How About "Islamic Suberbia" [See your 1995 "Muslim France"]

Submitted by Ludvikus (United States), Jan 27, 2015 at 11:57

Dear Daniel Pipes,

About 20 years ago (less by a few months) you had written a brief piece under the title, "Muslim France." In it you discussed what the French call, the "suburbs of Islam."

It seems as if you have overlooked the observations you made there. Now, 20 years later, that population described there as aged and its child born that year have become twenty year olds.

In your discussion there you observed a difference from the United States in which the American middle class had fled the cities and settled in the suburbs. The French, however, not wishing to travel, left the suburbs for their economic subordinate class, the Muslims of Algeria, and Morocco, etc.

See here ("Muslim France"):

http://www.danielpipes.org/272/muslim-france

So I think that "Islamic Suburbia" would be a nice euphemism for these semi-autonomous communities of France, don't you?

The real question, of course, is the fate of this self-government in the Republic of France. Here the French vascilated on religion until 1905 when the passed legislation that separated the Church and the State. The question in that respect is to what extent is the state to tolerate religions when one belief system affects the practices of that of a different religion. For example, must an unbeliever be forced to hear five times a day Muslim the call to prayer in the name of religious freedom? Perhaps(hypothetical) the bells of Notre Dame should be rung 5 times a day to compete with that call?

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