Europe’s migrant crisis continues to make headlines. The situation is becoming even more desperate for many people, who are facing increasing obstacles in their quest to reach their final destination.
Europeans, on the other hand, are caught between being compelled to help - on what is truly a humanitarian catastrophe - and dealing with the uncertain consequences of bringing in such a large number of people.
Part of that anxiety relates to the fact that the majority of those migrants adhere to Islam, where its relationship with Europe has been uneasy for many centuries. However, framing the debate in religious terms is too simplistic and overlooks some important facts.
Muslims in Europe
Muslims have been in Europe for centuries, although largely concentrated in the Balkans. However, since the 1960s new communities have been settling across Western Europe, particularly France, Germany and Scandinavia, and now represent important minorities in such countries.
To be clear, this is not a homogeneous group. In fact it is as diverse as the origins of its populations, including Turkish, Pakistani, Middle Eastern and North African. Moreover, while it’s the extremist Muslims who tend to make headlines, the community features a broad range of religious adherence, from the fundamentalist all the way to the secular and perfectly integrated in society.
So what’s all the fuss about Muslims?
The Pew Research Center has done some really interesting work about religious diversity and attitudes across Europe. Here are their estimates for Muslims as a percentage of total EU countries' population (as of 2010):