Dialog between Danes and Muslims, that's the goal of the Islamic Faith Society when they invite people to an open house in their mosque in Copenhagen next week, says spokesperson Bettina Meisner.
This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog - islamineurope.blogspot.com
"We have no requirement for people to become Muslim after participating in our event. We want to have a dialog with Danish society about what is Islam and show that it's not a closed religion which oppresses women," says Bettina Meisner.
She adds that 500-1000 visitors come when the faith-society organizes open house events.
"Those who come to the open house say that they get insight into the world of Muslim and disprove some prejudices. For example, many discover that the position of women in Islam is not oppressive to women, but that women have an important role in the Muslim world," says Bettina Meisner.
Integration expert and member of the Copenhagen council Manu Sareen thinks that open house events in various faith-societies are important for integration.
"If there's something we need in Denmark, it's some platforms where people meet. There is so much separation between Danes and Muslims. We go round and think a lot about each other without really knowing each other. It's much easier to be negative towards each other when you don't have contact," says Manu Sareen.
He thinks that people who participate in the open house event will either have their prejudices confirmed or disproved.
"The vast majority of Danes get their primary information about Muslims through the media, and it's not a particularly flattering image, what's shown. Instead the media contributes to creating a very negative discourse, which greatly affects the Danes. So I certainly welcome those open house events. There's a need for that," says Manu Sareen.
Source: Kristeligt Dagblad (Danish)
No comments:
Post a Comment