Secular–Religious Competition and the Exclusion of Islam from the Public Sphere: Islamic Welfare in Western Europe

Abstract

This paper deals in a qualitative discourse analysis with the role of Islamic organizations in welfare delivery in Germany and the Netherlands. Referring to Jonathan Fox's “secular–religious competition perspective”, the paper argues that similar trends of exclusion of Islamic organizations from public social service delivery can be explained with discourses on Islam in these two countries. The analysis, first, shows that in the national competitions between religious and secular ideologies on the public role of religion, different views are dominant (i.e., the support for the Christian majority in Germany and equal treatment of all religions in the Netherlands) which can be traced back to the respective regimes of religious governance. However, and second, when it comes to Islam in particular, in the Netherlands, the perspective of restricting all religions from public sphere prevails which leads to the rather exclusivist view on Islamic welfare that dominates in Germany, too.

State Support for Religion and Government Legitimacy in Christian-Majority Countries

“…That this agenda has had considerable success in both its positive and negative manifestations (Fox 2015;Kortmann 2019) implies that there is a significant constituency that believes religion should not influence the political agenda. It is reasonable to argue that this constituency would consider state support for religion illegitimate.…”

Arrival of legal Salafism and struggle for recognition in Germany—reflection and adaptation processes within the German da'wa movement between 2001 and 2022

“…While legal opportunities and constitutional protection for Muslim minorities have increased-with parliaments and courts encouraging the institutionalization of Islam, the post-September 11 securitization context reduced political opportunities for Islamic welfare and legal advocacy endeavors. Policymakers, security agencies and parts of the media in this context have partially adopted a constitutional understanding embedded in a particular value, cultural and religious (Christian) order and favoritism (Habermas, 2005;Schiffauer, 2010;Kortmann, 2019). In such an environment, charismatic assertions, open confrontation and informal network mobilization seemed to be more viable and rewarding strategies in the short-term for a nascent movement without the required legal pedigree.…”

Religious Institutions’ Stances towards Autocratization in the Post-Third Wave Period

“…To understand the implications of this religious resurgence and competition, this study relies on the religious economy approach, which assumes that the religious market works like the commercial one, where it benefits from competition and is endangered if there is a monopoly by one religion and there is high state regulation of religion (Iannaccone 1991). Some scholars found that market competition between secular and religious ideologies affected the presence of religion in the public space (Fox 2016, 2019b; Kortmann 2019), while others focused on the inter-religious competition in the religious market (Gill 1994; Iannaccone 1991; Stark and Iannaccone 1994). In this article, the focus is on the latter, examining how competition between different religious denominations in the religious market affects support for the ruling regime.…”