3 ms·

Being at the same spot doesn't make you "associated" with everyone else that's in that same spot. I'm no religious person, but I would imagine praying in a mos

Being at the same spot doesn't make you "associated" with everyone else that's in that same spot. I'm no religious person, but I would imagine praying in a mosque is very different to personally knowing everyone else that's praying in the same mosque. Even if you do meet everyone it's not like they're gonna introduce themselves with "hi, I'm $stereotypicalMuslimName, and I plan on doing a terrorist attack next month". The connection needs to be far more substantial than that to warrant surveillance.

BurningFrog 3y ago
Not religious either, but my understanding is that churches/mosques/etc are often the hub of social life for religious people, and the regulars definitely know each other.
- n4r9 3y ago
  A mosque can have hundreds of worshippers who turn up every Friday like clockwork. Each might know the 20-30 other people from a similar geographic background and barely talk to the rest, let alone have any idea that they're up to something nefarious.
- jacobgkau 3y ago
  As someone who attended a couple of churches for many years, it's not necessarily "the hub of social life." Plenty of people show up, sit through the sermon/mass/whatever, and then leave afterwards. If you're really social, you might stick around for a coffee afterwards, but you're probably sitting at a table with the same few people every week. It's similar to a school. You might have a social group of a dozen peers you're familiar with, and you might or might not ever do anything outside of school with those people. There are also hundreds of other students in different sets or levels of classes who you might not ever learn the name of. Of course, it will vary between large churches and small churches, and probably between areas with lots of churches and areas with only a few. But I wanted to explain that since it sounds like you had at least an exaggerated idea of how religious people socialize via their places of worship.

BurningFrog 3y ago

Not religious either, but my understanding is that churches/mosques/etc are often the hub of social life for religious people, and the regulars definitely know each other.

n4r9 3y ago
A mosque can have hundreds of worshippers who turn up every Friday like clockwork. Each might know the 20-30 other people from a similar geographic background and barely talk to the rest, let alone have any idea that they're up to something nefarious.
jacobgkau 3y ago
As someone who attended a couple of churches for many years, it's not necessarily "the hub of social life." Plenty of people show up, sit through the sermon/mass/whatever, and then leave afterwards. If you're really social, you might stick around for a coffee afterwards, but you're probably sitting at a table with the same few people every week. It's similar to a school. You might have a social group of a dozen peers you're familiar with, and you might or might not ever do anything outside of school with those people. There are also hundreds of other students in different sets or levels of classes who you might not ever learn the name of. Of course, it will vary between large churches and small churches, and probably between areas with lots of churches and areas with only a few. But I wanted to explain that since it sounds like you had at least an exaggerated idea of how religious people socialize via their places of worship.