'It Really Makes Me Think about Becoming a Muslim': Liam Neeson Considers Converting to Islam Following Trip to Istanbul

MAIL ONLINE: He may have been named after the local priest in his Irish hometown but Liam Neeson could be leaving his Roman Catholic beliefs behind.

The 59-year-old actor is said to be considering converting to Islam following a working trip to Istanbul.

According to The Sun, Neeson admitted that Islamic prayer 'got into his spirit' while he was filming in Turkey.

'The call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing,' he said.

'There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim.'

Neeson was raised in Northern Ireland as a devout Roman Catholic due to his parents[‘] beliefs. » | Kirsty McCormack | Wednesday, January 25, 2012

DOPPIO SCHERMO: Liam Neeson verso la conversione all'Islam: L'attore ha confessato che la preghiera islamica "gli è entrata nello spirito", durante le riprese di un nuovo film a Istanbul. » | Scritto da Sonia Arpaia | Mercoledì 25 Gennaio 2012

Liam Neeson Angers Narnia Fans by Suggesting Aslan Is Mohammed
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Liam Neeson has caused controversy by suggesting that Aslan, the Christlike character in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books, could represent the prophet Mohammed or Buddha.

The actor who voices the lion in the film adaptations of the books has angered some fans of the stories, who claim he is distorting Lewis’s intentions to be “politically correct”.

Aslan the lion features in all seven Narnia books, guiding children away from evil and harm and encouraging them to do good.

Lewis was clear that the Aslan was based on Christ, and once wrote of the character: “He is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question: “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia?”.” [sic] >>> Roya Nikkhah | Saturday, December 04, 2010

Actor’s Praise a Boost for Muslims

ADELAIDE NOW: ACTOR Liam Neeson's announcement that he may convert to Islam may help promote acceptance of the faith.

Neeson, 59, recently said he was inspired by the Islamic call to prayer while filming in Istanbul.

"There are 4000 mosques in the city (Istanbul) - some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim," he said.

"The call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful thing." Neeson, a Roman Catholic, said he had always been religious and was always questioning the meaning of life.

Australian New Muslims Association president Said Kanawati said celebrity converts to Islam were welcome. He said having celebrities accept Islam would help challenge the way people saw the religion. » | Tom Bowden | The Advertiser | Monday, January 30, 2012

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ISLAM TODAY: Adelaide Australia Opens its Mosques to All Australians for Family Day Events » | Oslam Today/Agencies | Friday, January 27, 2012

Europeans Increasingly Converting to Islam
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: Irish actor Liam Neeson says he is thinking about becoming a Muslim after undergoing a spiritual awakening in Turkey.

Neeson, who was born into a Roman Catholic family in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, told the London-based newspaper The Sun that he was impressed by the religious atmosphere in Istanbul while filming a movie in the city.

He said: "The [Islamic] call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing. There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."

Neeson is just one of hundreds of thousands of Europeans who are trading their Christian heritage for the supposed exoticism of Islam. The surge in conversions is contributing to the mainstreaming of Islam in Europe and contributing to the Islamization of the continent.

In Britain, the number of Muslim converts recently passed the 100,000 mark, according to a survey conducted by an inter-faith group called Faith Matters. The survey revealed that nearly two thirds of the converts were women, more than 70% were white and the average age at conversion was just 27.

The survey, conducted by Kevin Brice from Swansea University in Wales, asked converts for their views on the negative aspects of British culture. They identified alcohol and drunkenness, a "lack of morality and sexual permissiveness" and "unrestrained consumerism."

More than one in four acknowledged there was a "natural conflict" between being a devout Muslim and living in Britain. Nine out of ten women converts said their change of religion had led to them dressing more conservatively. More than half started wearing a head scarf and 5% had worn the burka.

Separately, government authorities revealed that an increasing number of inmates at British prisons are converting to Islam. For example, one-third of the inmates at one of Britain's most notorious youth jails are Muslims and the religion is attracting a large number of converts. » | Soeren Kern | Friday, January 27, 2012

The Great Hunger - ARTE

Dec 6, 2023 | Narrated by Liam Neeson. 175 years ago Europe was struck by a devastating famine. The food crisis was triggered when a deadly fungus escaped from South America and destroyed the potato crops. 100,000 people died of starvation and disease in France, Belgium, Holland, Scotland and the Kingdom of Prussia.

In Ireland, where half the population relied on the potato as their main source of food, the impact was even more extreme. One million people died and between 1845 and 1855, two million emigrated. Today Ireland is the only country in the western world with a population lower than it had in the 1840s. The famine had broader repercussions. It caused the fall of the British government led by Robert Peel in 1846, was a catalyst for the revolutions that rocked Europe in 1848 and became the root for the global Irish Diaspora that today numbers 70,000,000 across the world.

Sean Stone and Islam: What Is It about Religion and Hollywood?
GUARDIAN – SHORTCUTS BLOG: The director has become a Shiite Muslim. And Julia Roberts announced her conversion to Hinduism in 2010. Are stars more prone to religious conversions than the rest of us?

Religious belief is usually a private affair, but movie actors and directors are public figures, and this week there has been a resurgence of that notable phenomenon, the "Hollywood conversion". Sean Stone, the 27-year-old son of director Oliver Stone, has become a Shiite Muslim during a visit to Iran; he is working on a documentary about the 13th-century Persian Muslim poet and mystic Rumi. Liam Neeson, in Istanbul filming a sequel to his hit thriller Taken,, [sic] was quoted by the Sun as saying: "There are 4,000 mosques…[i]t really makes me think about becoming a Muslim." » | Posted by Peter Bradshaw | Wednesday, February 15, 2012

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