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COPYRIGHT 2006 Canada & the World
In 2004, the British House of Lords agreed to set aside a Muslim prayer room on its premises to accommodate the four Muslim Lords. One of them said that the British establishment is "more welcoming to Islam than any other country in Europe." Similar prayer facilities were expected at many British police stations. The Foreign Office also helps provide medical and consular services for the 20,000 Britons who make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. And, the country's first Islamic bank has been approved.
Still, the 2001 census revealed that there were large gaps between Muslims and other Britons on the social, educational, and economic scales. Muslims experience much higher long-term unemployment rates, lower education, and Asians are subjected to about twice as many street searches as the national average. The general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain was quoted (in The Economist in January 2005) as describing Muslims as "an underclass that has never had its fair share of the cake."
The Netherlands, which prides itself on tolerance, started to shift its thinking after the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. He was murdered by a Muslim who didn't like the way Mr. van Gogh had portrayed Islam in a movie. Some angry Dutch citizens retaliated by burning Muslim schools and places of worship. Some want to counter Islamist extremism by putting more emphasis on the role of law and less on accommodating differences. They believe that immigrant communities that don't adapt to the values of Western democracies are ticking time-bombs. Even those who describe themselves as leftists, liberals, or social democrats, are critical of Muslims who hold conservative values and are themselves...
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