I had to remove video. Pity! It was good. But I left the post up to show that there are Evangelical Arab Churches in Venezuela.
Fernando Campos, an Evangelical preacher/singer, in an Arab Evangelical Church in Venezuela.
At (2:51) you will see a female Pastor Asuan El Dbassi, a name so Arabic it hurts.
Two things should be obvious
1) In Islam, there are no female clerics, at least not according to the hadiths.
2) In Christianity, there are many denominations which allow for female clerics. This congregation seems to be Pentecostal.
For this who think Islam can win in South America, look at this video. BTW: The girls wearing head scarves (1:26) seem to be doing more so from ethnic cultural identification than religious sensibilities. These are Christians, and so hijabs would not be a requirement. The women do not wear them elsewhere.
South America is having a massive Evangelical Revival. So, one will notice Evangelical Arab Congregations which would be rare in other parts of the world.
28 November 2017 – Had to remove video, which no longer worked.
It is about an Argentine woman who discovers that though she is of Italian, Spanish and Irish descent, one of her ancestors, her great-grandfather was a Lebanese Muslim. She set out to discover her distant relatives.
Posted on YouTube: August 15, 2012
The Muslims were so possessive of their women that it was unthinkable for them to allow women to migrate to Argentina alone. Hence, most of the Muslim men had no women to marry, unless they brought one over with them, or wrote for one expressly for marriage.
The intermarriage rate was high with the result that the children were usually raised Catholic.
Arab immigration to Argentina was quite considerable in the late 19th century, after World War I and up to the mid-20th century , having become its third most important immigration wave. Of these immigrants, 40% are estimated to have been Muslims or children or grandchildren of Muslims.
Well, Argentina’s Arabs are about 10% Muslim today, but most are not practicing at all. This means a steady translation over to Christianity, whether by converstion, intermarriage, or just simple neglect.
I am not going to pretend that this is a tragedy. I am Christian, and find this trend very heartening, especially since the Christianization seems to be a product of assimilation, not coercion.
What I do find very heartening is how well the Arabs succeed once they have assimilated. This offers hope not only for the Arabs in Latin America, but for the world was well.
If the Arabs could see that the deck is NOT stacked against them, that Western Civilization has embraced them – at least in Latin America – it would offer them hope. Where hope abounds, extremism will fade away.
The Muslim world may have to ask some painful questions.
Is their monolithic view of Islam helpful or hurtful?
Should they consider Christianity?
If Latin America is any indication of the superiority of Christianity, Islam is hurting the Arab world. The Muslims should consider Christianity.
In Latin America, the Arab is elite. Maybe it is time for the Muslim world to reconsider its insistance on Islam.
September 1, 2020 – Made some changes. November 19, 2024 – Made some changes. Converted from a page to a post.
Recoleta is a well-to-do commune in Chile. Can you imagine this happening in the USA?
The mayor of well-to-do town accepting Palestinian refugees with a ceremony and holding up a child’s drawing of a Chilean and Palestinian flag?!
The Palestinians have clout in Chile.
What must be made aware is this: Until very recently, the vast majority of Arabs in Chile (over 99%) were Christian. They fit in very well. It is not clear yet how well the newer group of Palestinians (who are Muslim) will assimilate. They come from the same region/homeland, but there is a religious divide.
