Abstract / DOI
Compatible with the Secular State? Christianity, Islam and Europe. Islam is a kind of religion that understands itself as a political, juridical and social order. Therefore, Islam is incompatible with the secular State under the rule of law as well as with a free democratic political order. This kind of political and juridical order is an outcome of the enlightenment the rise of which can only be understood on the background of civilization shaped by Christianity and its genuine dualism of religion and politics, spiritual and temporal power. Islam is in many aspects the antithesis of such a civilization. Yet, to face the challenge of Islam, increasingly present in European societies, neither a Christian nor a national «Leitkultur» (guiding culture) is required. The liberal secular state only demands abidance by the laws and the rules of social existence. To fully accept this, however, Islam must turn into a religion in the European-Christian sense, giving up its pretention to establish a juridical and social order based on its religious traditions.