NYT: Across Europe, Worries on Islam Spread from Right to Center

Across Europe, Worries on Islam Spread to Center
By DAN BILEFSKY and IAN FISHER
Published: October 11, 2006

BRUSSELS, Oct. 10 — Europe appears to be crossing an invisible line regarding its Muslim minorities: more people in the political mainstream are arguing that Islam cannot be reconciled with European values.

“You saw what happened with the pope,” said Patrick Gonman, 43, the owner of Raga, a funky wine bar in downtown Antwerp, 25 miles from here. “He said Islam is an aggressive religion. And the next day they kill a nun somewhere and make his point....

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His worry is shared by centrists across Europe angry at terror attacks in the name of religion on a continent that has largely abandoned it, and disturbed that any criticism of Islam or Muslim immigration provokes threats of violence.

For years those who raised their voices were mostly on the far right. Now those normally seen as moderates — ordinary people as well as politicians — are asking whether once unquestioned values of tolerance and multiculturalism should have limits....(M)any Europeans — even those who generally support immigration — have begun talking more bluntly about cultural differences, specifically about Muslims’ deep religious beliefs and social values, which are far more conservative than those of most Europeans on issues like women’s rights and homosexuality.

“A lot of people, progressive ones — we are not talking about nationalists or the extreme right — are saying, ‘Now we have this religion, it plays a role and it challenges our assumptions about what we learned in the 60’s and 70’s,’ ” said Joost Lagendik, a Dutch member of the European Parliament for the Green Left Party....“So there is this fear,” he said, “that we are being transported back in a time machine where we have to explain to our immigrants that there is equality between men and women, and gays should be treated properly. Now there is the idea we have to do it again.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/europe/11muslims.html?hp&ex=1160625600&en=83692e20c96f14b4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

became ghettoized, which naturally breeds hostility to the majority culture. In fact, most of the Muslims were brought in to work as cheap labor in low-status jobs (Turks in Germany, Algerians and Morroccans in France, etc.), unlike the U.S., where many Muslims came over as professional people or have been in this country for so many generations that they're pretty well assimilated to mainstream life.