[OT] command of English by non-native speakers

[Gilles Gravier]

Hi, Amedee!

Amedee Van Gasse (ub) wrote:
> On Wed, December 9, 2009 19:08, Wendy Galovich wrote:
>   
>> On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 11:02:12 -0600
>> "Cybe R. Wizard" wrote:
>>     
>>> Then what will our Creationists have to say?
>>>
>>> (and is it just another of my own limited perceptions or do most of
>>> the Creationists live here in the US?)
>>>
>>> Cybe R. Wizard
>>>       
>> Now that's piqued my curiosity as well.  Here in the US there have been
>> a number of lawsuits over teaching of evolution in public schools and
>> whether creationism or 'intelligent design' as it has been retooled,
>> can or should be taught alongside it.  I don't doubt there are a wide
>> range of beliefs in most cultures, but are there actually court battles
>> over it, outside the US?
>>     
>
> The USA is a special case: you people go to court for the everything. For
> us outsiders it looks like money-grabbing lawyers have perverted your
> otherwise rather good (in theory) legal system.
>
> I don't know about court battles in Belgium.
>
> The debate is a bit more alive with our friends up north in the
> Netherlands, after one member of cabinet (from a christian-conservative
> party) publicly asked if creationism should be taught in school along with
> evolutionism. But then again the Dutch have always been considered the
> Americans of Europe. I suppose that you as an American know where the word
> Yankee comes from.
> The Netherlands also have a very strong Bible Belt, just like in the USA.
> The south of the Netherlands is catholic, just like neighbouring Flanders
> (Belgium), and the middle & north are protestant. Some towns are really
> hardline protestant and can almost be compared to your Amish.
>
> There is another dimension about the creationism debate, that you probably
> don't have in the USA. You may or may not know this, but Europe had a
> large immigration of workers from the south of Europe and from Islamic
> countries (mostly Morocco and Turkey; France has a large Algerian
> community because of their colonial past) until the late 70', and they
> brought their families over. In Belgium about 1.13% of the population is
> of Moroccan or Turkish origin, and that's not counting third or fourth
> generation who automatically have Belgian nationality. How many muslims
> live in your city? 1 in 100? Probably a lot less, except perhaps in some
> cities on the east coast.
> The majority of European muslims is quite moderate, but a very small
> minority is very outspoken. It's mostly the same people that can be heard
> in the scarf controversy in France and Belgium. It is ironic that the
> debate lives in France, the country of "la laicité", but acually it is
> French rationalism applied to Islam. Behind the scarfs these people are
> usually very modern and nothing like the wahabist fundamentalist.
>
> Most European countries have a scizofrenic attitude towards islamic
> creationism. On the one hand, they are against it, but on the other hand,
> if you say that, you are considered a racist. The public debate is still
> going on. Don't think that there will be a conclusion soon, this is a part
> of the transition to a modern, European version of Islam.
>   
USA has this about trigger happy lawyers because the law in the USA
allows a lawyer to tell you : "Let's go to court. If we lose, you don't
owe me anything. If we win, you give me X percent of what money we get."

With this kind of legislation (illegal in many European countries, for
example), of course, lawyers will try to have you go to court as often
as they can. The whole system is flawed.

Gilles.
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