DSCH
24th April 2004, 01:29
Villepan: No Terrorists S'il Vous Plait
Via LGF
French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin (who is a man) is embarking on a simplistic, unilateral, racist campaign to expel foreign imams of the Religion of Peace from France, unjustly accusing these religious leaders of extremism and violating their civil rights, in a stunning act of state-sponsored terrorism that is bound to further enflame an already dangerously over-inflamed Arab Street: Villepin targets non-French imams (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/04/22/france.imams.reut/index.html).
Speaking a day after he deported an Algerian imam for saying Islam let husbands beat adulterous wives, Villepin urged the countrys prefects Thursday to expel any foreign preacher who advocated violence, hate, racism or abuses of human rights.
Only about 10 percent of imams in France are citizens and about half of all imams in the country speak French, experts say.
Most are imported from Arab countries, where some have been trained in radical Islamist views that clash with Frances secular laws.
But mainstream Muslim leaders calls for help require funds, scarce at a time when France is struggling to cut its huge budget deficit. Their appeals for subsidies also conflict with the countrys strict separation of church and state.
We must face the issue of training imams, Villepin told a meeting of prefects, who oversee the application of government policy in departments across France.
I ask you to help the Muslim faith get organized better and more quickly so a real French Islam can emerge, he said, adding that training programs would help the official French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) to supervise imams.
Via LGF
French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin (who is a man) is embarking on a simplistic, unilateral, racist campaign to expel foreign imams of the Religion of Peace from France, unjustly accusing these religious leaders of extremism and violating their civil rights, in a stunning act of state-sponsored terrorism that is bound to further enflame an already dangerously over-inflamed Arab Street: Villepin targets non-French imams (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/04/22/france.imams.reut/index.html).
Speaking a day after he deported an Algerian imam for saying Islam let husbands beat adulterous wives, Villepin urged the countrys prefects Thursday to expel any foreign preacher who advocated violence, hate, racism or abuses of human rights.
Only about 10 percent of imams in France are citizens and about half of all imams in the country speak French, experts say.
Most are imported from Arab countries, where some have been trained in radical Islamist views that clash with Frances secular laws.
But mainstream Muslim leaders calls for help require funds, scarce at a time when France is struggling to cut its huge budget deficit. Their appeals for subsidies also conflict with the countrys strict separation of church and state.
We must face the issue of training imams, Villepin told a meeting of prefects, who oversee the application of government policy in departments across France.
I ask you to help the Muslim faith get organized better and more quickly so a real French Islam can emerge, he said, adding that training programs would help the official French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) to supervise imams.