Islam versus Europe

Imagine if a European country threatened to expel foreigners who didn't respect Christmas or Easter. There would be a global outcry from human rights activists. But somehow when non-Europeans do these things, nobody cares.

Saudi authorities warned non-Muslim expatriates on Friday, the first day of Ramadan, not to eat, drink, or smoke in public until the end of the Muslim holy month’s sunrise-to-sunset fast — or face expulsion.

The Interior Ministry of the oil-rich kingdom called on expatriates to “show consideration for feelings of Muslims” and “preserve the sacred Islamic rituals.” Otherwise, a ministry statement said, Saudi authorities will cancel violators’ work contracts and expel them.

Saudi Arabia’s population of 27 million includes some 8 million expatriates, including Asians, Arabs, and Westerners, according to government figures.

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But it's not just in Saudi Arabia. These vignettes from an article in a French magazine about "diversity in the enterprise" show that it's now happening in Europe too:

An EDF (French power company) communications manager refuses to touch the telephone or the computer on Friday, the day of the Sabbath. At Orange, a telephone adviser gets his prayer carpet out in the call centre. And forbids his colleagues from eating because it's Ramadan. By email, this employee even ordered his manager to dress decently, arguing that she was offending the Prophet. At Areva, a sikh wants to keep his turban on his access badge photo at a nuclear site, even though those who work there must be recognisable and thus bare-headed.

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