ABSTRACT
Should Muslim teachers be allowed to refuse to shake hands with children’s parents of the opposite sex? Should all images of pigs be banned from pictures in public offices because these might offend Muslims’ feelings? Should new mosques and minarets be allowed to be being built and Islamic schools established? Should Islamic holidays be introduced as national public holidays in addition to Christian ones? Should civil servants be permitted to wear a headscarf? In European countries, it is around these concrete questions that cultural and religious diversity is put to the test and ways of life collide. Islam has moved to the center of public and political debates in Europe and is at the heart of what is perceived as a ‘crisis of multiculturalism’ (Modood and Ahmad 2007). Therefore, it is important to focus on how people respond to these kinds of practices that mark and symbolize Muslim identities within the deeply embedded Christianity and secularism of most European countries.
