Free Republic

"In Spain there are signs that Islam will dominate once again." — Hizrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Spiritual Leader, Ahmadiyya Community, SpainFrom Belgium to Greece and Spain to Germany, 2013 is shaping up to be another banner year for the construction of mosques in Europe. In Belgium, work is about to begin on the construction of a mega-mosque in Liège, the third-largest city in the country. The largest mosque in Wallonia (the French-speaking region of Belgium) will be built on an 11,000 m² (118,000 ft²) plot and will consist of a main building with a capacity for 1,000 worshippers, a...

The Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation published a study on intolerance and prejudice in Europe. The study "Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination" is available in German and English. I bring below the section relating to Muslims. Via FES (h/t Euro-Islam.info): After statistical testing, three statements were used to produce the anti-Muslim attitudes mean scale (Table 7, items 18 to 20). These cover the general impression that there are too many Muslims in the country, the charge that Muslims make too many demands, and broad-brush criticism of Islam as a religion of intolerance. Four further statements were surveyed in a random half of the sample. These...

November 30, 2005 Tolerance or Death!European culture leaders should smack down fanatical Islamists. Instead, they're bending over for them. Bruce Bawer It's been a tough year for freedom of expression in Europe. On November 2, 2004, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was butchered in an Amsterdam street by Mohammed Bouyeri, a radical Muslim enraged over Submission, van Gogh's blunt film about women's subjugation under Islam. For many Europeans, the murder of one of the Netherlands' most outspoken public figures underscored the importance of protecting freedom of expression. ("Long live the Netherlands, long live free speech!" read one anonymous note placed...

For better and worse, Italy has long been the political and cultural laboratory of the Western world. From the glory days of Rome, through the Renaissance and the various nation-states, into the experiment at nation building that is still very much a work in progress, Italy has tried out the best and the worst in us. ‘snip’ Like the rest of us, the Italians have a jihadi problem, and they have it for the usual reason: For a long time they refused to acknowledge the problem existed, and now they are trapped in a political and cultural web of political...

Pope Benedict XVI will strive during his tenure to re-Christianize Europe by making the way for greater religious freedom on the continent and then converting millions of the Muslims who now populate the area, asserts geopolitical analyst Jack Wheeler. In a column on his intelligence website, To the Point, Wheeler uses a comedy scene from the classic film "Princess Bride" to show the kind of task the pope has on his plate. "One of my favorite scenes is when the hero, Westley (played by Cary Elwes), is wounded and his friends drag his limp body to a Yiddish Wizard named...

Why I lifted the veil on Islam (Filed: 07/09/2004) She likens Mohammed to a 'lecherous tyrant' and blames the Koran for the abuse of her fellow Muslim women. Now the Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali is planning to bring her outspoken views - and armed bodyguards - to Britain. She talks to Olga Craig At the main mosque in Rotterdam, the imam is doing a brisk trade. There are no hawkers, no hard sell; only an orderly line of figures snaking down the side-street and around the corner. In turn, each hands over five euros, takes a book and leaves....