A Peruvian Evangelical Mission is giving instruction on how to outreach to Muslims.
Very interesting.
This why – inspite of our media scaremongering – I do not believe that Islam will get a hold in Latin America.
It may make some converts, but over time the Evangelicals will make more Christians out of Muslims than the Muslims will make Muslims out of Christians.
What is worrisome, however, is the increasing anti-Israel sentiment arising in Latin America. The Latins may not become Muslim, but they may become very hostile to Israel.
The reason for this is simple. The more traditional denominations in Latin America, the Catholic Church – and to a smaller extent, the Orthodox Church – have theologies where the Jews are written off for their rejection of Christ.
It is easier for anti-Semitism to prosper with those theologies, unlike Evangelical theologies where the Jews are still central to God’s design.
These traditional churches were magnificent in converting earlier generations of Muslim immigrants; but while they were effective at eradicating Islam, they made no effort to eradicate anti-Semitism. Hence, Arab and Iranian propaganda may not install Islam in South America; but it can instill an anti-Israel viewpoint that is vicious.
2nd Grade Arab-Argentine School (Omar Bin Al Jattab) Buenos Aires
A Vacation Party – just before they break for their summer which starts in December in the Southern Hemisphere.
The sign: FELICES VACIONES means HAPPY VACATIONS
These Arabs(?!) at the Omar Bin Al Jattab (Khattab in English) school in Buenos Aires are Westernized; and not all of them are Arab. Check out the blonde-haired girl on the upper right stage; and the sandy-haired mother to the lower left. Almost surely, most of these children are Christian.
The Saudis financed this unpopular mosque (above). It houses a culture center, and broadcasts a TV show, one hour per week, on Public TV in Buenos Aires. Most of its attendees are new immigrants to Argentina.
The Islamic Center (CIRA) built a major mosque in downtown Buenos Aires.
During the administration of President Carlos Menem – an Argentine of Syrian Muslim extraction who converted to Catholicism – the Argentine government donated eight acres of primo real estate in downtown Buenos Aires to the Saudis for them to build a mosque. The Saudis built the largest mosque in South America, which is now connected to the Islamic Center. This Islamic Center is affiliated with the school in the videos above; and also broadcasts an Islamic propaganda show broadcast weekly on Argentine Public TV.
This is being financed by the Saudis. Meanwhile, Iran is broadcasting HispanTV to Latin America.
Look at the school website header, and you will see that there are few Nordic types among the parents and children.
To understand why Christians would send their children to a Muslim school: An American analogy would be Catholic schools in inner cities which attract non-Catholics for their academic performance and discipline. Likewise, the Muslim school is aiming to build an elite; if not in religion, then in sympathies.
Why isn’t the West doing more about this?
Only the Evangelicals seem to be fighting back.
The Christian kids among them will probably not be converted, but there will be an Islamic influence drilled into them.
Su principal objetivo es brindar a la comunidad un colegio abierto, teniendo en cuenta los principios pedagógicos de la educación personalizada, como así también las tradiciones y los valores morales de la Cultura Islámica.
Its principle objective to offer the community an open school, taking into account the teaching principles of a personalized education, as well as the traditions and values of the Islamic Culture.
These children may grow up to be anti-Israel, at least; even though they do not become Muslim.
Arab culture is mostly beneficial to Latin America, but this aspect of it requires watching.
June 12, 2024 – Edited: Removed some copyright issue videos. Made mobile friendly.
Islamic March in Repudiation of the insults against the Prophet Mohammed
This is a video of a protest march against insults against Mohammed in São Paulo, followed by a discussion with a Syrian Orthodox Priest and a Protestant minister.
What has to be remembered is that
A) São Paulo has a very large Arab community; and may be the Arab Center of Brazil
B) The parade is relatively small
C) Metro São Paulo has about 30 million people and this is the the best they could do?!
D) If you look carefully, you can see that many of those people in the parade are not even Arab or Muslim, and may be in the parade just to protest a political incorrectness. Many of the women are not wearing hijabs, and I saw at least one Christian monk in the group. I have to wonder how much of this was Islam, and how much was simple Arab solidarity, which reigned in a lot of Chrisitans.
But pay attention:
A (4:01) we see Pastor Khalio Samara of the Arab Evangelical Church.
