Political Science

The issue of the role of religion in current European affairs comes to a head every time there is an incident such as the recent headscarf debate. That incident was more about political rather than just a religious problem but it leads to the uncertainty about the place religion has in a post-modern, secular Europe.

Religion has a far greater impact on present-day European identity than is either acknowledged or given credit for. The evidence to prove this statement is not difficult to come by. The European Union has so far failed to provide a basis for a common identity among the member states. Schlesinger and Foret write the putative Eurodemocracy is still hunting for its principles and conditions of existence. Given this lack of unity, it is inevitable that a shared religious identity should become the basis for communal identity.

It is the expression of religion rather than just a system of values which has created this importance of religion in the European mind. Challand argues in a 2009 article that religion was not a significant concern in Europe before 1980. He gives evidence for this by saying that the number of articles published in journals and newspapers combining the words religion with Europe increased steadily over the decade from 1980 to 1990. There are two conclusions to be drawn here the first is that the place of religion in Europe had become a debatable topic long before the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 the second is that religion became a mounting concern in the European mind as the rates of non-Christian immigrants to the European Union increased. The mention of migrants immediately brings to mind the presence of a Muslim population within Europe and the place Islam can be expected to have within a secular Europe.

It cannot be denied that the European Union has painlessly absorbed Catholic, Protestant, Christian Orthodox and any number of other faiths, so why should the concept of Islam within the European Union cause such dread  To answer this question one needs to question the secularity of Europe itself.
Casanova  writes  western European societies are deeply secular societies and havedifficulty in recognizing some legitimate role for religion in public life and in  collective group identities. He adds Muslim-organized collective identities and their public representations become a source of anxiety concerning the role of religion in the public sphere. This opinion implies that it is the presence of a collective Muslim mindset as well as the actions of the people having that mindset which raises the issue of religion in secular European thoughts. This statement may be accurate in saying that the public display of religious sentiment makes Europeans uneasy, but is false in suggesting that secular Europe has completely cut off its ties to its religious heritage.  Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes about pockets of Muslims living across Europe who choose to confine themselves to their own rituals rather than blending within the community of their adopted country.  in the town of Evry, south of Parissupermarkets stopped selling pork and alcoholic beverages and ritual seep slaughter has become an official activity because Muslims constitute two thirds of the total population. The anxiety caused by the creation within the European Union of such Islamic states, along with the pictures of Muslim youths becoming trained terrorists has led to a reversal to Judeo-Christian values in a number of European states. Nowhere is this clearer than in the more than 50 year old problem of Turkeys admission to the European Union. Challand writes  simplistic argumentsabout an alleged Islamic threat take the upper hand and the fact tat Turkey fulfils most of the criteria to enter the EU are ignored. The idea of allowing a Muslim country, even one as sincerely secular as Turkey to enter the fold of the EU clearly goes against some buried Judeo-Christian feelings. The basis of this thinking is the same one that leads migrants to clump together with others of the religion, even though they may not belong to the same nation. Schlesinger and Foret write religion can play a role in cultural defense by providing resources with which to protect national, ethnic, local or group cultures.

It is not correct to say that a sharing of Judeo-Christian values can create an automatic connection with a European identity, nor is it correct to claim that not having a Christian past bars a state from becoming a member of the European Union. The point is to acknowledge that a lack of religious feeling is extremely unlikely, even in so-called secular groups like the EU.

Romano Prodi suggested that  the traditional logic of liberalism isno longer enough to meet concerns and fears regarding ones own identity in the era of globalization. Europe has to come out from behind the veil of secularism and confront its own religious identity as well as the role of religion within its union.