French authorities shut down 20 mosques and prayer halls they found to be preaching radical Islamic ideology since December, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday.

“Fight against the #radicalization: since December 2015, twenty Muslim places of worship have been closed,” the Interior Ministry tweeted.

Of the country’s 2,500 mosques and prayer halls, approximately 120 of them have been suspected by French authorities of preaching radical Salafism, a fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam, according to France 24.

“There is no place ... in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques … About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others,” Cazeneuve said.

The announcement came days after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for a temporary ban on foreign funding of French mosques. A Senate committee report on Islam in France published in July found that though the country’s mosques are primarily financed through individual donations, a significant portion of their funding also comes from overseas—specifically from Morocco, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia. The same report called banning foreign financing of mosques “absurd and impossible,” calling instead for more transparency.

Because of France’s 1905 law establishing the separation of church and state, or laïcité, the French government cannot finance religious institutions directly. Some experts say this rule has made many mosques reliant on foreign funding.

Cazeneuve also announced Monday that French authorities would be working with the French Muslim Council to launch a foundation to help finance mosques within France.

“By October, a foundation will be created to finance the cultural aspect of cultural institutions and scholarships for secular education #islam,” he said.

The mosque closures follow several high-profile attacks by Islamic extremists in the country in less than two years, including the recent murder of a Catholic priest in Normandy. France has been under a nationwide state of emergency since the ISIS attacks in Paris in 2015, which grants the state the ability to enforce tougher measures, including shutting down places of worship suspected of promoting radical views.

parisbookaddict:
French authorities shut down 20 mosques and prayer halls they found to be preaching radical Islamic ideology since December, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday.

“Fight against the #radicalization: since December 2015, twenty Muslim places of worship have been closed,” the Interior Ministry tweeted.

Of the country’s 2,500 mosques and prayer halls, approximately 120 of them have been suspected by French authorities of preaching radical Salafism, a fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam, according to France 24.

“There is no place ... in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques … About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others,” Cazeneuve said.

The announcement came days after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for a temporary ban on foreign funding of French mosques. A Senate committee report on Islam in France published in July found that though the country’s mosques are primarily financed through individual donations, a significant portion of their funding also comes from overseas—specifically from Morocco, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia. The same report called banning foreign financing of mosques “absurd and impossible,” calling instead for more transparency.

Because of France’s 1905 law establishing the separation of church and state, or laïcité, the French government cannot finance religious institutions directly. Some experts say this rule has made many mosques reliant on foreign funding.

Cazeneuve also announced Monday that French authorities would be working with the French Muslim Council to launch a foundation to help finance mosques within France.


“By October, a foundation will be created to finance the cultural aspect of cultural institutions and scholarships for secular education #islam,” he said.

The mosque closures follow several high-profile attacks by Islamic extremists in the country in less than two years, including the recent murder of a Catholic priest in Normandy. France has been under a nationwide state of emergency since the ISIS attacks in Paris in 2015, which grants the state the ability to enforce tougher measures, including shutting down places of worship suspected of promoting radical views.

http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/08/french-mosques-islam/493919/

Demmzy15:
Parisbookaddict you're trying to consol yourself right? You've not answered the questions thrown to you in the "who's a Christian" thread, please do.

There are thousands of mosques in France and many European countries, you think closing down 20 would disrupt the spread of Islam? Saudi Arabia and many other Muslim countries close down mosques, arrest preachers, send preachers to jail, etc just to curb terrorism. So I don't see why this topic should be an issue, and you thinking opening a thread like this would destroy Islam is very primitive of you and your cohorts. Rather I'll call this victory against the enemies of Islam!

Demmzy15:
Parisbookaddict you're trying to consol yourself right? You've not answered the questions thrown to you in the "who's a Christian" thread, please do.

There are thousands of mosques in France and many European countries, you think closing down 20 would disrupt the spread of Islam? Saudi Arabia and many other Muslim countries close down mosques, arrest preachers, send preachers to jail, etc just to curb terrorism. So I don't see why this topic should be an issue, and you thinking opening a thread like this would destroy Islam is very primitive of you and your cohorts. Rather I'll call this victory against the enemies of Islam!

In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Valls said he was “open to the idea that – for a period yet to be determined – there should be no financing from abroad for the construction of mosques”.

The prime minister also called for imams to be “trained in France, not elsewhere”.

He said the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, whose portfolio also includes religious affairs, was working on building a new model for France’s relations with Islam

http://m.townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2016/07/29/after-isis-attacks-french-govt-considering-a-ban-of-foreign-financing-of-mosques-n2199885

annunaki2:
Very good development, in fact they should go ahead and shut down all 2,500 mosques. The religion of terror has no place in a civilised society.

thesuave10:


Finally the French government gets some sense, they should just ban Islam all at once. Chilling for the American government to join 'em. Awesome post Paris! and convert all those folks.

Demmzy15:
Parisbookaddict you're trying to consol yourself right? You've not answered the questions thrown to you in the "who's a Christian" thread, please do.

There are thousands of mosques in France and many European countries, you think closing down 20 would disrupt the spread of Islam? Saudi Arabia and many other Muslim countries close down mosques, arrest preachers, send preachers to jail, etc just to curb terrorism. So I don't see why this topic should be an issue, and you thinking opening a thread like this would destroy Islam is very primitive of you and your cohorts. Rather I'll call this victory against the enemies of Islam!