[August]

Originally Posted by clive bradbury

See my above point, heartc. But this is a minor point of contention which is distracting from the main thrust of the argument. By any measure you care to use, Western Europe is continuing to head in the direction of secularity which began in the 19th century, and the general picture is that, for want of a better phrase, that the fundamentalism of religious groups incorporated into those states are gradually being diluted as a result. Gradually the followers of a religion tend to move towards a less rabid position, and increasingly away from religion altogether. Whether you believe that to be a good or bad thing, that does appear to be happening.

The problem is, of course, that this is not good copy, so the media would far rather put fundamentalists and supporters of terrorism within those states on their front pages, which tends to perpetuate inaccurate perceptions at the expense of what is actually occurring.

I see your point but a native European has a lot of other non religious social and cultural ties that bind him to his country/region whereas an immigrant from a non European country does not. This might make the immigrant more likely to cling to his culture and religion.