荷兰海牙应用科技大学教授 郑美•范德维尔德  （赵一帆 摄）


荷兰乌特勒支大学人权研究院院长、教授 汤姆•茨瓦特  （赵一帆 摄）


穆斯林身份与西欧社会的渐进融合　

　　本文介绍了一个开发中的项目，该项目旨在协调穆斯林身份和西欧社会的关系。该项目由海牙应用科学大学、阿姆斯特丹自由大学和乌特勒支大学联合开发。

　　本文中的穆斯林，是指那些将伊斯兰教视为自己身份的重要组成部分的人。和中国的情况一样,不存在所谓的“欧洲穆斯林”。尽管穆斯林们拥有同样的信仰,但他们在许多方面并不相同。此外，术语“多数”实际上代表的是一种由群体和个人混合而成的产物，他们有着不同的特点、价值观和背景。尽管如此,但为了更清楚地说明问题,我们在本文的讨论中将对少数和多数进行二元分类。

　　政客们与媒体打造了一种印象：穆斯林在社会参与和政治参与方面，存在着许多亟待改进之处。 他们常假设，拥有穆斯林身份和参与法治民主社会这两点是格格不入的。之所以存在这种设想，是因为他们认为穆斯林于对妇女地位、同性恋和政教分离有自己独特的观点，而这些观点会阻碍他们参与到民主社会中来。

　　按照这种观点来看，社会参与就成为信奉某种价值观的人的特权。为了加入这一类人,穆斯林需要放弃并替换某些价值观。因此,参与需要由同化来实现。英国前首相卡梅伦在慕尼黑安全会议的一次演讲中,谈到了这种同化的责任，称之为“更加活跃、有力的自由主义”。 依卡梅伦首相所言,自由的国家应当支持并促进某些价值观的发展。这些价值观包括言论自由、信仰自由、民主、法治、性别平等、种族平等和性取向平等。这些价值观界定了一个自由社会，属于这个社会就是相信这些价值观。这种同化的需要也成为荷兰移民加入声明的基础——2017年起，荷兰移民将不得不签署这一项声明。这一声明中包含的价值观与卡梅伦首相的观点相类似。

　　一些政客呼吁禁止某些穆斯林组织，特别是那些萨拉菲主义组织；他们基于的假设是，穆斯林不愿意与社会进行互动，且很容易受到激进主义和极端主义的煽动。这些政界人士还呼吁引入“弹性民主”或“激进民主”，这两种民主会极力反抗威胁其存在的挑战。 尽管德国宪法已经建立了这样一种激进民主制度，但欧洲其他国家的宪政体制对于这个概念依然陌生。

　　伊斯兰和民主价值观互不相容这一假设，产生于偏见，并没有事实基础。美国、澳大利亚和欧洲各国进行的研究表明，许多穆斯林都通过“公民参与”的方式积极参与到了社会中来。 他们通过维持工作关系、参与志愿服务和为他们的邻近地区投资，来展现诚意。

　　此外，许多穆斯林还积极参与到以宗教为基础的社区协会中，如古兰经研究团体、学校和体育俱乐部。 批评者认为,这种自我组织会导致隔离和强制集中居住。虽然确实存在这样的风险，但研究表明这些组织也提升了穆斯林的社会参与度。这些组织培养了成员的技能,成员可以以此为基础加入其它组织；这些组织还将穆斯林社区与社会系在了一起。

　　研究还表明,穆斯林往往非常乐于参与到社会中去，而他们的宗教信仰就是驱动器。这些穆斯林在努力同时成为好穆斯林和好公民。 在他们看来,同为身为穆斯林和活跃的公民是毫无矛盾的。他们之所以没有在两者之间看到任何矛盾,是因为他们的信仰鼓励他们参与社会活动。
 
　　但这些正面的研究成果在公共话语中并未起到任何作用。这可能是由于一个事实：宗教在自由主义现代社会中往往被视为非理性的东西，不应当在理性的社会中发挥作用。宗教的消亡是传统社会向现代社会发展的一环，这一点看来是不可避免的。年轻的穆斯林则正在挑战这一设想——他们在参与现代社会的同时，也珍惜自己的宗教身份。此外,尽管看似矛盾,但西方人生活的自由世俗世界也是由基督教信仰所塑造的。这意味着伊斯兰教和基督教之间的长期对抗可能对此产生影响。 但如果年轻的穆斯林认为，他们的信仰与现代社会参与是可以相结合的——有充分的证据证明他们已经成功做到了这一点 ——那么政客和媒体就该接受这一点。

Harmonising Muslim identities and West European societies

Mi Jung van der Velde , Tom Zwart
 

This paper outlines a project that is being developed to harmonise Muslim identities and West European societies. It is being carried out by a consortium consisting of the The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the Free University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University.

