive vests killed more than 80 people during a rock concert. He urged young French Muslims to stay away from ISIS.
Another imam
Yasser Laouti, spokesman for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, said
"As French citizens, and as human beings, we have been wounded by this attack."
and made it clear that those terrorists were not afraid to kill Christians, Muslims and Jews indiscriminately.

However, the French Muslim leaders said that although they sympathise with the families of the terror attack victims, they do not support the French airstrikes in the ISIS capital of Raqqa, in Syria.
"I saw that yesterday, after what happened, Francois Hollande decided to bomb Raqqa,"
 human rights activist Samia Hathroubi said.
 "Do we really think that bombing a city of 200,000 people will help us combat terrorism in our own country?"
also Belgian imams expressed their concern for such actions which could bring more oil unto the fire.

On the different television channels everywhere comes up the same story of people who live here in our own regions but did not feel at their place because they seemed to be a stranger here but also in the land of their ancestors. Several have problems that though they are born in Belgium or in France they are still considered Moroccan, Turk, Tunisian, but never accepted as Belgian or French, though they often speak the dialects of the region where they live at.

The youngsters still do feel discrimination and often are a victim of poverty, political and economic marginalisation. This are some of the reasons why so many young Belgian and French Muslims are joining ISIS.

Americans like others should recognise that Muslim leaders throughout the world strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent a message of condolences to Hollande on Saturday, informing him Iran was offering its thoughts and prayers to the French people. Iran and its allies, Hezbollah and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have been fighting ISIS.

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo also condemned the violence that took place in Paris, as he called for international cooperation against terrorism, according to the Jakarta Post. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world.

The leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt also denounced the attacks just hours after the attacks late Friday.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation in the United States, also joined in the condemnation, saying:
"These savage and despicable attacks on civilians, whether they occur in Paris, Beirut or any other city, are outrageous and without justification."
In YouTube video that became viral, one Moroccan Muslim named Wafi Abdouss blasted the ISIS terrorists, saying
 "these so-called jihadists only represent themselves."


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Please do read also:
Cowardly governors give ISIS a propaganda victory: Refusing refugees is a moral outrage & a strategic blunder

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Preceding article: Trump brand of migrant demonization

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Additional reading
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  2. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
  3. Are people willing to take the responsibility for others
  4. If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for
  5. State of Europe 2015 – Addressing Europe’s crises
  6. Schengen area and Freedom for Europeans being put to the test as never before
  7. The New gulf of migration and seed for far right parties
  8. Asylum seekers crisis and Europe’s paralysis
  9. Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?
  10. What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?
  11. Human tragedy need to be addressed at source
  12. Poster: Please help the refugees
  13. Real progress leaves nobody behind
  14. Swallowed in the Sea but belonging to earth
  15. The natural beauties of life
  16. How to make sustainable, green habits second nature
  17. Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery
  18. Republican member of Congress from Arizona to boycott pope’s address over climate change
  19. Vatican against Opponents of immigration 
  20. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #12 Conclusion

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