Muslims being allowed to stay in France

I would like an opponent to argue this topic. First round is opening arguments, my opponent cannot refute my argument.

Islamic immigration into France has affected the people, culture, and religion and caused negative things for original population.

This is an interesting debate topic that my opponent proposed and a very strong resolution at that. He didn't say muslims should be paid more attention to or that they should kept a close eye on, he is saying that the entire muslim population of France should leave the country. There are many problems with this idea my opponent has and I hope I can point out the many flaws in it.

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Contention #1 Muslims make up a huge portion of the population in France and as such would cause economic repercussions if they were deported

Population and statistics of muslims in France

This is one major reason not to deport or remove the entire Muslim population of France. There are two main methods that the government employs in order to gather this information since there is a law in France that doesn't allow a census on religious beliefs. There are calculated predictions based on people who outwardly declare they are muslim and on geographical origins [1]. From these findings Muslims are 5-6 million of central France [1]. Muslims make up 5-10% of the religion in France [2].

Economic consequences

As you may already know when a large portion of a population declines this has economic repercussions. As Robert P . Hagemann and Giuseppe Nicoletti write in their report on the correlation of the economy and population:

“One of the most obvious channels through which population ageing will affect industrialized economies is via significant alterations to the size and structure of the working age population. In fact, the effect of population ageing on economic growth and, ultimately, on welfare, operates to a great extent through its consequences for the labour market.” [3]

Contention #2 Deporting an entire religion of people would be damaging to France's values

The west (France) has some values that are inclusive and liberal and deporting all Muslims from France would be damaging to this. Pluralism is one of the values that the west often praises itself for. Freedom of religion, race and sexuality are values that are important to the west. What France stands for would become damaged as a result of this deportation and would make France and the west seem hypocritical. France has already banned the burqa which has absolutely no solid basis and simply violates human rights and furthers France's goal of secularization. To ban Muslims from France would put into question, Does France stand for human liberties and freedoms? Joanna Aniel Bidar writes in her article on the burqa ban (imagine if it was on deportation):

“If the debate is on security and reasserting secularist values, then these should not trample on the liberties of dress codes.” [4]

Contention # 3 There are no solid reasons to deport specifically muslims from France

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Sources

http://plus.lefigaro.fr... [1]

https://www.cia.gov... [2]

http://www.oecd.org... [3]

http://english.pravda.ru... [4]

I thank my opponent for his response.

CULTURAL DAMAGE

.I As more and more mosques and other Muslim centers of culture are built in French cities, historical sites and cultures mix together taking away from centuries of rich French culture.

.II As the Muslim population rises and takes up more and more space, the French government must accommodate this. For a group of recently immigrated foreigners who don't typically get college educations and force hardworking native Frenchmen and women to compete for their jobs and local business that them and their ancestors have held for decades.

TERROISM

I. Not only do Muslims stick together in tight communities they harass and sometimes attack native French populations. In response xenophobic acts are committed causing unnessarcy violence when they didn't belong in a western European country in the first place. I never hear of Catholic French men in Libya.

My opponent has not responded to my opening arguments so I extend them.

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Rebuttals

#1 Cultural Damage

My opponent's first argument doesn't have much bearing on the case at hand. The reason is we are talking about Muslims who follow religion. Religion and culture are simply two different things. While it is completely true that Islam impacts culture, there is no such thing as one Islamic culture. Each Muslim country varies with regard to its culture. My opponent says that Muslim centers and mosques are being built in the place of historical sites which is hard to believe. I doubt that they would bring down places such as The Louvre, Eiffel tower, and Georges Pompidou centre for a mosque, my opponent needs to show some evidence for his claims.

My opponent then says that Muslims are stealing native Frenchmen's jobs. My opponent presumes that native Frenchmen are more special or of a higher status then muslims which is completely false. Everybody is equal in France and whoever has better credentials and works harder gets the jobs plain and simple. These are some basic laws in the constitution of France so that argument is useless.

#2 Terrorism

My opponent would be suprised to hear that terrorism in the U.K is not predominantly performed by Muslims. Terroristic acts in the U.K are performed mostly by a radical terrorist organization called IRA, Irish Republican Army which is a catholic terrorist group.A huge double standard employed by the media is to never call the many terrorist acts they perform, Catholic terrorist or even terrorist acts. However, when one Muslim group performs a terrorist act it is propagated and blown to huge proportions. If you ask a Tony Blair (Man who hates Islam and Muslims) who is a bigger threat Muslim terrorists or other terrorists, he will tell you Muslims which is absurd if one looks at the numerous terrorist attacks they did. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Sources

http://www.guardian.co.uk... [1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk... [2]

http://news.bbc.co.uk... [3]

De Baróid, Ciarán (2000). Ballymurphy And The Irish War. Pluto Press. p. 325.ISBN 0-7453-1509-7 [4]

http://news.bbc.co.uk... [5]

http://www.flickr.com... [6]

http://news.bbc.co.uk... [7]