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Which comes first? The state or religion? Just in time for the start of the trial in connection with the Islamist attack on Charlie Hebdo, the opinion research institute Ifop published a poll commissioned by the Parisian satirical magazine. The results make you sit down and take notice. Forty percent of French Muslims place religious beliefs above the values of the republic, and among Muslims under 25, the figure is even three-quarters.
The survey results highlight the problem of parallel Islamic societies, with which France has long struggled. Recently, Islam researcher Bernard Rougier documented in a book how strongly an Islamic counteruniverse is emerging on the streets of big cities, in which democratic values do not count, Salafism flourishes and women are, in fact, forced to cover yourself with a veil.
Switzerland does not know of any religious and ethnically isolated ghettos. Even in this country, however, fierce debates about those who reject the handshake, swimming lessons, banning the burqa or headscarf at school regularly rage. They feed the question: does religion for some Muslims count more than the constitution with their individual rights to freedom, do they have undemocratic convictions?
The answers to this question are provided by a survey from the previous year, which the University of Lucerne asked 3,000 people of different denominations over the age of 16, which has so far been ignored. For 23 percent of Muslims surveyed, the rules and values of their religion take precedence over the constitution in the event of conflict. For Catholics (13 percent) and Protestants (12 percent), the primacy of religion is much less common.
Free churches are an exception: for almost half of their followers, religion counts more than the constitution. Eight percent of Muslims would also be willing to enforce their religious ideas by force. This proportion is significantly lower for Catholics (3 percent), Protestants, and free churches (1 percent each).
Study author cautions against hasty interpretations
What should we think of the results of these surveys? Are they serious? Are some Muslims quasi “unreliable patriots” such as political Catholics, who in the 19th century preferred to follow the Pope rather than the federal state and were therefore branded “Romans”? Study author Antonius Liedhegener, professor of politics and religion at the University of Lucerne, cautions against hasty interpretations.
Such figures should not be construed as an expression of a “clash of civilizations”, that is, “Muslims against the West”, as did the American political scientist Samuel Huntington. Whether anti-democratic attitudes can actually stem from Islam or authoritarian political culture in certain countries of origin and personal character traits is an open question that he wants to pursue in future research.
Liedhegener describes the polls mentioned as “good” because they show stable Swiss democracy. The critical potential of the system is small. According to the study, only a minority in all groups take dogmatic or fundamentalist positions. The order of magnitude hardly matches the generalized threat scenarios that prevail in the media and in public debates about “Islam.” In the case of a minority, however, there are undemocratic attitudes in all religious communities. “An open society cannot accept it,” Liedhegener says on request.
On the undemocratic attitudes of the Muslim minority and the question of violence, which are stated more often, he says: “These figures need not worry, but from the point of view of civil society and the Swiss federal state they give reason of concern”.
Liedhegener sees direct political dialogue with the Muslim community as a convenient way to improve, to discuss issues of religious freedom and integration, but also radicalization trends. The history of Catholicism shows that it often takes time for a religious community to discover that a democratic, diverse and tolerant society is compatible with its beliefs and values.
Islamism expert speaks of alarming figures
Human rights activist and Islamism expert Saida Keller-Messahli is concerned about the university’s findings. “The fact that 23 percent of Muslims in Switzerland put their religious rules above democratic rules should be alarming, because it is almost one in four Muslims in Switzerland,” says the president of the Forum for a Progressive Islam. .
Around 370,000 adult Muslims live in Switzerland. Willingness to use violence is also a concern for Keller-Messahli. “In theory, eight percent corresponds to about 30,000 people,” he says. The authors’ interpretation, according to which extremist tendencies appear in all groups, is not very helpful. They would minimize the problem.
The funding of mosques and Muslim Brotherhood institutions by the Islamist Gulf states, which French journalists recently documented in the book “Qatar Papers,” is now paying off, says Keller-Messahli. He fears that the results of the Lucerne University survey “will show us how much religious separatism with anti-democratic traditions has already established itself.”
