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Minority Religions need your help too

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    Minority Religions need your help too

    Members of an ancient religious group living in the UK are warning their faith could soon disappear.

    The Sabian Mandaeans have fled persecution in Iraq. Some have found safety in Britain, but now they claim they have nowhere to worship or teach their children about their faith.

    Dr Layla Alroomi, who has lived in the UK for more than 30 years, fears their culture is under threat.

    "We feel our community, our religion, our culture is slipping away from our hands," she says.

    "We have no priest, if somebody wants to get married in the UK, they can't be because we don't have a place to meet."

    She explains that water is at the heart of their faith. They must baptise as often as possible in running water, preferably a river.

    "We don't have a temple near water to perform our religious rituals."

    There are fewer than 1,000 Mandaeans
    living in the UK. Their faith, which came before Islam and Christianity, is based on pacifism and began in what is now Iraq before the birth of Christ.
    "Our fear is that if the young people don't pick up the religion... it will die off."

    At a house in Surrey I meet three generations of Mandaeans.

    "We practise our religion in very difficult circumstances," says Subhi Al-Shather.

    What they need, he says, is a temple of their own, known in their language as a "Mandi".

    "We can't find it... we don't own land or property."

    She says she would love for there to be a Mandi in the UK.

    Some in the community believe the British government should help them build their Mandi.

    One of them is 22-year-old Marwa Roomi who is studying to be a human-rights lawyer.

    I ask her why non-Mandaeans should care if her religion should die out.

    "It would be clear evidence of what happened to human rights.

    "What happened to minorities having an equal right to the majority?WTF happened to majority rule?
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7678123.stm
    How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think

    #2
    If there religion has any validity, then surely their god will be able to reverse the trend.
    Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

    Comment


      #3
      I don't see what the problem is. If the Mandelsons, or whatever they're called, need a temple, let them buy an old building and have one.
      Why do they worship Mandelson anyway?
      Hard Brexit now!
      #prayfornodeal

      Comment


        #4
        What about us Pagans?
        How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

        Follow me on Twitter - LinkedIn Profile - The HAB blog - New Blog: Mad Cameron
        Xeno points: +5 - Asperger rating: 36 - Paranoid Schizophrenic rating: 44%

        "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office" - Aesop

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by HairyArsedBloke View Post
          What about us Pagans?
          You've got Stonehenge.
          Hard Brexit now!
          #prayfornodeal

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by HairyArsedBloke View Post
            What about us Pagans?
            You've had Stonehenge for years. You're free to worship there whenever you like (and can pay the fee).
            ‎"See, you think I give a tulip. Wrong. In fact, while you talk, I'm thinking; How can I give less of a tulip? That's why I look interested."

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Moscow Mule View Post
              You've had Stonehenge for years. You're free to worship there whenever you like (and can pay the fee).
              So in this age of diversity, shoudn't mandy worshippers be allocated the use of stonehenge on, say, tuesdays and thursdays?

              There, another problem solved.
              Last edited by PM-Junkie; 20 October 2008, 10:42.
              Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - Epicurus

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by PM-Junkie View Post
                So in this age of diversity, shoudn't mandy worshippers be allocated the use of stonehenge on, say, tuesdays and thuradays?

                There, another problem solved.
                Why can't they all go around to his mansion(s) ?
                Hard Brexit now!
                #prayfornodeal

                Comment

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