--- "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Viviana wrote: > > > Personally I'm insulted by the notion that people > without formal > > education and without money are by definition > stupid and gullible, and > > I'm surprised that a man of your liberal > sensibilities would imply such > > a thing. So people convert from one religion to > another because they're > > poor and uneducated and, of course, have no free > will??? > > Good point (if only from a debating point of view). > > Fact is, in an Indian context, the poor *have* > become targets and an > eagerly fought-over 'commodity'. They're being torn > apart in a tug-of-war > between evangelisers who come from a monotheistic > tradition (and either > sincerely believe that their's is the 'one true > faith' or are fuelled by > the mighty dollar, or both) and a Hindu upper > class/caste who now > realises that numbers mean a lot in a > one-man-one-vote system (but who > otherwise wouldn't care to much for this large, poor > segment and surely > wouldn't give their daughters in marriage to them -- > a more accurate > 'test' for who forms a 'community'). --> Fred is correct in that many evangelists have targetted the poorer segments of society for conversion. In fact they are even referred to as "rice christians". However I do not know how widespread it is and if the hindu fundamentalists are exaggerating this to push their own agendas. Personally, I have no issues with people evangalizing others so long as no one is forced into it. The targetting of the poor for conversion is very logical, just as a business would study its target market and selectively go after segments it deems would be the most profitable. > > I understand that Islam is the fastest growing > religion in America > > "Fastest growing" can also mean that it is starting > from a very small > base. Take for example: If Rome or Lisbon doesn't > have a single mosque, > and then allows one to come up, it's like a huge > achievement. When the > second mosque comes up, it's another 100% growth... --> Islam is the fastest growing relgion in the world not because of conversions, but rather because Islam in predominant in those countries that have very high birth rates. One could make the case that these high birth rates are strongly correlated to countries that are behind in most commonly accepted metrics for social and economic development. Although countries in the Gulf may be relatively "rich", the social incidicies of these nations, specially wrt women is very low.
> It's also a fact that the USofA has been rather > restrictive in deciding > what kind of migrants it wants to allow in -- based > on colour, class and > education -- which flies in the face of theories of > free markets. (There > should be a 'free market' in labour and human skills > too, right?) -- The US does not discriminate based on color or class. It does discriminate based on education and is something that needs to be abolished. There is clearly a need for cheap labor in America which is currently being filled by illegal immigrants - mostly from Mexico. There would not be an issue of "illegals" in America if mechanisms were in place to allow these people to be imported through legal channels. Ideally restrictions on the importation of ALL labor should be abolished. If I can find an Indian or a Egyptian who is willing and capable of doing the same work that is currently be doing by a higher cost American employee, I should have the right to fire the American ASAP and replace that person with cheaper overseas labor. Workers in high cost countries need to realize that in this age of global networking, if they do not open up their economies to greater labor mobility to allow lower cost labor to come in, it will only inevitably accelerate the push to have their jobs to shipped out. Marlon