LAUSR

This paper analyses how, despite the universalist and inclusive vocation of secularism, this has become the main argument for the exclusion of Muslim religious practices, with the consequent limitation of individual liberties. Thus, an institution thought as a procedure to guarantee the equality of the citizens through the differentiation between the political and religious spheres becomes a feature that defines the identity of Europe and that it is necessary to defend against the accommodation demands raised by Muslim immigrants. Obviously, it is not possible to establish a cause-effect relationship, but the climate of hostility towards the cultural difference spread by the entry into several European polities of radical right parties, clearly hostile to Islam and Muslims, could be influencing, in some way, the political orientation of European governments in this regard. Received : 17 December 2017 Accepted : 8 May 2018 Published online : 31 October 2018