Quote Originally Posted by Pannonian View Post
Existing western culture is already accepting of the foundations of multiculturalism, in the form of secularism. With the possible exception of the US, and even there the constitution is revered more than religion, western countries are deeply secular. All that is asked of incomers is that they too should be secular. If they can't accept this first step, there is no next step which is acceptable.
Aye, there's the rub.


Not a bad line about revering the Constitution more than religion -- though the USA is no longer (sadly) a nation of mostly church-goers. Most of us, in the past, have been personally religious but VERY few of us want any religion connected to governance in any but a ceremonial fashion. We view the substantive separation of church and state as a means of protecting both, along with a protection of the rights of the individual.


Immigration, in pre-WW2 days, was usually a question of assimilation. By and large, the immigrants would adopt the values of the new country over the course of a very few generations and much of the remaining cultural traditions would manifest on a more ceremonial level. Post WW2, assimilation has been less readily accomplished.

Husar, you cite the salad metaphor -- which is at least more likely than the melting pot, since the resultant homogeneity of that metaphor was never possible. But the limitation on that is it isn't just a case of different holiday traditions or having access to different cuisines. The real problem is, absent assimilation or at least cultural hybridity, that some fairly important values are incommensurate -- and that sort of thing does not meld well at all. The salad metaphor works only if all the elements are edible. Where it is a choice of palatability, you simply pick and choose -- but an element in the salad that could cause harm? Different problem.