Are Muslims more religious than Catholics?

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sidbrown

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Recently at the airport, while waiting for a flight, I noticed several Muslim women get out a carpet and bowing down and praying while waiting for their flight. Are Muslims more religious than Catholics?
  1. Muslims pray at least five times every day. There are certain times set aside regularly for these five prayers, pre-dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening and each time has a certain special prayer for that particular time. Do Catholics pray five times a day? Yes, some do, it is true. But the Church does not set aside five times per day and special prayers to be said for these times. And how many Catholics actually say their morning and evening prayers?
  2. Muslims love children and family life which is seen from the fact that in our area, the Muslim families are quite large, five or six children per family. But at the local Catholic Church here, although there are some notable exceptions of course, still most families I know about have two children. And it is a growing problem in Europe which has been noted by the Catholic clergy there, that Muslims are outbreeding Christians. So Muslims take their religion more seriously than do Catholics at least in this aspect of avoiding birth control?
 
Some are more religious, others aren’t. And then there are many Catholics who are more religious than even the most devout Muslim.
 
They are not inherently more religious as religiosity depends on the individual person.
In europe and most of the west people tend to be less religious due to the influence of various ideologies and movements are strong in that region of the world and are hostile to the church and thus corrupt people and lead them astray. If you went to say the phillipines or africa the story would be very different due to the lack of penetration of these dangerous ideologies in these areas of the world and due to the continued immanence of the religion in everyday society instead of the relegation by the authorities and .
society as whole of religion as “personal” that occurs in much of the west

There are also areas of the world were Islam has the same problem such as post soviet central asia. So its not an inherently christian problem.

Also catholics do have a set of daily prayers, its called the liturgy of the hours, but its up to the believer to fulfil the rituals as it is in Islam. Although you could be correct in assuming some catholics tend to ignore the liturgy of the hours due to the focus on the eucharist which for luke-warm catholics means the other aspects are often ignored totally as they are “unneccesary” to their minimal standard of participation.
 
sidbrown said:
Recently at the airport, while waiting for a flight, I noticed several Muslim women get out a carpet and bowing down and praying while waiting for their flight. Are Muslims more religious than Catholics?
  1. Muslims pray at least five times every day. There are certain times set aside regularly for these five prayers, pre-dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening and each time has a certain special prayer for that particular time. Do Catholics pray five times a day? Yes, some do, it is true. But the Church does not set aside five times per day and special prayers to be said for these times. And how many Catholics actually say their morning and evening prayers?
  2. Muslims love children and family life which is seen from the fact that in our area, the Muslim families are quite large, five or six children per family. But at the local Catholic Church here, although there are some notable exceptions of course, still most families I know about have two children. And it is a growing problem in Europe which has been noted by the Catholic clergy there, that Muslims are outbreeding Christians. So Muslims take their religion more seriously than do Catholics at least in this aspect of avoiding birth control?
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  1. I don’t see that performing rituals means that u’re more connected to God. Even I can say all my prayers through the day and connecting or communicating with God the whole day without me beeing seen as a show-off, Jesus have said that we shouldn’t perform our duties to pray to be seen by people, so my daily talking to God is something that occurs as communication for all the things that I do, as a state and setting of mind. And if I need to bow down for Him, I bow myself privately.
  2. Muslims are seemed to be less responsible for the explosion of the population. In Indonesia, the government is really concerned about this because it can cause many problems, especially running out resources. Despite all the necessary promotions and advocacies to limit the number of children, the islamic clerics seem to have condemn this things unofficially, because they believe that it’s the western indoctrination to limit the amount of children since giving birth to many children is exactly the things that can be seen as their tool to take over being the majority.
 
KathleenGee said:
That is not normal behavior.
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Yes. that is my point. For Catholics, praying five times a day at the appointed times is not normal, but for Muslims it is. Doesn’t this show that Muslims take their relgion more seriously?
 
You don’t need a carpet to pray. I think that there are a lot of Catholics who are praying at the airport, but it is not noticed because they are praying silently. Many pray a lot more than 5 times a day.
 
sidbrown said:
Yes. that is my point. For Catholics, praying five times a day at the appointed times is not normal, but for Muslims it is. Doesn’t this show that Muslims take their relgion more seriously?
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It is not a matter of quantity,but quality…😉
 
I believe that the many Muslims who pray the required times in the day are no less devout than the typical Catholic who, like the Muslims, also abide to their holy times of obligation.

Both parties, however, can perform the rituals without adhering properly to the norms that support the tenets of their faith. A Catholic can attend regularly but fail to meet their annual minimal confessional standard. American Islams may pray regularly and then enjoy a beer at a cookout.

*Devout *and *holy *are not always complimentary.
 
