mmoa_writes

To be honest, it's hard to explain outside the context of British society, but so what, I'll do my best.

Mostly, they're intelligent, young, second-generation (if not third) immigrants, politically and indeed religiously liberal (a very laissez-faire attitude to our apparently decadent western society - of which they seem to have a good deal of appreciation for, oddly enough...) and mainly male. And they are always at science lectures. Always. And they are the ones to ask the lecturer intelligent questions, the ones taking down notes... It's come to the point where I think I know one or two by sight now!

Their faith, I've noticed, is not so much the core of their being, but an inspiring backdrop to the play of their lives. It's a far cry from their counterparts who would willingly kill hundreds of 'sinful Westerners.' I believe they are the stronger, because, even if their siblings and parents are leaning towards radicalisation, they offer a more compelling and wholesome alternative.

As for a welfare state making them soft, well, I hear plenty of that being said here as well, but that's silly. Immigrants are the last people in any country to go 'soft' no matter how much you fling at them, because they have a certain attitude towards it, knowing that it's basically charity (and I say this as a second generation immigrant myself).

To finish my rant, the ones going 'soft' are the ones who go around smashing public property, truanting, and vomiting on the streets, not the ones trying to memorise certain passages of their Holy Book, in order to find justification for suicide bombing. The former deserve sympathy (and a decent educational and social welfare system) and the latter caution because they're the hardest of the lot.

And now I've left the topic of Humanist Muslims altogether. Sorry!

EDIT: And I call them Humanist Muslims, but they don't have a media-approved label as of yet. That's just my nickname for them. I really ought to shorten it to something easier like Humimuslims...