February 15, 2015: Islam claims to be the fastest growing religion in the world. That is true, but it’s mainly because Moslems are concentrated in countries with much higher birth rates (largely brought on by corruption and bad government). When you adjust for that and then look at just conversions you’ll note that Christianity and most other religions are converting Moslems at a much higher rate than the other way around.

This is happening despite the fact that Moslem clergy and many government in Moslem countries forbid Moslems to convert and in some nations it is a capital crime to convert. Executions are rare but threats, and often violence are quite common. Converts tend to flee to non-Moslem countries or non-Moslem communities within their own country. These communities are increasing under attack by Islamic terrorists who are determined to kill convers and drive all non-Moslems from the area.

What worries Islamic clergy the most is the growing hostility of Moslems towards the religion they were born into. The problem is that the growing prevalence of affordable (even for most Moslems, who are very poor, on average, compared to adherents to other religions) Internet access and information from the rest of the world make it possible for more Moslems to compare their situation with that of others. They note what a growing number of Moslems have noted for centuries; that non-Moslems, especially Christians, are wealthier, better educated, live longer and generally more comfortable lives than Moslems. As more Moslems migrate to non-Moslem nations Islamic clergy note that better educated young Moslems are more likely to stop coming to the mosque or even converting to another religion.

One reason for the higher degree of violence in these Moslem immigrant communities is the encouragement of violence against those who convert or practice Islam less and less. Getting a secular education and assimilating to the culture of the new country they are in is discouraged. This leaves the poorly educated Moslem immigrant children less prepared to get a good job but community leaders and Islamic clergy blame this on anti-Moslem discrimination. Ignored are the success stories of those Moslems who got an education, and thus a good job, despite community pressure against it. To give these Moslems any attention would lead people to find out that a lot of them are no longer Moslems, or even living in the poor immigrant communities.

Even Turkey, which has been a secular Moslem country for nearly a century, is now moving backwards because a group of “Islamic” politicians gained power at the turn of the century on an anti-corruption platform. The anti-corruption angle worked until it was discovered a lot of these “clean government” politicians had actually become dirty. So these politicians did what “Islamic” politicians did what dirty Islamic politicians have been doing for centuries and blaming all their woes on the interference of non-Moslem states. Naturally, this led to efforts to roll back the secular nature of Turkish society and gradually persuade or coerce all Turks into being good (obedient and observant) Moslems and to blame the subsequent poverty and corruption on the non-Moslem world not the local leaders. These days that can work in the short term but eventually most people sort out what is really going on and Islam suffers another loss.

Defeats like this have been coming along more frequently and wealthier and more powerful Moslems are trying to figure out how they deal with the corruption without bankrupting themselves and going to jail. This is one trend Moslem leaders go out of their way to suppress in local and international media. But on the web, especially message boards or twitter, where you can speak freely and anonymously, the news is getting out and becoming more visible, and scary for Islamic leaders.