A spotlight of suspicion was trained on them again even before the latest acts of extremist violence, including two beheadings. President Emmanuel Macron has forged ahead with his effort to rid Islam in France of extremists, part of a project he labels “separatism,” a term that makes Muslims wince.

Amid intensifying rhetoric and fresh attacks by outsiders, including the killings of three people Thursday at a Catholic church in Nice, Muslims in France have kept their heads down and chins up. But deep down, some are squirming, feeling they are being held responsible.

Islam is the second religion in France, which has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. But the country’s estimated 5 million Muslims have walked a delicate line in search of full acceptance in what for many is their nation of birth. Discrimination casts a shadow over some and is an outright barrier to mainstream life for others.

France’s cherished value of secularism, which is meant to ensure religious freedom, has in recent years been used by the state to reign in customs practiced by some Muslims. The president’s proposed law may mean further tinkering with the 1905 secularism law born out of a conflict with the powerful Roman Catholic clergy.

The rise of Islam into public view was gradual and mostly went unnoticed until the far right seized upon it as a threat to the French identity. Over the years mosques have multiplied, along with Muslim schools.

The religion with no single leader has multiple strains in France, running from moderate to Salafist with a rigorous interpretation of the religion to outright radical upstarts.

In his project, Macron envisions measures like training imams in France instead of bringing them in from Turkey, Morocco or Algeria.

Source: The Associated Press

“It’s a moment of pain, in a time of confusion,” said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni in a statement to reporters. “Terrorism and violence must never be tolerated. Today’s attack sowed death in a place of love and consolations, such as the house of the Lord.

“The pope is informed of the situation and is close to the grieving Catholic community,” the Vatican statement continued.

Francis’ comments were conveyed in a letter sent to Bishop André Marceau of Nice and signed by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in which he condemned “in the strongest possible way such violent acts of terror.”

“We invite believers of all faiths, in particular Christians and Muslims, to disassociate religion from any form of violence perpetrated in the name of God,” said a statement from the community of St. Egidio.

Source: Religion News

The host of Channel Nine’s The Voice and Today Extra was discussing the massacre in Nice when she said she agreed with the views expressed by the Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt, who argued in a column “the more Muslims we import, the more danger we are in”.

“Personally I think Andrew Bolt has a point here,” Kruger said to Today’s Lisa Wilkinson on Monday.

“There is a correlation between the number of people in a country who are Muslim and the number of terrorist attacks…I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslim, who are peace-loving, who are beautiful people, but there are fanatics. Personally, I would like to see it stop now for Australia. I want to feel safe and I want to see freedom of speech.”

Kruger was backed by Channel Nine which released a statement citing “freedom of speech”. Kruger repeated Bolt’s claim in his Monday column, Muslim migration in France opens door to terror, and said that Japan didn’t have many Muslims migrants so it had no terrorist attacks.

Read more at: The Guardian

Newt Gingrich ignited a firestorm on Thursday when he said the U.S. should test Muslims to see if they believe in Sharia law. The remarks came in the wake of the terror attack in Nice, France.

President Barack Obama on Friday issued a thinly veiled rebuke of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s call for the U.S. to test every person with a Muslim background to see if they believe in Sharia law and deport those who do.

“In the wake of last night’s attacks, we’ve heard more suggestions that all Muslims in America be targeted, tested for their beliefs, some deported or jailed,” Obama said in remarks from the White House. “And the very suggestion is repugnant and an affront to everything that we stand for as Americans.”

Obama’s implicit critique of Gingrich was a part of broader point he made Friday in response to the Nice attack, which he called “sickening.” …”And those impulses, when we do not speak out against them and build institutions to protect people from those impulses, they can take over. They can be unleashed, so all of us have responsibilities, not just a few.”… “It sounds like he may need to consult his copy of the pocket Constitution as well,” Earnest said at a White House press briefing, adding that “proposals like that, rhetoric like that, is un-American by its very definition.”

Gingrich’s original comments came on Thursday night during an interview on Fox News, hours after a truck rampaged through a Bastille Day celebration in Nice.

“Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be: Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported,” Gingrich said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization. Modern Muslims who have given up Sharia, glad to have them as citizens. Perfectly happy to have them next door.”

Gingrich defended those comments Friday during an appearance on Facebook Live but acknowledged that “deportation is impossible” with American citizens.

Source: CNN