Eh… I don’t necessarily think so. I think it’s more likely that American piety is nearly non-existent, religious affiliation notwithstanding.

Comparing your average somewhat religious American to Muslims at the airport (who likely were so easily identified as Muslim due to non-Western dress and ethnicity) isn’t exactly a fair comparison. I guarantee you that the 3rd generation American grandchildren of Muslim immigrants will be as irreligious as their Catholic American counterparts. I have loads of “Muslim” friends who smoke, drink, have pre-marital sex, rarely ever pray, yet insist that they are good Muslims as they participate in holidays and won’t eat pork.

A fairer comparison would be, as mentioned, Americanized Catholics vs. Americanized Muslims, or Lebanese Catholics (Melkites) to Lebanese Muslims, etc. Individual culture very much informs the religiosity of individuals.
 
Well, to be fair, a family that prays together, stays together. 👍

MJ
 
Another thing about Muslims is the decent and modest way that women dress anywhere outside of the house. Compare that with how some (not all) Catholic young women dress in Church: tight pants, short shorts, short skirts, low cut blouses, are seen in many Catholic Churches. Which manner of dress is more pleasing to the Mother of God?
 
Dressing to Church is important. The question is why do they come to Church? What will happen is people might start blaming Catholicism. Yet, the issue here is what you do in private is most integral than what is shown pleasing on the outside.

MJ
 
Back to people of faith in our country who are not Muslim…

Seeking constantly the will of God throughout the day is continual prayer.

Muhammed drew had contact with both Jewish and Catholic believers and drew on prayer forms calling on God at various times of the day. Consider the desert fathers…

We are also called to love our neighbor, that who is ever in need Christ is there also. Many people serve God by helping other people…again a prayer form as well.
 
KathleenGee said:
We are also called to love our neighbor, that who is ever in need Christ is there also. Many people serve God by helping other people…again a prayer form as well.
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That’s right. That is an excellent point you are making here.
 
sidbrown said:
Yes. that is my point. For Catholics, praying five times a day at the appointed times is not normal, but for Muslims it is. Doesn’t this show that Muslims take their relgion more seriously?
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No, because taking Catholicism seriously is not the same thing as taking Islam seriously. A Catholic does not have to pray at 5 specific times (or whatever) a day to say that they are taking their religion seriously.
 
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sidbrown:
Yes. that is my point. For Catholics, praying five times a day at the appointed times is not normal,
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I know the Sisters taught in gradeschool one should say morning and evening prayers, and prayers before meals, (now that’s at least 5 right there) I wonder how many adult Catholic skip on those prayers - it just a question of how seriously you take your Sisters! :nun1:

I guess because the Church doesn’t have fixed number and it’s not etched in stone people think you don’t have to pray at all. But the Church has many ways one can fuilfill daily prayers There are devotional prayers especially the Rosaries, reading the Bible, Liturgy of the Hours (which is important for religious orders) the Scapular, Miraculous Medal, Adoration, Benediction, Novenas, Daily Mass and the Eucharist which is the highest form of prayer. It just a matter of committing oneself and developing good habits.
 
John_Paul_Jones said:
I know the Sisters taught in gradeschool one should say morning and evening prayers, and prayers before meals, (now that’s at least 5 right there) I wonder how many adult Catholic skip on those prayers - it just a question of how seriously you take your Sisters! :nun1:

I guess because the Church doesn’t have fixed number and it’s not etched in stone people think you don’t have to pray at all. But the Church has many ways one can fuilfill daily prayers There are devotional prayers especially the Rosaries, reading the Bible, Liturgy of the Hours (which is important for religious orders) the Scapular, Miraculous Medal, Adoration, Benediction, Novenas, Daily Mass and the Eucharist which is the highest form of prayer. It just a matter of committing oneself and developing good habits.
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The Muslims that I know are quite serious in praying the required 5 times a day.
 
Lucky for them initially it was said they had to do it 50 times a day. 👍

MJ
 
sidbrown said:
The Muslims that I know are quite serious in praying the required 5 times a day.
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It’s already been explained to you that the actual mandates of the religion are different. Islam MANDATES that its devotees pray five times a day. Catholicism doesn’t mandate such, though surely such isn’t forbidden either as we are told to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17). In fact, if you’re so caught up on the number of prayers per day, might I suggest taking up praying the hours?

I pray 7 times a day at least by making sure I pray the hours, and that doesn’t include other private devotions such as the Rosary or praying before and after meals. By praying the hours, I also pray at specific intervals, much like Muslims do. 5AM Matinus & Lauds, 6AM Prime, 9AM Terce, 12PM Sext, 3PM None, 6PM Vespers, and 9PM Compline. Not only are lay people encouraged to take up this practice, all clergy including deacons are required to do so.

Give it a try! 🙂
 
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