That should tell you something right there.
I am not denying that Islam is making inroads; but it does not take much effort to triple a community if the original size was very small.
But at some point Islam is going to run up against an Evangelical Church which is growing by millions upon millions every year.
This makes good TV fodder to scare you.
But while YouTube or TV notices a loud protest march, it ignores the millions who are converting in the other direction.
From 2011 – Arab-Argentine Home of Berisso – Islamic Mutual Aid Society of Berisso
At (0:25), the girl in the red dress looks Ukrainian. At (6:40), the girl in the blue dress looks positively Celtic.
How many of these so called Muslim Arabs even look Arabic?
How many are just culturally affiliated, with no religious connection?
How many are Christian non-Arabs, who just wanted to take up Arab dancing?
Argentina is almost unique in Spanish speaking Latin America in that the Arab immigration was so large and stable that it did produce a somewhat noticeable Muslim community. (Brazil to a lesser extent, but it was Portuguese speaking) Yet, even in Argentina and Brazil, the Muslims never rose above a small minority within their Arab ethnic communities.
Even in Argentina, the trend was for the Muslims to assimilate to non-observance, and often intermarry into Christianity.
Most of the other countries Christianized the Muslims who did come in, making for extremely small Muslim communites prone to coversion over time.
The difference is that in Argentina and Brazil, the Muslim communities are small, while elsewhere in South America they are incredibly small.
For ex: Nominally, in Argentina: (Muslims are about 10-20% of the Arab ethnic population. In practice considerably smaller).
In Chile: (Muslims are less than 0.5% of the Arab ethnic population).
Overall, taking the whole nation into account …
About 1½% of Argentina is Muslim (Nominally! In practice, much less).
About 0.025% of Chile is Muslim, and most of those are new arrivals, or converts who may re-convert back out.
Muslims in Argentina are noticeably small. In Chile, they are microscopically small.
However, the Islamic Mutual Aid Society of Berisso is one Islamic group that did put down roots in Argentina. (The link is to their website in Spanish). They were founded in 1917.
This was pre-Iranian Revolution, pre-Saudi funding; and may be one of the few genuine expressions of original cultural preservation not tainted by the Islamic extremism.
The Islamic groups now forming in Latin America are often expressions of Saudi or Iranian manipulation. [For ex: the recently built obscenity of the King Fahd Mosque in Buenos Aires, was financed by the Saudis, and draws very few Argentine Muslims. Almost all attendees are recent immigrants. The Saudi-financed Mosque’s behavior has been very unpopular with Argentine Arabs.]
Berisso is a suburb about 13 miles/20 km southeast of Buenos Aires. Oddly, Berisso has a double s, which is not found in Spanish; and is a name of Italian origin. The town was founded by Italian immigrants.
Berisso is notable for its immigrants with many of it citizens tracing their roots to Italian, German, Portuguese, Arab, East European, Irish, Lithuanian, and Jewish immigrants. [And you though Argentines were primarily Spanish Gauchos! – Actually, Italians may now outnumber the Spanish in Argentina where the Spanish is now spoken with an Italian accent in Buenos Aires.]
How many of these dancers are still practicing Arab Muslims, I do not know.
Please look at the above video in this post. Notice how many of the girls look like pale skinned Slavs or Nordics. At (6:40), the girl in the blue dress looks positively Celtic. How many of the swarthier girls are actually Latin?
As we have seen, in Latin America, Arab culture has broken out of the ethnic envelope, and is now embraced by non-Arabs. Also, the rate of intermarriage is very high.
If you doubt this, the video was posted in 2011, by someone with the Surname of Gonzalez, which is a Spanish name of Visigothic (Ancient Germanic) origin.
I am sure some Islamic aspect survives in the group; but I suspect a lot of it functions as a cultural relic for those who have a Muslim ancestor; but are now either Christian, confused, or unsettled as to what they are.
I included this to show that in Latin America, the Muslim groups, while culturally powerful, are religiously neutered. This is not a Salifist, or Wahabbist group.
Latin America usually converts Muslims; and even where it fails to convert, willl often culturally soften the Muslims. Do you see burqas in that group?
Latin America is – and has been – doing something right that the West needs to emulate.
