A Danish Red Party surprises its Muslim allies: SF plans to streamline procedures for stripping preachers and Islamic centers of government recognition.
The SF party, known as a left-wing party belonging to the Red Bloc and which usually gains support from Danes of non-Western backgrounds (i.e., Arab and Islamic), is planning to help the government tighten the authorities' grip on religious communities. The SF party, headed by Pia Olsen Dyhr, wants to get rid of religious coercion and is launching proposals to facilitate the withdrawal of state recognition of preachers, communities, or Islamic centers, according to a statement by immigration rapporteur Serdal Benle to the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. The party is focusing particularly on marriage contracts in Islamic environments, according to the source.
The dilemma of Islamic marriage contracts
According to the rapporteur, this step will have consequences for all recognized religious communities. However, Serdal Benle focuses particularly on religious coercion, where “women are kept in Islamic marriages with marriage contracts.” He told the source, “These marriage and divorce contracts are examples of how a parallel law prevails in pockets of our society, operating outside the family law system. I don’t think such contracts should be legal at all.” He is thus criticizing Islamic Sharia contracts because they are incompatible with Danish family law and describing them as a parallel law.
Denying religious preachers and communities state recognition
Specifically, the SF proposes that it should be easier to deny preachers and religious communities state recognition, which grants them a number of privileges such as tax benefits and the right to perform legally binding marriages. The SF also wants to strengthen oversight of this issue.
Serdal Benle acknowledges to Jyllands-Posten that the SF's proposal stems from several examples, but adds that if one imam refuses to allow a woman to divorce without the husband's consent, that's too many.
Church minister's comment
Church Minister Morten Dallen (of the Liberal Party Venstre) believes that efforts need to be strengthened in all relevant areas, and according to the minister, the Danish parliament should review the Religious Communities Act next year, according to a written comment to the newspaper, the source said.
It is worth noting that the Minister of Foreigners and Integration recently raised this issue, and the Danish media discussed the issue of marriage and divorce contracts according to Islamic Sharia and their implications, which are facing criticism in Danish political and social circles for not being compatible with the family law in force in Denmark.
Source: Kristleit, citing Ritsau and local media
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