This chapter explores the relationship between social change, religion and women by focusing on the specific experiences of secularization of a Christian women's movement in Belgium. It does so by thematizing how secularization experiences in a European context need to be understood in relation to discourses regarding Islam/Muslims.

Since the 1960s, Western European countries have witnessed two important factors of social change, namely secularization and ethnicreligious diversification, taking place unevenly across contexts, regions and communities. In Belgium, secularization is understood in terms of sociological statistics pointing to decreased levels of churchgoing as well as unprecedented low levels of trust in the Catholic authorities, especially since the 2010 paedophilia scandals in the Catholic Church (Billiet, Abts and Swijngedouw, 2013). Sociologists and historians have connected secularization and individualization to major shifts in the relationship between religion and politics, and in majority-held norms and values since the 1980s regarding work and family life, sexuality and ethical issues. In 2000, Belgian sociologists at Dutch-speaking universities captured what they perceived to be a shifting collective consciousness throughout Belgium with the phrase ‘lost certainty’ (verloren zekerheid) (Dobbelaere et al, 2000).

Ethnic-religious diversification is understood as the increased presence and visibility of various minoritized communities in Belgium due to globalization and migration since the 1960s. While (postcolonial) migrants, asylum seekers and refugees have represented a wide variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, the term diversity is often associated with the presence of Muslims. While only comprising 6% of the Belgian population, many citizens grossly overestimate the number of Muslims (Temmerman, 2014). Muslims’ increasing visibility and integration in all sectors of public life, and their claims to equal rights and opportunities as well as the right to profess the Islamic faith outside the home or the mosque, are contested in various ways, such as through political and media debates (Zemni, 2011), everyday life interaction and sensibilities (Fadil, 2009) and local policy making that demonstrates difficulties or refusal to accommodate Muslims’ specific needs or practices (Kanmaz and Zemni, 2005; Coene and Longman, 2008).