Smirnov has hit upon something

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Sep 14, 2014 at 21:19

Rev. Smirnov said,

during their festivals, the people are scared to enter their areas [in Moscow] because tens of thousands of young Muslim men fall down on their knees and worship God. Where have you seen that many Orthodox men? You cannot see them anywhere at any time.

There's the root of the problem -- in Russia, in the US and in Israel: The Muslims practice an unashamed, open form of worship on a daily basis. Christians generally do not: weekly megachurch meetings do not have the same impact as daily public prayer.

As for the Jews, they relegate public worship to a fringe minority of Haredim, while the vast majority are engaiged in lives virtually sans religion.

I'm not advocating for more mechanistic, outward religion. What I am saying, is that in terms of zeal for their God/god, the Muslims have the Jews and Christians completely outclassed -- and I am not talking about zeal for latkes and kosher Chinese takeout. I'm talking about zeal for GOD -- something the Muslims have, and we don't. Here are some survey tidbits:

One recent survey asked the question of whether or not belief in God is essential to morality: http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/03/13/worldwide-many-see-belief-in-god-as-essential-to-morality/

Country: essential: not

First, the Western Christian & Jewish countries:

US: 53: 46
Russia: 38: 55
Israel: 37: 59
Canada: 31: 67
Germany: 33: 66
Italy: 27: 71
Australia: 23: 76
Britain: 20: 78
France: 15: 85

Now the Third World Christians:

Philippines: 93: 7
Nigeria: 91: 8
Brazil: 86: 13
S. Africa: 75: 21
Mexico: 56: 40

Now the Muslims:

Indonesia: 99: 1
Pakistan: 98: 1
Egypt: 95: 4
Turkey: 87: 9

and others:

India: 70: 24
S. Korea: 54: 44
Japan: 42: 55

When it comes to zeal for God, the West simply isn't there: They're into SUVs, boutiques, Ipods, MacDonalds, lovers, drugs, name your idol. I think that's what Smirnov was noticing

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