Anybody watch the Channel 4 dispatches debate on Muslims last night?

Question

It was actually quite a fair debate for a liberal channel but it was quite shocking that when a white woman pointed out that Britain is a christian country all the lefties in the audeince were making tut tut noises.

Aint it a sad day when you cant make factual comments without fear of upsetting anybody?

Answer 1

Maybe this debate was carefully manipulated to come up with the desired result.

The main question was the right to free speech which was sadly conspicuous by its absence in this debate.

The pro Muslim leader was given freedom to put his views and his cross examination of witnesses without interruption.

He did not however, afford the same courtesy and respect to his opposing counterpart by his constant interruptions and use of the time-worn technique; "Have you stopped beating your wife. Just answer YES or NO."

Both he and, more especially, the speaker from the British Council of Muslims were overpowering and intimidatory.

The 'Chairman' of the debate failed to control the latter who, when under cross examination, launched a deplorable tirade and never allowed his examiner to speak more than a few words.

The Chairman should have called him to order.

I was disappointed with the lack of a civil and orderly debate.

Free speech was clearly not to be allowed.

Democracy was cast aside when 66% of the audience voted to see the cartoons in question.

It was farcical to hold such a vote as the presenter was under prior instuctions he had not to show them under any circumstance.

Answer 2

This is all a question of semantics that everyone gets upset over. It all depends on what you define as a "Christian nation." If you define a Christian nation as a theocracy run by the Church, then the only Christian country in history has been the Vatican. If you define a Christian country as a country where the majority of the poppulation identifies themselves as Christian, Then nearly the entire western civilization is still made up of Christian nations.

No need to get upset over the term "Christian nation". People had no problem labeling Iraq a muslim nation when the government was and is clearly secular.

Answer 3

Isn't that the way of Politics -- you're in England right.

Isn't making jokes about your oppoants in general a way of life in PArliament.

Who needs a vote in a debat if the entire audience is TUT TUT TUTing!

How will they feel if only a handfull or TUT TUT TUTTING and it's obviius they aren't making a very loud sound.

WHAT HAPPENED in the debate anyway? What was it about?

Britian not a Christian Nation? Isn't the Royal Family REQUIRED to be from the Church of England?

I thought that was a 400 year old rule!

Answer 4

True that was quite revealing, no doubt if the studio was in Manchester, Birmingham, Norwich, Liverpool or anywhere except London she would've been applauded for stating fact.

I was however left feeling a little let down for them declining to show the mohammed cartoons for "editorial" reasons, I thought more of Jon Snow than that.

It was still an eye opening program and the black fella from the muslim group certainly stood up to his sterotype, that being aggressive unable or unwilling to listen and bigotted.

Free speech for all regardless of insults, The Life of Brian wasn't banned everywhere nor was Father Ted so why should one minority group get any special treatment. This is the way of the west not the way of some self proclaimed middle ages madman.

Answer 5

The thing about saying that Britain is a Christian country, then it becomes the Christian equivalent of Saudi Arabia, which is an Islamic country run by the Sharia. The thing is, Britain is not that, nor do I think it should be. For a country to claim a religion is to alienate all others to some degree, the same as if you would the minorites there if you said that it was a caucasian country because that is what the majority of your population is.

Answer 6

I think you are right about what you believe.
However, the lady was wrong. Britain has not been Christian for at least 70 years. Many missionaries attempt to evangelize in Great Britain and the rest of Europe, but the "so-called" Christians there prevent them for fear of offending someone. Sorry my friend, none of Europe is Christian. Yes, there may be many church buildings there-but no one uses them. In fact -most are closed down. The only active places of worship in Europe is mosques. Sad, sad.

Answer 7

It was a joy to watch and I agree with your comments. I was particularly pleased that the person speaking up for free speech wasn't a typical 'white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.' If he had been, no doubt he'd have been branded a racist. I was a bit annoyed that they didn't show the cartoons so that we could see what the fuss was all about, but I think it just goes to show that we can't speak freely on this subject unless we wish to get into serious trouble.

Answer 8

Totally agree with you,it seemed once again that we were scared of offending the muslims in the audience,the last speaker was very" in your face",and would not listen to or answer the questions directly,he even said muslims would welcome debate and listen to reason without violence???,so what about the nun that was killed by muslims in Africa.
What I am most afraid of is that this is now making people anti muslim and racist that were never before,all we see are muslims holding demonstrations over every opinion made they don,t agree with ,would they do this in a muslim country?

Answer 9

No I missed it unfortunately, but you know the sooner we all get round a table and stop worrying about religion and deal with what really matters then this world will be a better place to live in for all of us, I do know religion is very important to a lot of people but so is life and what we do with it.

Answer 10

Actually Britain is NOT a Christian Country. How many people who have been baptised can (or want to) define themselves as Christians? From my experience, Atheists and Agnostics are the majority.