European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

BODERLINE EUROPEANS: NATIONALISMS AND FUNDAMENTALISMS 141support?) —and educational action (what generalised identity socializationshould be promoted?).The other religion I previously mentioned is Islam. Whilst one tends tothink that Christian fundamentalism has significantly decreased, peopletend to believe that, on the contrary, Muslim fundamentalism is strongand even becoming stronger. It is true that Muslim cultures, as opposed toEuropean Christian culture, have not experienced secularization fromwithin; that they might see it as something external that is subtlyimposed, so the fundamentalist reaction can be linked to defencemechanisms against the enemy lived with greater intensity. In any case,given that at least in the present-day European Union there are noMuslim States, Muslim fundamentalism is basically present throughimmigrants of this creed and their descendants. What incidence mightthis have with regards to the construction of European identity? I willalso confine myself to a few remarks on this issue.The possible Muslim fundamentalism in the European Union do nothave the reference of a State with this denomination and, thus, it willinitially be an intra-cultural type of fundamentalism: a version of thedogmatic and domineering religion imposed on its members. It may see,in the modern cultural Christian context surrounding it, an enemy thatneeds to be fought, and from there degenerate —setting aside thelegitimate questions of civil society— into dangerous confrontations.When both ad intra and ad extra fundamentalism violate human rights,public authorities must intervene, although it must be acknowledgedthat there are hazy areas in which things are not quite clear and which,consequently, ought to be jointly debated.We should never fall into the temptation of associating Islam withfundamentalism. As Christianity, Islam is lived and can be lived in a nonfundamentalist,and thus, perfectly acceptable way. The nonfundamentalistMuslim option has various possibilities within theEuropean context. One of them is multiculturalism. Obtaining inspirationfrom authors like Kymlicka 7 we could define it in the following way:these immigrant groups with specific ethnic identities are asked tointegrate socially and politically into liberal democratic values and theirinstitutions (coherence in this must lead to recognition of full citizenship)and they are offered respect and even protection of significant aspectsof their ethnocultural diversity (if necessary with public support, whichought to be discerned so that promotion of social equality does not7Of course, every person as such —no matter his or her cultural origin: Christian,Muslim or other— must have the right to leave and join cultural groups. Here I amrather describing collective options.