21 June 2011 An MP from left-wing liberal party D66 has proposed that religious schools no longer maintain special status in the education system, and that subsidies for such schools should be limited to primary education. In an interview with De Pers, Boris van der Ham says the current law allows religious schools to ‘cover…
March 15 2011 Parliamentarian Jeanine Hennis, member of the right wing liberal VVD, currently the country’s largest party in government, wants to ban public servants working in town halls from wearing hijab. During an interview with De Pers Hennis motioned for “an open discussion on the separation between church and state” on the matter, adding…
Dutch news site AD has removed an image of the Vilks cartoon after using it to illustrate a story on the plot to murder the Swedish cartoonist. Acting editor Bart Verkade notes that the site received many offended responses, including an email campaign organized by the As-Soenna mosque in The Hague. In covering the story…
Leftwing Green (GroenLinks) leader Femke Halsema expressed criticism of Islam in an interview with newspaper De Pers, stating that the religion is “of course a problem”. The statement was a response to the newspaper’s suggestion that the ‘progressive’ GroenLinks does not campaign against orthodox Islam. Halsema reacted dismissively to the claim, citing her provocative 2006…
