AP religion analyst Brian Murphy reports that tensions are rising between mainstream European society and the growing Muslim community in its midst, especially after the brutal murder of Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker who criticized Islamic practices with regards to women. More Muslim threats against Dutch politicians followed the murder, and Europeans are beginning to ask themselves whether Muslims can ever be assimilated into their communities:

But those big issues fade on the streets of many European centers. Here — even in places like tolerant Amsterdam — it's often expressed as a gnawing feeling that militant factions in Islamic immigrant communities are gaining ground and chipping away at values such as free speech and secular politics.

"There is a general feeling that a social collision is becoming inevitable," said Jan Rath, co-director of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies at the University of Amsterdam. "People think it's been building for years and now finally coming to the surface."

The landmarks along the way included the 1989 death threat "fatwa," or religious edict, against British writer Salman Rushdie for alleged insults to Islam in "The Satanic Verses," the rise of neo-Fascist movements, the assassination of Dutch anti-immigrant politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and France's ongoing showdown with Muslims over a ban on headscarves and other religious apparel in schools.

"My impression is the European voices that say, `Everyone is equal, but we are more equal than Muslims,' are growing," Rath said.

Curiously, we seem to have avoided the same kinds of confrontation with Islam in America that the Europeans have experienced, probably because the immigration levels have not been as heavy here. But I think there may be other reasons as well, having to do both with the relative lack of the nanny state and a tradition of religious freedom. For all of the talk about how Bush's election victory portends the establishment of Jesusland, the truth is that America has always been more welcoming of all religious faiths and has been less bound by religious traditions, and especially sectarian conflict, than Europe.

Europeans have faced off against Muslim invasions in centuries past, and Muslims still carry the memories of Islamic ascendancy on the Continent. That history drives the conflict in the Balkans to this day, and the long memory of Islam guarantees that any co-existence with Christian or secular Europe will necessarily be an uneasy one at best. With extremists and terrorists calling for the reconquest of Andalusia and Muslims agitating for their own European state in Kosovo and elsewhere, both sides have awoken to the fact that Islam is not about free assimilation with other cultures.

What lessons can America learn from this? Bear in mind that Islam never had any foothold in the Western Hemisphere, and so the historical issues that cause so much turmoil in Europe have no counterpart here. However, until mainstream Islam speaks out against such ambitions and tactics with a strong and clear voice -- which they have yet to do -- we should monitor our own immigration policies from Islamic nations and ensure that we do not have our own flood of agitators to band together and cause civil disruption.

The Muslims that emigrate here tend to do so because they work for a living, as we lack the vast social programs of Europe and survival requires hard work. That tends to turn people pragmatic instead of giving them too much time to radicalize and organize. It probably also attracts those Muslims more inclined to working hard instead of rabble-rousing. We need to maintain those policies while keeping a close eye on those we allow to migrate to the US. For Europe, that option closed many years ago, and now they have to decide whether to cut off immigration altogether or to surrender to the inevitable overwhelming influence of Islam in two or three decades.

The only long-term solution that ensures the peace and stability of all these regions, Southwest Asia included, is the reduction of radicalism through the introduction of truly representative democracies in Arabia. Only by reducing the radical fervor at its source will Europe be secure in the long run. Shortsightedness, America-envy, and a twisted sense of political correctness -- along with a healthy dose of plain, old-fashioned cowardice -- keeps the old guard of Europe from seeing this. Until Europe as a whole develops the political will to solve the illness instead of decrying its symptoms, the murder of Theo Van Gogh will just be the first in a long string of asymmetrical attacks on Europe's will to resist the ummah and the dhimmitude radical Islamists have planned for them.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Europe Reconsiders Muslims In Wake Of Filmmaker's Murder:

» Gimme That Old Time Religion! from LeatherPenguin
Europe Reconsiders Muslims In Wake Of Filmmaker's MurderFor all of the talk about how Bush's election victory portends the establishment of Jesusland, the truth is that America has always been... [Read More]

Tracked on November 7, 2004 1:07 PM

» WITH THE BRUTAL MURDER OF THEO VAN GOGH, from The Rand Holman Show ONLINE
I'm glad that Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters blog has updated us on the story I first saw in Power Line blog, and wrote about here and here below. However, I couldn't disagree more with the good Captain on his assessment of whether the same tragic ... [Read More]

Tracked on November 7, 2004 2:56 PM

» Show Trial #22 from The Politburo Diktat
“The 'blog' of the Rights and Trotskyites, the leading members of which are now in the prisoners’ dock, is not a political party... but a band of felonious criminals, and not simply felonious criminals, but criminals who have sold themselves to enemy i... [Read More]

Tracked on November 7, 2004 3:21 PM

» Islamist Threat from TheGantelope
The Times Online has a follow-up article on the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Apparently, two Dutch politicians who have been critical of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (who we already know was explicitly threatened in the note that... [Read More]

Tracked on November 7, 2004 3:48 PM

» Europe Having Second Thoughts About Muslims from The Caretaker
I wish I could share the Captain's sanguinity about Muslims in America, but I'm afraid I can't. I think about the Sixty Minutes interview with Muslim schoolchildren, many of whom boasted that they would willingly strap on suicide vests to blow up Nav... [Read More]

Tracked on November 7, 2004 9:56 PM

» Europeans Having Trouble With Muslim Immigrants from Diggers Realm
Wow, sounds like the Europeans are really having some issues with Muslims over there. Claims of Muslims just sucking up welfare and not contributing to the productivity of the countries. Talk that seems to be spurred on by the recent... [Read More]

Tracked on November 8, 2004 4:08 AM

» Daily Dish from The Cool Blue Blog
The battle for Fallujah begins from a surpising direction: The West. Captain Ed analyzes how McCain-Feingold performed during the previous election cycle: Or didn't Iraq’s interim defense minister Hazem Sha’alan puts Kofi Annan in his place: “Whe... [Read More]

Tracked on November 8, 2004 6:32 AM

» More in the Second Thoughts on Muslims Department from The Caretaker
All these sites attest to the growing numbers of Muslims everywhere. What they do not attest to is the central place of violence in the promulgation of the Muslim faith. The dirty little secret of Islam is that the Koran specifically prescribes viole... [Read More]

Tracked on November 8, 2004 7:25 AM

» Jews for Jesusland from Aaron's Rantblog, aka Aaron the Liberal Slayer
I'll take Jesusland over Chomskyland, Burkastan or the Dhimmicratic People's Republic of France any day. As long as Jesusland remains planted firmly in the heretofore pogrom-free soil of the United States. The future is Muslim, European or... [Read More]

Tracked on November 9, 2004 12:08 AM