02-23-2007, 03:07 PM
Bismillah
"Finally, according to Norris and Inglehart (2004:90), the percentage of people believing in God over the past 50 years has declined by 33% in Sweden, 22% in the Netherlands, 20% in Australia, 19% in Norway, 18% in Denmark, 16.5% in Britain, 12% in Greece, 11% in Belgium, 7% in Canada, and 3% in Japan."
Whew! It is so good to know that these are the only countries in the world now. If I ever have to take a geography test again, it will be soooo much easier.
That aside... If I made a claim that religion is on the rise and then gave stats from the middle east and north africa, would you consider that a representative sample. All you showed was secular nations being secular. SHOCKER!
"Wael, Muslimah & Dan have expressed different viewpoints regarding this issue"
No different viewpoints, just trying to explain the One who is Comparable to None, the Unique. We are linear beings bound by space and time. You are questioning how the Creator of All can Know everything yet we still have freewill, correct?
We can only use unworthy analogies to help us understand, so let me try. Draw a line on a piece of paper. Now if someone were to shrink down to smaller than an ant and travel that line, he would not know where it was leading. Being above that line you can see exactly where that person is going, but you are not making that person do anything.
Of course, there are many holes in that comparison because Allah is Uncomparable. That might be hard for a christian to understand since according to you God sweat, felt pain, deficated, fatigued, ate, etc...