Well said Otokonoko.

Iftikhar
You sound like you want the nation-within-a-nation approach including a separate language. If you don't want to become an English speaking Brit then may I suggest you choose a place of residence where the languages and ideals suit your own. If you currently live in Britain then I hate to break it to you but you are already a Brit.

I would not presume to move to another country and insist they teach my language at their schools and accept a different curriculum that may not meet their standards or national uniformity.

Dear Oto
I've been trying to avoid this, but clearly we need to a tad deeper here.

You say:

//I say 'for the most part', because there are certainly crackpot Muslims,//

I assume by this that you mean that any Muslim who raises child protection questions is a crackpot ?

The more important question Oto is this... 'irrespective of our western laws'..... what does the 'faith' itself actually teach or permit?

If it were to teach something blatantly at odds with our laws.. does it not stand to reason they would tread softly softly on that issue ?

For example.. wife beating is very much a part of "Islam" if you just step out of Australia... they are not 'crackpots' for beating their wives.. 'you' are the crackpot for not following Allahs guidance...(to them)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp3Eam5FX58
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFr0JtsA_c8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nUI3TUdFCk&feature=related

So it must always come down to 'what does a faith teach' or permit.

For wife beating.. the reference is surah 4:34..by all means read it.

http://www.ummah.net/what-is-islam/quran/noble/nobe004.htm

To assist you please follow the following reference and see if you get what I mean.(about child concerns)

http://www.quranenglish.com/tafheem_quran/065.htm

scroll to the section which has 65:4 in the blue background.

Then..scroll to *13 in that discussion. What do you find is 'permitted' because the Quran permits it ?

What is is that "Muslims cannot forbid, because the Quran permits it" ?

Now..this is what the religion teaches....and to this point I've not even mentioned what it is.. but I hope you have the integrity to actually spell it out here.

At least now.. having read it (I hope) you will realize that things are not always what they seem... and the 'widely respected' you suggested before.. may well be based on ignorance rather than information.

The difference between 'widely respected' and 'trashy cult' need only be a few military battles which the once 'trashy cult' happened to win... and now, due to the numbers and power.. it becomes 'widely respected' (or is it 'feared' ?)

I note that Boazy sidesteps completely my point about the equivalence of Exclusive Brethren cult schools with Islamic madrassas.

<< I've been trying to avoid this... >>

Too funny. Are you still beating your daughter?

Dear CJ.. I can see your are cryyyyying out for a bit of attention there :) so.. I have a few minutes...and I'll shinny down the long rope that leads to the dark place wherein you dwell..and oblige.

//I don't see any difference between a Muslim madrassah and an Exclusive Brethren school.//

err..and you wonder why I ignore you ? ? ?

You don't see the diff, because just about the only thing you know about the Exclusives is from your media driven feeding frenzies.

Strictly speaking...they are 'strict' yes.. and you know the 'rules' before joining. The stories you hear most about are from those who knew the rules and went against them.
The rules and permissions do not include anything which would in the slightest bit allow sexual use and abuse of children, which by now, if you had the genuineness of purpose.. you would realize from my links that other faiths DO in fact permit this. COG being one, and Islam being another.. but they keep it hush hush.. or.. hide some aspects from public consumption...as you would have seen in the vid about the COG.

Before you begin your city wide protest about 'tax concessions' for Churches.. please remember...it might be your uncle..or son..or daughter or friend... who is helped in their time of need by one of those Churches. Or..it might be the orphan in Uganda, or the School in Zambia.. both of which our own fellowship has involvement in.

In our case, we "live" by the skin of our teeth financially, and the only income the fellowship has is what we give...and sometimes that amounts to zero when times are tough.

You have a very sick mind when it comes to 'The Church' and you seem to only view it based on the worst you have heard or seen. Remember those 'tarring all' accusations you hurl at me from the dark side regularly ? :)

Now come...come over to the light ... dwell in it..bathe yourself in that luxurient glow of peace and inner tranquility...

It is true that there is no difference between Exclusive Brethren cult schools and Islamic madrassas.
Even now, around the world, children in Exclusive Brethren cult schools are being brainwashed into believing that God has promised them 72 virgins if they strap on suicide vests and blow up innocent Muslims. These sinister cult schools are being funded by oil-rich Texan evangelists who force their womenfolk to cover their faces in public, won't let them drive in public and encourage their foreign-worker family drivers to suckle at their breasts to establish kinship ties so that they might be let into their houses. I've watched their websites where they publicly hack the heads off apostates and traitors to the cry of "Jesus is Lord" from the crowds of fanatical Exclusive Brethren. Theirs is a hateful ideology and you would do well to beware of the sinister cult of the Exclusive Brethren.

Thanks for spelling it out, Proxy. Even I had no idea that the Exclusive Brethren are as bad as you demonstrate that they are.

Boaz, are you still beating your daughter?