Far from being confined to terrorism, the unease now extends to whole other sectors of society. For instance, the "Muhammad cartoons", published by a Danish daily to caricature the prophet's image, now have to be concealed in order to avert reprisals. Last, there are all these "mini-crises" emerging across Europe, in connection with the wearing of the headscarf, the establishment of swimming pools for women, or some minority Muslims' refusal to have Christmas trees in school because they feel "discriminated" against by these Christian references.
These skirmishes reveal a potential divorce between Muslims and native Europeans. One-quarter of the British people believe that Islam threatens their lifestyle, according to a recent poll. At the same time, 11 per cent of British Muslims say that the 7 July 2005 terrorists were martyrs... And over 80 per cent of them say they feel more Muslim than British...
The neo-Conservatives, and President Bush, were among the first to brandish the rash banner of the "clash of civilizations" and to speak about the Iraqi campaign in terms of a "crusade". But President Chirac himself has recently returned repeatedly to the pressing need to avert such a "clash", giving to understand that he does not deny its reality. Pope Benedict XVI has also decided to broach the essence of the issue by raising last week the question of Islam's relationship with violence and reason. This is a first.
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