Recent discussions about the influx of refugees from Syria into Europe has intensified claims that Christian Europe is surely and inexorably giving way to Islam: The Islamisation thesis. In the United Kingdom, some seemingly trivial events have become flashpoints in the media. Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens claimed that the wearing of a hijab by a model in an advertisement for the fashion store H&M was a sign of “a slow but unstoppable adaptation of this country to Islam”. This led to a televised clash and subsequent debate on Twitter.

Again, BBC television show the “Great British Bake Off” was won by a hijab-wearing lady. Various newspapers accused theBBC of choreographing a politically correct outcome, and considerable virulence against Islam, the hijab, and a multicultural society was exhibited in online reactions, alongside the fear that an Islamic takeover was occurring. Of course, these concerns are not recent. Perhaps the most dramatic indication of such fears were the actions of Anders Breivik gunning down numerous youths in his native Norway for his belief that he needed to defend Christian Europe against Islam.

… Paul Hedges is associate professor for the Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.