The Dutch-Moroccan Aboutaleb, who has been mayor of Rotterdam since 2009, has pleaded for “patience” and ‘calmness’ in the debate about the role of Islam in society. He has been recently interviewed by Dutch newspaper Trouw, in which he discussed his views on the ways Islam has been debated in the Netherlands for the last…
In a new survey on Germans’ religious views and practices conducted by the Allensbach institute, a clear majority of respondents conceptualises of their country as a quintessentially Christian one. Growing emphasis on a Christian heritage 63 per cent assert that Germany is “strongly marked by Christiantiy and Christian values” – a mere five years ago, only…
The Dutch Vice Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher has recently defended Muslims in the Netherlands on the party congress of his Labour Party (Partij van de arbeid). In the same meeting he lashed out against the Dutch Islamic critic and anti-Islamic Freedom Party (Partij voor de Vrijheid) leader Geert Wilders. Asscher stated that the justified anger…
4 December 2010 Filiz Sütcü, a lawyer of Turkish origin, has carried out academic research into the subject of forced and arranged marriages. In an interview with Qantara, she criticises the media’s sensational treatment of the issue and explains that public debate is usually more about cultural and religious defamation.
More and more Danes choose to convert to Islam. Researchers have previously estimated the number of Danish converts to Islam as 2,800. This number is now increasing. The Danish imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen who leads ‘The Danish Centre for Islam’ confirms the tendency. He says he talked to about 70 Danes last year who wanted…
