French Islam Wins Officially Recognized Voice

As part of a national project to create what Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has called "an official Islam of France," delegates from mosques throughout the country voted for members of a new council that would officially represent France’s five million Muslims. Mr. Sarkozy said that organizing France's Muslims is the way to fight "the Islam of cellars and garages that has fed extremism and the language of violence." While the council will give Muslims a voice in French democracy, critics question how representative the council will be (most of the candidates are either Algerian or Moroccan) and worry that it will end up being a tool of the government. –YaleGlobal