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Secularism, dominant majority religions of the receiving countries (such as Catholicism, Islam and Orthodox Christianity), and migration history affect the way in which women (and men) live their religiosity in the public and in the private sphere. The relationship between gender, religion and liberal secularism is particularly diverse and depends on the local context. The same notions of secularism, as well as religion, should also be contextualized. For one thing, there is no secularism or religion in general, but French laicite or Italian fragments of secularism1718, as interpretations of Islam and Christianity. For another, the exclusive association of religion with Islam obscures the analysis of the possible transformations that entrench different religions in Europe, and, in particular, the different sects of Christianity, which are currently undergoing multiple transformations influenced by immigrant movements in specific contexts.
In Europe, the debate on the incompatibility, or the presumed incompatibility, between womenʼs rights, European identity/culture and Islamic values obscures other themes regarding migrantion and religion. This transnational study attempted to redefine the terms of debate by observing similarities and differences in the process of the public transformation of minoritiesʼ religions, and to challenge the idea that Islam is more “public”, or more “challenging” than other religions.
