Last Friday, I watched a short documentary called They Call Me Muslim, which was about the two different experiences of Muslim women in France, a democracy, and Iran, a theocracy. It gave me some insight into the political situation in France, which is very different from that of the United States.
In 2004, the French government instituted a law that banned the wearing of religious symbols in public schools. This law was enacted to maintain the separation of church and state in France. I believe this approach was a radical one. The government is taking away the freedom of Muslim girls to practice an important principle in their religion, but the students aren’t interfering with the government’s role in preventing religious influence. Headscarves aren’t tearing down the wall between church and state.
I’ve read that Europeans generally have a different attitude towards immigrants than most Americans do. The United States is different from European nations because the nation was built by immigrants. And although there are anti-immigrant attitudes in the US, they are not as prevalent as they are in Europe. In places like France or Germany, there is public pressure to maintain the western culture. In the documentary, some of the girls mentioned that the ban of Christian symbols wasn’t enforced. I wouldn’t be surprised that this ban was passed because politicians noticed a mistrust of Muslims by the public and sought to gain political points.
The anti-immigrant sentiment is surely strong in Europe, but I’d say its almost as prevalent here in the United States. The recent election has brought to light a lot of normally non-vocal groups who support a strong anti-immigrant set of beliefs. The main difference between there and here, I believe, is the strong and loud opposition to such beliefs, that helps to contribute to an overall tolerant tone in this country.
I think it’s incredibly interesting that anti immigrant sentiment is more popular in Europe than the US, as you say, yet these European countries are taking multiple times more refugees than the US is. Perhaps it’s because of a organization like the EU ensuring that each European country “pulls its own weight” but i think it’s far more possible that this sentiment comparison is just inaccurate. I’d like to see poll numbers, but i suspect that any sentiment that is stronger in the Europe is just louder, but in the minority.