For the purpose of this paper, Muslims are considered those persons who consider Islam an important part of their identity. As is the case in China, 'the' European Muslim does not exist. Although Muslims share the same faith, they are diverse in many other respects. In addition, the term 'majority' actually stands for an amalgam of groups and individuals with different characteristics, distinct values and various backgrounds. Nonetheless, to be able to present the issues clearly, for the sake of discussion throughout the paper we will rely on the minority-majority binary. 

Politicians and the media create the impression that the social and political participation of Muslims leaves a lot to be desired.  They often assume that being a Muslim and taking part in a democratic society under the rule of law cannot be combined. Underlying this assumption is the idea that Muslims have distinctive views on the position of women, homosexuality and the separation of church and state, which stand in the way of participation in a democratic society.

In this view, participation in society is the prerogative of those who hold certain values. To enter that category, Muslims should abjure certain values and adopt others to replace them. Therefore, participation requires assimilation. In a speech before the Munich Security Conference, the former British Prime Minister Cameron related this duty to assimilate to as 'more active, muscular liberalism'.  According to Prime Minister Cameron, a liberal country ought to stand for certain values and to promote them. These values include freedom of speech; freedom of worship; democracy; the rule of law; and equal rights regardless of sex, race and sexuality. These values define a liberal society, and to belong there is to believe in them. This need to assimilate also underlies the participation declaration which immigrants in The Netherlands will have to sign from 2017 onwards. The values contained in this declaration are similar to those laid out by Prime Minister Cameron.

Some politicians have called for a ban on certain Muslim organisations, especially Salafist ones, based on the assumption that they are not open to interaction with society and are vulnerable to radicalisation and extremism. Those politicians call for the introduction of a 'resilient' or 'militant democracy' which actively opposes challenges to its existence.  Although the German constitution has established such a militant democracy, the concept is alien to the constitutional system of other European states. 

Assumptions about the incompatibility of Islamic and democratic values are based on prejudices and have no factual foundation. Research conducted in the U.S., Australia and various European countries shows that many Muslims do take part actively in society by way of 'civic engagement'.  They show their commitment by engaging in relations at work, by doing voluntary work and by investing in their neighbourhoods.

In addition, many Muslims take part actively in their religion-based community associations, such as Quran study groups, schools and sport clubs.  Critics argue that these kind of self organisations lead to isolation and ghettoisation. Although it is true that there is such a risk, research shows that these organisations also contribute to the social participation of Muslims. They increase the skills of their members, who can rely on those to take part in other organisations, and they tie the Muslim community to the rest of society.

Research also shows that Muslims often are highly motivated to take part actively in society and that their religiosity acts as a driver.  These Muslims strive to be good Muslims and good citizens both at the same time. In their view, being a Muslim and an active citizen are perfectly compatible. They do not see any contradiction between the two, because their faith encourages them to take part in society.
 
These positive research outcomes do not play any role in the public discourse. This could be the result of the fact that in liberal-modernist societies religion is often regarded as something irrational, which should not play a role in rational societies. As part of the development from a traditional to a modern society, the disappearance of religion is seen as inevitable. Young Muslims challenge this assumption because they take part in modern society while cherishing their religious identity. In addition, although this may seem paradoxical, the liberal secular world Westerners live in is a world shaped by Christian beliefs.  This means that the longstanding antagonism between Islam and Christianity is likely to play a role here as well.  But if young Muslims believe that it is possible to combine their faith with taking part in a modern society - and there is ample proof that they succeed in doing so  - the time has come for politicians and media to accept this as well.