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Originally Posted by Iliaran  What about those who don't identity with any particular religion? Are they any less American? |
The idea is that the principle of freedom of religion is the most prominent religious principle; this includes the freedom to not believe in any religion.
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Originally Posted by B~E 60 years ago, America's national identity was based on 5 pillars: european ethnicity, the white race, English language, Christian religious beliefs and Western cultural ideology and philosophy. As time went by, those pillars felt, one by one. Today, your average American can be of any color, race and religious belief. The only thing that matters is that he must believe in a certain cultural ideology of democracy and rule of law, and that he must speaks a certain language, English. And the country is working as fine as it did 60, or 120 years ago. Social stability is more difficult to maintain, but still, everything is working.
In Europe, we're witnessing the same phenomenon, but its all going much more rapidely. The demographic decline, the mass immigration brought in to compensate, its all more massive than in America. In Europe, the traditional conception of national identity is being severely challenged by mass immigration, to a deeper degree, within a shorter period of time and with deeper consequences at the end of the road, illustrated by the fact that traditional Europeans will be a minority in one generation and a half. Not only are they not prepared for this like North America is, but is it all being done in the name of a false solution to the demographic problem, and it is all being done too fast, too.
All in all, I'm not advocating a return to an old fashioned and subjective sense of national identity. I'm not talking about excluding foreigners from our societies, nor would I like us to become less inclusive. I'm merely highly sceptical of the tremendous changes ahead, and I'm questioning why they're happening, because I find the whole ordeal very strange. This demographic change, so suddent and with permanent and mainly negative consequences, seems to be happenening under our nose, without justification. |
I'm not trying to say it's a great thing, I'm just trying to say it's not a bad thing. To use the United States as an example again, the change isn't always smooth. Take the civil rights movement. What is emphasized is the peaceful protests of Martin Luther King, his brilliant speeches, his ideal philosophy of racial equality, and so forth. However, beyond this there were still violent protests and sometimes even more violent counter protests. I would also argue, as shown by the will of many to push the civil rights movement forward and the others who wished it to go away, that social stability is probably not more difficult to maintain. I'd argue that it is somewhere around the same as it has been.
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Originally Posted by B~E In my opinion, the phenomenon of demographic decline and the concept of mass immigration as a short terme solution are results of our current economical système, a système that has been around for a very short period of time. Doesn't it sounds wrong that nations are willing to let themselves be replaced because of the side effects of an economical system? The economy is meant to be a tool, yet it is now the tool, wield by an invisible hand, which is re-modeling societies. |
It is the German culture rather than the ethnically German demographics which effects my opinion. However, with Iliaran's comments that "by 2050, the Muslim population in Germany will be dominated by 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants", I think that as long as Germans make an effort to actual integrate the immigrates into society the German culture will remain. If not, then the figurative Van Gogh's Starry Night is going to have some scorched edges.
As for the economic system, I'm pretty much against every single system used in Europe. That being said, I'm also thing that the one in Germany is inefficient and involves too much government intervention. I haven't exactly looked very much into why the mass immigration is going on, but my assumption is that since the birth rate in Germany is going down then it is creating more jobs in the market which in turn attracts more people to immigrate to Germany. The market is there to create unanimity without conformity - I don't look at it as a tool, simply an entity that needs to be free with view restrictions.