Like the Vikings were tolerant then? Or the Romans?

I have to admit that all this anti-Islam stuff just leaves me cold. In fact, any religious stuff for that matter.

What pure indigenous cultures are there left anyway? The white intruders killed most of them where they still existed.

Sorry, but I think we are supposed to be discussing now, not centuries ago. If you read what is written it is not anti-Islam, it is anti any Muslim who is not prepared to come here to live without malicious intent towards us and to abide by our laws.

Change Westminster (and Holyrood) for Brussels and see how true that statement is as well

Well do a degree, yes. But the difference is that we are wasting our money on ourselves whereas Brussels is funding 26 other countries in which we have no interest other than as real or potential trading partners.

I am enjoying these exchanges between Phantom and Arthur but I am not sure that it is that easy.

Yes, in general, Europeans are extremely tolerant, but, and this point is crucial, we require immigrants to be equally tolerant. It is when they are not that problems arise.

In the longer term I think Phantom may be right. If the Muslim populations reach the levels predicted in the next 20 years and the Muslims are not prepared to accept the indigenous cultures then there is real danger.

I don’t think we can afford to be complacent.

From being a keen and active promoter of the Common Market 50 years ago I am now totally disillusioned with the post-Lisbon situation. Once Brown had flunked the referendum the result was inevitable.

So now I want out. I simply do not want faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats wasting my money and deciding on details of my life. It is bad enough here, although that might change, and at least there is a semblance of democracy here.

Brussels is a cash cow into which billions of pounds of money we could well do with here, is poured to be spent on grandiose, wasteful and unnecessary schemes and to line the pockets of and feather the nests of its massive army of employees and representatives.

Has this thread lost its way?

Having read everything in detail nothing has changed, in my view. He was not a Samaritan in any sense of the word. The circumstances, whether or not he was sent to prison or was facing a sentence in prison come to the same thing. There is little doubt, as many of us have posted, that there is a great deal more to this story than the local paper has printed.

I suggest it be let lie until we all know the whole story.

According to the 2001 UK census, just under 3% of the British population were Muslims (2.97%, I think it was). According to the Muslim Council of Britain website, the latest government statistics give a current number of about 1.6 million. This last figure represents just 2.6% of a 61 million population. (Hey, that’s actually a decrease!)

So Muslims are a pretty small minority. The world Muslim population is only about 25%, so I really don’t think they’ll be taking over Britain any time soon, no matter what the Daily Mail might think.

The real problem seems to me to be the authorities and other institutions taking too much notice of the more vocal Muslims. I believe that the vast majority are just happy to get on with their lives and it is only a tiny minority of that 3% who stand up and shout about Sharia law and so on. There are far more Catholics than Muslims in this country, but we’re not banned from using contraception or eating meat on Fridays and I’m sure no-one could imagine that happening.

I’ve received Christmas cards from Muslims and been to pubs with Muslims (who’ve stuck to orange juice). They don’t get offended buy the existence of other religions and other customs.

So I’m not worried about any Islamic “change coming over Europe”. In fact I think that over the years to come all religions will have a dwindling influence over our lives and cultures. Any religious problems we notice are just extremists desperately trying to resist that tendency.

Jetflap – that is all very interesting, and even if we allow for a degree of innaccuracy in the figures, your supposition for the reason we assume that there has been an increase might be correct. Whether that applies in the other countries I mentioned earlier I do not know but will check.

I suppose the problem is that, as in other situations, a vocal and persistent minority can often be provocative and in rare cases threatening. And although some of the media have a lot to answer for, nevertheless, I think there is an underlying problem.