Religious identities and civic integration: Second-generation Muslims in European cities

Comparing the challenges of immigrant integration on both sides of the Atlantic, Alba and Foner (2015) conclude that Western Europeans are less likely than North Americans to include newcomers into the nation derived from a cultural background with a historical claim on the national territory. More specifically, European national identities are historically grounded in a Christian religious tradition, which is now being mobilized in opposition to the increasing presence of Islamic faith traditions (Kunovich 2006). In public debates over immigrant integration across Europe, the accommodation of religious diversity is a salient and often divisive issue (Césari 2004). Public acceptance of Islam and Muslims in Europe has long been hampered by secularist attitudes, which represent religion in general as backward and oppressive (Voas and Fleischmann 2012). Specifically, Islam is commonly seen as incompatible with European values such as religious tolerance, liberal democracy and gender equality (Minkenberg 2008). The contested position of Islam in Europe is further undermined by its securitization in the wake of recent terrorist attacks implicating European-born Muslims. On both sides of the Atlantic prejudice and discrimination against Muslim Americans have been on the rise since 9/11 (Bakalian and Bozorgmehr 2009) as national security threats are conflated with issues of immigration and integration (Foner and Simon 2015). Against this backdrop of increased public hostility against Islam and Muslims in today's Europe, this chapter examines the religious identities and civic integration of native-born Muslims in European cities.