Muslim Group Angered Over Government Plan to Train Imams

February 3, 2005

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4232495.stm

On February 3, 2005 the BBC News reported, "A Muslim group in the Netherlands has complained it was not consulted before the government backed university plans to start training imams.

There has been fierce debate about the integration of Muslims in the Netherlands in the last few years.

It intensified last November with the murder of the film-maker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Muslim extremist.

The Free University in Amsterdam says its training is to promote integration of Muslims into Dutch society.

But the Liaison Group, Muslims and Government object that it was not asked first for its own proposals for a training course.

The group plans to hold a conference on the matter later this month."