Abstract
Traditionally, Denmark has not regarded itself as a country of immigration but within 4 decades of immigration the demographic profile of the country has changed. Alongside the process of immigration, groups of immigrants with different religious backgrounds have altered the religious landscape of Denmark. A 100 years ago there were only very few people with e.g., Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim background. Today the situation has changed fundamentally. Islam has become the largest minority-religion in Denmark and this has resulted in new forms of religious symbols in the Danish public and the construction of Muslim institutions such as burial places, educational institutions and prayer spaces. These religious symbols and institutions have been disputed since they were first established.
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Notes
- 1.
According to Statistics Denmark Western countries include the European Union, Andorra, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, USA and the Vatican. Non-Western countries include all other countries.
- 2.
- 3.
1980 is the first year in which Statistics Denmark has information on both immigrants and their descendants (Statistics Denmark 2013).
- 4.
Cf. Jensen and Østergaard (2007, p. 30).
- 5.
Cf. Annual Report of the funeral fund 2011.
- 6.
Estimated by the researcher Kirstine Sinclair in the newspaper Information, 4 March 2003 and Malene Grøndahl et al. (Grøndal et al. 2003, p. 16, 29, 3).
- 7.
Cf. their latest demonstration against the Youtube amateur movie “Innocence of Muslims” in front of the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen attracted approx. 1,000 participants September 16, 2012.
- 8.
Nørrebro is located just north of Copenhagen city centre. Nørrebro has always been a centre for immigration in Denmark (Schmidt 2012, p. 605). The neighbourhood houses one of the largest segment of immigrants in the city—by January 1, 2013, 26.7 % of the 56,143 people living in Nørrebro were either immigrants or ‘descendants’ of immigrants (Municipality of Copenhagen 2013), the latter being the statistical term describing people born into families in which at least one parent either is an immigrant or does not hold Danish citizenship (Statistics Denmark 2013).
- 9.
Alevis are not included in this category. The current eight Alevi associations are categorised as ‘other congregations’ by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration. Dansk Tyrkisk Islamisk Stiftelse (Danish Turkish Islamic Foundation (Diyanet in Denmark)) is acknowledged as one religious community with 29 congregations, Minhaj ul Quran has four congregations and Islams Ahmadiyya Djamâ’athas two congregations (see www.familiestyrelsen.dk/samliv/trossamfund. Accessed 4 Feb 2013).
- 10.
Alfred Hansen represented The Justice Party of Denmark (Retsforbundet), a centre-right political party.
- 11.
The Danish People’s Party was founded in 1995 by Pia Kjærsgaard, who led the party until 2012. The party was founded after Pia Kjærsgaard and three other politicians broke out from the Progress Party (Fremskridtspartiet). Pia Kjærsgaard represented the Progress Party in Parliament from 1984 to 1995.
- 12.
From the first article July 16, 2013 to August 31, 2013 Ekstra Bladet published 86 articles on the subject halal. The first article was entitled: “Børnehaver bandlyser svinekød” (Daycare centers ban pork). In all the national newspapers 218 newspaperarticles on the subject were published in the same periode.
- 13.
Cf. “PM: religion out of politics”, Jyllands-Posten News, June 6, 2007 (Jyllands-Posten’s Newspaper in English).
- 14.
Cf. L 98: Forslag til lov om ændring af retsplejeloven. (Dommeres fremtræden i retsmøder) [Proposal for a Law amending the Code of Civil Procedure. (Judges appearance in court hearings)]. (Passed May 29, 2009, Folketinget.dk).
- 15.
Cf. “Over halvdelen af danskerne vil have forbud mod burka” [More than half of Danes want a ban on burqas], Denmarks Radio 13 July 2010.
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Jacobsen, B. (2015). Islam and Muslims in Denmark. In: Burchardt, M., Michalowski, I. (eds) After Integration. Islam und Politik. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-02594-6_9
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