It must be horrendous for the majority of law-abiding Muslims who just go about their business, same as anyone else, then because of a handful of gobby hard-of-thinking tabloid addicts they get tarred with the same brush as some rampant scumbag in Sweden or Manchester.

If all it takes for a society to disintegrate is 5% diversity, then it was not a cohesive society on the first place and I say increase it not by 5%, but by 25%!

Mind you, this has nothing to do with religion, but with diversity in general, which I am all for. For me religion, ANY religion, is something that we should ditch in the garbage bin asap.

Makes me want a night on Curry Mile in Rusholme.

How can you cliam to be for diversity but want to abolish religions?

It's like saying i like all kinds of food but they shouldn't be spicey.

Don't you see that religions are a very important part of defining cultures.

No, no, no! Man must be a rational creature! He must be improved! Abolish religion! Abolish superstition! Abolish inequality! Abolish everything that is bad and regressive and outdated and silly! Man will be made perfect in every way!

I've got an Esperanto dictionary for sale, if anyone is interested.

I've heard there isn't much of a market for them these days.

But then markets are bad too.

I think this picture shows a lovely scene of integration, see they are barely dressed in the middle of a British winter

wearing a vest. There's only the knotted hanky missing

Given the nature of the event, I'd put money on there being a few knotted ropes to hand...

Indeed, it's an awful trend. Many Muslims came from the Balkans, and seeking safety they naturalised. This makes it impossible to have them deported.

So perhaps we should start to reduce the 25% share of foreigners instead. Which presumably would include you.

No, it's not like that at all. If you insist on a food analogy to try and simplify it then it might be more like welcoming all types of cuisines but wanting none of them to include alcoholic drinks. Whether you (or I) think that drinking is bad is neither here nor there, it is intrinsically linked with food in some cultures (sorry, meant to type cuisines, but actually it works either way) but not actually a physically required part of it.

(Still not the best analogy, I realise, but the best I could think of using food, and is deliberately ignoring the use of alcohol as a food ingredient ).

Yes, there are huge historical links between culture and religion, but they are not the same thing, and it is entirely possible (to imagine) that a culture could adapt and integrate (while not being subsumed) without needing to retain the religion which was perhaps both a defining part, and a result, of the many factors involved in its evolution.

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Lol, you're dreaming. Let me give you just a benign example - can you imagine those little babushkas from your country (or mine, as a matter of fact, or from Greece etc etc ) not going to church, not keeping all the possible and impossible fasting days during the year, not confessing etc etc etc?

I kind of get what he was saying, though. The babushkas shuffling off to church (and whatever their regional equivalents are all over Europe) are not the issue. It's the drum-beating "my religion is best so you'd better switch pronto or we'll get rough**" sorts that society can do without and are of zero benefit to culture.

I firmly believe they are in the minority but like all squeaky wheels and grinding gears, they are the ones that are heard the loudest so appear to be dominant.

It's a worn out analogy but I'm very much for "keep your religion like you keep your penis - nice and private and don't flap it in anyone's face".


**This doesn't just apply to one specific religion - they've all been at it at one time or another.

There would possibly be a revolution in Greece at having to just have a birthday and not a name day also. One less Xronia Polla per family member would save me a few dozen phone calls. Hmmm...

OMG, you really need a religious calendar so you can check what Saint is celebrated when and make the appropriate calls... Never ever forget the -in-laws!

But you know, there is something good in all of these: you really get invited to a loooot of parties. :-)

That escalated quickly.

Somebody posts a picture of some guys having some fun celebrating a religious fesitival.

Somebody else says, diversity is OK, but it would be better without the religion.

And then somebody likens it to a penis.

What's up with you all today?

You have the same?
It's worse than that.

The easy part is, because of Greek naming traditions, you usually only have to remember less than 10 names/name days. The part that always makes me laugh is that you have to phone the person whose name day it is, then their parents "Xronia Polla for your son", then their grandparents. For St.Eleftherios day, my OH only has to make 5 phone calls, but for Kyriakos and Panayiotis, he begins calling when he gets home from work, I put his dinner in front of him, then send him to bed when he's finished calling everyone.

My mother-outlaw was very relieved to find that I have the same name day as my OH, because she can get it all over with in one call.

Did you actually read the posts or just look at the pics of the bare chests and read the rude words?

Yep, almost (maybe not that bad). Even some superstitions are the same....(once I had a really good laugh with former Greek and Turkish colleagues about this stuff)

Is that what it was? It would make for a good poster for an antiperspirant ad.

Gilette Right Guard!