In The News

Secularism has long been considered a fundamental feature of many European democracies. With increasing immigration from Muslim countries to France, Germany, and elsewhere, these nations have to deal with a growing minority who has a different take on ideal democracy. In France and Germany, the debate has largely centered on the question of the headscarves that are worn by many Muslim women....

Although Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, Islamist political parties in the country have been unable to attract widespread support. Since the 1998 fall of the autocratic Suharto and the beginning of a transition to democracy, support for Islamist parties has not risen above sixteen percent, while their secular and pluralist rivals earn large majorities, writes Indonesian...

For the past 11 years, a Saudi television show has aired during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan that subtly and sometimes not-so-subtly pokes fun at the Saudi regime and the religious bureaucracy. Muslim leaders call the show religious blasphemy, while the show's avid viewers consider it a light-hearted portrayal of the truth of everyday life. A particularly controversial episode...