Multiculturalism can be a good thing - if it develops over a long period of time

It may seem odd to use Bosnia as an example of the benefits of multiculturalism, given it's recent past, but in many ways it is, especially in Sarajevo.

The Bosnian genocide was complex, but it was less to do with ideology and more to do with a power-struggle between the creeds that live in the countries that used to make up Yugoslavia.

This power-struggle still continues throughout the Balkans, but especially in Bosnia. But if you go to Bosnia, especially Sarajevo, you'll find that what the vast majority of people want is peace. Sarajevo has a Muslim majority, but many aren't practicing and even those who were I found to be open minded and generally accepting of all people. There is a short documentary that plays at the Srebenica Exhibition which features a particularly enigmatic young girl who, living in the midst of the seige of Sarajevo, explains that although she is Muslim, she sometimes goes to Catholic churches to pray, because there is only one god, it's just there are different ways to worship him.

This is not a particularly unusual level of openness for Sarajevo.

But then, Bosnia has had large populations of Christians and Muslims since the the Ottoman Empire reached it. People there are used to living with people of other faiths and cultures, side by side. They are not used to living in a society where there faith is considered the absolute truth by everyone they know. Nor are they use to their religion being a dominant political force.

And this is why it's dangerous for there to be a huge number of people coming into Europe from countries in North Africa, and Middle Eastern countries such as Syria and Afghanistan. These are people who have lived in a society where everyone they know will be a Muslim like themselves, and where they are taught from day one that Islam is the absolute, unquestionable truth. Have you ever been to an Islamic country? Those calls to prayer certainly have a powerful resonance. These people have been woken up by those calls and heard them before settling into bed every day of their lives.

To suddenly arrive in countries such as Germany or Sweden, where many people have no religion, and the majority of those who do follow a different one; where homosexuality is not just legalized, but celebrated; where drinking alcohol is an integral part of the culture; where women are free to wear whatever they please; where sex is easy to get but filled with complex politics and manners; where people of many religions and cultures live side by side - surely its understandable that these migrants will experience a fairly considerable culture shock, that they probably won't be keen to integrate, that it will too different for them, too shocking, that they will become alienated, that they will feel hostile towards their host culture, and that many will become radicalized in an effort to protect their sense of identity.

You've reduced European culture to atheism, homosexuality, alcohol and sex?

You've reduced European culture to atheism, homosexuality, alcohol and sex?

European culture is basically, atheism, homosexuality, alcohol and sex, consumerism and political correctness.

Because facets such as cuisine, language and history are irrelevant, right?

Obviously someone didnt get the memo that we're discussing factors that define most/all European countries.