How Islam Questions the Universalism of Western Secularism

Abstract

In March 2000, an atheist association claimed the right to broadcast a message on the nonexistence of God, for several minutes each week in reaction to the call to prayer granted to the grand mosque of Oslo by the municipality.1 This is one of many examples of the rejection of Islamic signs perceived as a violation of secular principles in Europe that, unlike in the United States, predates 9/11. Since then, more acute crises have occurred across European countries, including the September 2005 Danish cartoon incident; the November 2009 minaret ban in Switzerland; and the 2010 to 2011 wave of niqab bans in France, Belgium, and Spain.