France is home to five million Muslims, the largest population in Europe, which may explain why it has an identity crisis. Like many Europeans nations, it is suffering the consequences of a decades-long open-borders policy that has allowed Muslims to establish enclaves across the country, particularly in Paris, where rioting Muslims sent the city up in flames in November, 2008.
UPDATE 1/5/11: British conversions to Islam nearly doubled in decade, study says
UPDATE 12/16/10: Wikileaks shines light on Muslim radicals in the U.K.
UPDATE 10/9/10: Sharia law being used in Germany in Muslims' domestic disputes
UPDATE 10/7/10: Muslims are taking over parts of the world into which they move simply by outnumbering the previous residents
UPDATE 10/7/10: Italy to become next European country to ban burka
-- From "France In Trouble Over Immigrants" posted at The New American 9/15/10
Trying to control the increasing Islamization of its society, the French Senate passed a bill that forbids women from wearing the burqa and other face-hiding veils in public. The vote was nearly unamious, 246-1. The Senate's action follows that of the country's National Assembly, which acted in June and also passed the bill by a large margin. The bill awaits the singnature of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
But whatever the reason women may no longer cover their faces in public, the country's radical Left, as expected, chalks the action up to Islamophobia.
. . . In 2009, the Swiss banned the Muslim minaret, described by Turkish President Recep Erdogan as the "Muslim Bayonet." That law sent European leftists into a tizzy.
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From "Analysis: Burqa bans: France, then Netherlands - who's next?" by Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor, Reuters 10/1/10
First the French banned Muslim face veils, now the Dutch have decided to follow suit. With debates about outlawing burqas and niqabs spreading across Europe, a third ban -- perhaps even more -- may not be far behind.
Calls for a "burqa ban" are now heard across Europe, with local politics influencing how close it gets to becoming law.
Three days after Paris passed its ban last month, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's populist Northern League allies introduced a similar bill in Rome. Another Berlusconi ally submitted a draft ban law in the Senate last week.
[In Spain,] Barcelona outlawed burqas and niqabs in public buildings in June, after two smaller Catalan towns, Lerida and El Vendrell, banned them early this year.
A recent poll showed 61 percent of Germans favored a burqa ban but the debate there has focused more on a dispute caused by Thilo Sarrazin, who had to resign from the board of the central bank after publishing a book denigrating Muslim immigrants.
In Austria, the opposition Freedom Party has been gaining ground in state polls with its anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant line. Socialist Chancellor Werner Faymann says he "could imagine" a ban and his conservative coalition partners want to debate it.
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From "French Senate passes ban on full Muslim veils" by Elaine Ganley, Associated Press Writer 9/14/10
Many Muslims believe the [veil-ban] legislation is one more blow to France's No. 2 religion, and risks raising the level of Islamophobia in a country where mosques, like synagogues, are sporadic targets of hate. However, the law's many proponents say it will preserve the nation's values, including its secular foundations and a notion of fraternity that is contrary to those who hide their faces.
The bill is aimed at ensuring gender equality, women's dignity and security, as well as upholding France's secular values — and its way of life.
Muslim leaders concur that Islam does not require a woman to hide her face. However, they have voiced concerns that a law forbidding them to do so would stigmatize the French Muslim population, which at an estimated 5 million is the largest in western Europe. Numerous Muslim women who wear the face-covering veil have said they are being increasingly harassed in the streets.
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UPDATE 10/4/10: From "Muslims should conform to German values: Merkel" by Indo-Asian News Service
German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded on Monday that Muslims living in Germany conform to "fundamental German values", saying there was no leeway on the issue.
"There is no leeway on this," she said, adding that Germans' perceptions of Islam were dominated by Sharia (Islamic law), the lack of equality between men and women and honour killings.
Germany had freedom of religion, and Islam was welcome, "but it must be a form of Islam that feels devoted to our fundamental values", Merkel said. If it were not, fears would develop among Germans, "and that is hardly something we want to happen".
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Read also, Cardinal Says Secularization of Europe has Doomed it to Islamization
