Clearly there are Muslim immigrants in Europe who do not feel at home. Ten or fifteen years ago they may have, but times are changing. Their host societies are no longer 100% pleased to have them. Many ethnic Europeans have started making demands on Muslims to learn the local language and accept the laws of the land, even to take a job before they receive state support. This is clearly uncomfortable for them, to such an extent that the EU and many host countries have taken steps to clear away such obstacles to understanding and make Muslims feel more at home. One example is that many schools have stopped teaching children to swim because the Muslim children are not allowed by their parents to participate. Another is the removal of Christmas from calendars and the neutralization of language pertaining to Christmas so that no-one should feel left out by having to see the name of the Christian idol so often.
Some of us wonder why this is such a strain for Muslims since Jesus Christ is one of their major prophets according to the Koran. It would seem only right for a religion that celebrates so many other prophets and illustrious leaders to add a holiday to mark the birth of Jesus. I have not seen anybody try to explain that, but I must be ill informed.
Then again I have been told I must be careful not to believe everything a Muslim tells me, since his utterances are not necessarily the truth – taqiyya excepts a Muslim from the ethical ground rule of telling the truth when he talks to a non-believer. This of course is not good news for a multicultural society, so we had better not talk more about it.
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