The vast majority of foreigners come from EU countries or countries that are culturally similar to ours; however there´s an immigration which has created Muslim parallel societies that are characterized by a different culture and a different view of society than the Danish. Danes and foreigners generally have a good relationship and in daily life, there are no major problems.
The Danes are often characterized as xenophobic and opponents of all that is foreign. But that’s not right. We live in a very open society based on mutual trust and are used to discuss everything on a very open basis. Danes appreciate freedom such as religious, sexual, political and not least the freedom of speech.
At the same time there has been a radicalization of Islam, both in the Muslim world and in Europe. In the Muslim parallel societies there is a widespread belief that society should be ruled by religion.
It abuts with the secular society we have in Denmark - a society where it is free people and not religion that determines. The clash has many forms. One of them is about freedom of expression. Most Muslims do not believe that freedom of expression must be used for criticism and satire against the Prophet Mohammed and Islam.
The majority of Danes are not hostile toward strangers, but we are skeptical. Many believe that we have failed to integrate the people who are not from the Western world. Generally, the Danes have a tendency to assess the impact of immigration as negative. We are afraid that our unique culture and our freedoms rights may be limited.
Looking at the issues Danes believe exists, then it´s primarily social issues such as unemployment and crime rate among them more than the foreigner's greater religiosity. So far there are no major controversies between the ordinary Danish citizens and people of foreign origin. However, there is an increasing tendency that the Muslim community wants more religious considerations taken at the expense of the Danish values which mean that more and more people will develop an increasingly negative attitude to Muslims especially.
This is a problem we have to discuss in an open forum without pulling out the Racism card every time we talk about Islam and Danish culture. It requires that the leftist puts their prejudices away and actually takes the anxious citizens opinion seriously.
We are a people that can accommodate a lot, but we have a boundary line and it gets closer and closer teach day. As said, it´s small problems we have with people of foreign origin – so far!