Politics-Smolitics(or Religion-Smeligon): Islam is Growing?!?!?

As I was doing research for the article post Islam Extremists Get Dirty I encountered various sites that all agreed that the Nation of Islam is growing at a rate of 3% per year. Not only that it is growing but that it is growing in the US! This perplexes the hell out of me. Surely these people are not won over by the obligations of that religon. The more I looked, the more rules I found. I even found a site discussing how you should engage in marital relations. . . and for us heathens out there, why you shouldn't engage in marital relations until you're married.

The thing that makes this so confusing is that Americans of all people hate rules. All religions have some rules but most Americans follow Christianity which only follows 10 rules and if you got into it deeper you could even say it follows only 1. The country was founded on the fact that the other religons had too many rules! Christianity seems like the right religon for Americans. Other religons have you turning into toads if you aren't good in a previous life. Of all the religons, Islam seems like the last place for Americans to flock.

Americans don't want anyone telling them to dress modestly or wash after sex. But yet, there it is, Americans are becoming Muslims. After thinking about it for a while I discovered a key element in American idealism. . . Rebellion.

Americans are rebellious fighters. Now not all Americans, infact not most Americans, but then, not most Americans are converting. Americans have always been fighters, either they are the patriotic, 'for the cause' fighters or they are the 'we don't believe in the cause so stop fighting' fighters. Yes, even the hippies were fighters, especially the hippies.

I think that these people converting to Islam are first and foremost rebels. Now I will probably get flamed for saying something like that but oh well. . . I've got nothing to lose. These people believe in the underdog and a lot of time they feel they are the underdog, like we all are.

I also think Americans are lacking a fight. Back during WWII, people had to rally together collecting alluminum and Snickers bars. In Vietnam, there were the anti-War groups. They were also anti-everything except sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Then something happened, the world, as far as Americans were concerned, was at peace. Any conflicts involving our country were minor and hardly involved the average person on a large scale.

I remember Desert Storm. Who doesn't. It was the first war of my generation and I hardly knew or cared what was going on. The 'War on Terror' is something of a larger scale desert storm. It has brought to a head all those feelings of deprivation that my generation feels about having a cause. If you are a republican you are the big bad evil, if you are a democrat you are a drug using hippie, if you are with the green party, you are wasting a vote. As far as the Nation of Islam goes, they represent the ultimate in rebellion against 'The Man' and nobody wants to be against 'The Man' more than Americans. I am sure I will lose a reader or two but I am not so arrogant as to think people actually read the crap I write.

Urusaii!! Mango-Chan!!