18 February 2016
With a little bit of luck a Dutch-educated imam would also be a good remedy against radicalism, the minister believes. Some of the current Dutch imams are on another frequency than the youth in their mosques. They do not always speak Dutch well, while they mostly know a lot about theology. Bussemaker: “This is while the youth are also looking for someone to give moral guidance. Someone who can indicate limits.”
That mosques are in need of imams that speaks the Dutch language well and that can also be moral leaders, became apparent at a recent meeting at the VU in Amsterdam. There Bussemaker spoke to a multifarious company of 75 imams. During the debate the imams made clear they do not always succeed in being theologian, pedagogue, and moral leader. “That message was clearly received”, Bussemaker said afterwards. As minister of education she cannot solve all problems, but “I do can show that the imams are not alone in this.”
