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Olivier Roy (2013): “Secularism and Islam: The Theological Predicament”, The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs, 48:1, 5-19
Abstract
Does the integration of Islam in Europe presuppose a prior ‘religious reformation’ that would make Islam compatible with so-called ‘European values’? The wave of religious revival that has touched the new generations of Muslims in Europe is not a return to traditional religious practices but, on the contrary, a recasting of religious norms and values in a European context. Fundamentalism means deculturation. What we are witnessing is a complex, and often tense, process of formatting Islam into a Western model of relationship between state, religion and society. But this process is taking place precisely at a time when Europe is not sure about its own identity: what does a ‘European Christian identity’ mean when churches are increasingly empty? Faith and culture have never been so disconnected.
