Muslims in Europe A Shared Citizenship Transcending the Imposition of Cultural Homogeneity

Contesting Cultures: Questioning the Neutrality of the Secular State

Though this Western perception that Islam is a threat to secular values has been an on-going debate since secularism has taken firm roots in the West, it has come to greater prominence now due to the large Muslim population in Europe where it is now considered a European religion reinforced by the narrative of “the fastest-growing religion in the West.”  Furthermore Islam is considered non-European and the non-secular other due to the more visible religiosity of its followers whether in appearance or dress, praying in public, or overall lifestyles.

A key observation regarding immigration dynamics is that, the arrival of families both changed the scale of immigration and the entire character of the immigrant communities. Immigrants now grew concerned about schooling, health care, and proper housing. Families also changed the immigrants’ attitudes towards religious and cultural values. Whereas single workers either isolated themselves or sought to experience the more liberal lifestyle of Europe, the arrival of families led immigrants to transport their honor culture and modesty standards to the West. Further while temporary workers accepted basement mosques as a temporary solution to their communal prayer needs, with increasing numbers and the presence of families, these were no longer adequate.  Thus immigrant communities including those born and bred in Europe face the dilemma of being exposed to socializing agents representing different cultures, often leading them to being torn between conflicting values and norms.  

Added to this, feelings of rejection, alienation, discrimination and more so desperation, especially among the youth whether due to political, socio-economic or cultural and religious factors do inevitably lead to some sort of reaction. Yet at the same time an important dimension to this narrative is the crisis of identity in Europe itself. As French political scientist Olivier Roy observes, the debate on Islam hides a far more complicated issue: what does a European identity mean, what is the role of religion in Europe and what is the status of Islam.  In this context others too observe how the prospect of Turkish accession has stirred up a more fundamental controversy about European identity and the politics of religion within Europe itself.”  

Ian Buruma  in giving a deeper insight into Europe’s highly defensive position vis-a-vis Islam states how “Europeans painfully wrested themselves free from the strictures of their own religions and here were these newcomers injecting society with religion once again…the religious zeal of immigrants was a mirror image of what they themselves once had been.” Therefore, while religion is central to the identity of European Muslims and then nationality, by contrast the general populations in Western Europe are far more secular in outlook and overwhelmingly self-identify with their respective nationalities rather than with their faith.

However it should also be seen that in the discourse of secularization it is not just the separation of religion, but an overall secularization of modern culture that should be addressed. As Peter Berger  states, “put simply, this means that the modern West has produced an increasing number of individuals who look upon the world and their own lives without the benefit of religious interpretations.” Yet significantly, though secularism is seen as the means of release from religious dictation and conformity it too dictates the contours of what a secular society demands.

Thus the so called secular-space is itself a hybrid emerging out of religious tradition. So that as some observe when Muslims demand religious equality with Christianity and Judaism they expose the long existing and durable accommodations between religion and the state in Europe, thereby revealing the limits of European secularism, and also the reality of how strongly Europeans feel Europe is Christian, and should remain so.  In this respect the veil ban can be seen as a reflection of how citizenship, integration, and state neutrality are viewed, being in essence discrimination in the name of neutrality.