And I do not think that Islam and Europe are compatible. Islam may have been the most tolerant religion in the Balkans for centuries as far as its attitude toward other religions goes and it may have been present in Bosnia for a length of time without any problems, but I say out with Islam. Out with all religions. Out with the religion whose backward attitude to family planning is indirectly responsible for so many more deaths than the Madrid bombing lead to. Let’s go back to the good old days of mysticism and our own deities! Back to pre-forceful-Christianisation times!

Imagine no religion…

Why were these kids acting the way they were? The answer of course is inclusion/exclusion. As being a Slovenian became a tangible value (so to speak), as most of ethnic Slovenians let the 19-century-style national pride flourish (as in: hey, we’re Slovenians, we’re waaaaay better than those Croatian morons over there), in that particular moment people of different ethnic groups entered a huge identity crisis.

Namely: they weren’t considered Slovenian. Heck, even the social sciencies fell for it and coined the term Nonslovenian (with a captial N) and it took them years to realize that it was basically racist. Being of non-Slovenian origin, they started identifying with the country of their parents’ origin (usually one of the former Yugoslav republics). But they wouldn’t be accepted there either, as they were consiedered “Slovenian” back there.

And so they became excluded on both ends and started making trouble. And the problem was only intensified as 200.000 refugees from Bosnia came to Slovenia (10% of total Slovenian population).

This is just to ilustrate the mechanisms at work in this patricular case.

I think the answer to your dilemma is - inclusion. Slovenian Muslims are a part of our society. As Catholics, they too have those who only attend prayer on big religious holidays, those who are basically secular, as well as more devout ones. But regardless of their religious tempo, they live and work in Slovenia and most of them also hold Slovenian citizenship.

But if their Orthodox counterparts can pratice their faith in a manner they see fit, why shouldn’t Slovenian Muslims be entitled to the same right? God (Allah?) knows that they paid big bucks for that particular piece of land.

Keeping a whole group of people on the fringes of society breeds resentment. Resentment breeds fundamentalism. And fundamentalism breeds fear.

So far, Slovenian Muslims have little to be afraid of from the majority population, and I think the majority population has absolutely no reason to be afraid of Slovenian Muslims.

A mosque in Ljubljana will be long-overdue step towards further integration of Muslims into Slovenian society. If nothing else, I honestly hope that Ljubljana will get a decent Čevapdžinica

@Camille: hear, hear!

@Sunshine: So? What’s your point? It doesn’t make it any more wrong or right if it happened 500 years ago or if it is happening today.

As someone mentioned on television the other day, what about all the years and years of violence that were perpetuated in the name and with the support of the Catholic Church? I’ve never heard of Islam ever perpetuating the sort of decimation that the Catholic Church supported throughout the Americas and around the rest of the world…and those weren’t even the extremists!!! Give me a break.

Shameful?
Are you completely oblivous as to the situation in the rest of Europe? Does it look as if Islam and Europe are compatible?

I don’t want a Madrid Train Bombing or London Subway bombings to occur in Slovenia. Or for the Slovenian flag to be burned and death threats hurled because some cartoonist drew a picture of Mohammed the wrong way. And most of all, I don’t want a Slovenia with No go zones for Slovenians as is the case in many parts of France and Germany.