ABSTRACT
Does the integration of Islam in Europe presuppose a prior ‘religious reformation’
that would make Islam compatible with so-called ‘European values’? And what are
these European values? Are they Christian values or secular values? While all
European constitutions and treaties stress the commitment towards ‘human
rights’, ‘religious freedom’ and ‘democracy’, the status of ‘secularism’ is more
complex. If we define secularism as the separation of state and religion, this is
not the case in many European countries which grant a specific status to one or
more recognised religions (for example, England, Italy and Germany). If secularism
is taken to mean that the religious reference is more and more irrelevant in society,
daily life and culture, accompanied by a decrease in individual religious practices,
which is the case in all European countries, then Europe is certainly secular. But in
this case, secular values conflict with Christian ones: issues like abortion,
contraception and gay marriages are largely opposing ‘believers’ on one hand, and
‘non-believers’ on the other. How can we refer to the Christian roots of secular
Europe if Europe’s values contradict the teachings of the Church?
