Dhimmitude

The 'tolerated' status of non-Muslims in Islamic states and, perhaps, of all religious people in states ruled by secular fundamentalism.

For many years the Vatican has complained that Islamic nations do not provide their Christian residents with the same religious freedoms that Muslims enjoy in Europe. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's former foreign minister, warned that "There are too many majority Muslim countries where non-Muslims are second-class citizens." The French-born Cardinal continued: "Just like Muslims can build their houses of prayer anywhere in the world, the faithful of other religions should be able to do so as well."

Non-Muslims living in Islamic states are described as ‘the dhimmi’. Some people describe the dhimmi as people under the protection of Islamic authorities but others - less charitably - say that the dhimmi in states like Saudi Arabia are only tolerated so long as they keep their faith private and do not challenge the state religion. Dhimmitude can also refer to the status of non-Muslims in nations being targeted for conversion to Islam.

[For more information on the Islamic concept of dhimmitude take a look at this piece by Bat Yeor on National Review Online].

The dhimmi of secular fundamentalism

Dhimmitude might be an accurate way of describing the status of people of all faiths in nations governed by secular fundamentalism. The Rocco Buttiglione affair showed how the European Union – founded, in part, on Catholic teaching – is becoming a place where Christian orthodoxies are tolerated but only if they are kept out of the public square.

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