Schools in Québec are now required to note the passage of holidays like Eid al-Adha, Hanukkah, Diwali and the birth of Sikh guru Nanak. These dates are part of a controversial new course on ethics and religious culture making its debut in classrooms this fall. One school, Loyola High School in Montreal, is going to…
Council chiefs in one Midland city are spending more than $3 million of taxpayers’ money on fighting extremism. Birmingham City Council has spent $525,000 in the last financial year under the Government’s controversial and secrecy-shrouded Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund (PVE). And it has secured a further $2.4 million under the scheme to spend over…
The Center of Diversity and Learning from Ghent University recently investigated twelve schoolbooks for stereotyping. Among the assumptions include one textbook that uses all Flemish names, except for one story about an unruly student named _Hassan.’ In another instance, a book about fundamentalism brings up articles about the French headscarf ban as an illustration. According…
The National Association of Human Resources Directors (L’Association nationale des directeurs des ressources humaines) has taken up the question of religious claims in the workplace, particularly for Muslims. For instance, Hamid, an employee of the Paris Airport, recently refused to move carts full of alcohol to airplanes claiming it was against his religious beliefs. Several…
Events over recent years have increased the global interest in Islam. This volume seeks to combat generalisations about the Muslim presence in Europe by illuminating its diversity across Europe and offering a more realistic, highly differentiated picture. It contends with the monist concept of identity that suggests Islam is the shared and main definition of…
