The Secularization of Islamic Institutions in Europe and the United States: Two Approaches

Abstract

It is a significant fact that throughout Europe, the arrival of Islam has reopened the file—up to now considered “case closed”—on the relationship between Church and State. The great diversity of Euro-Islamic scenarios, however, reflects the cultural and political specificity of each country more than it sheds any light on the so-called special nature of Islam. The relationship of the government to religion in Europe tends to pattern itself on one of three principal types: the cooperation between Church and State, the existence of a State-sponsored religion, or the total separation of religion and politics. No matter what the type of relationship, however, the European question of Islam’s institutionalization has no real equivalent in American culture. European secularism does not consist merely in the protection of religious freedoms and the political independence of religious organizations, as it does in the United States. It is also, if paradoxically, accompanied by a collaboration between Church and State. The secularization of Islam, therefore, is seen particularly in the emergence of Muslim Organizations adapted to preexisting structures of Church-State relations within the host country.