In Italy, migrants are welcomed to fill labor shortages in certain sectors, but their religion is often not, according to research conducted by the Migration and Religion in International Law project, involving several Italian universities.
"We want migrants to undertake roles we are no longer willing to fill," but the problem is "we don't want their prayers,", said Giuseppe Pascale, a professor at the University of Trieste's Department of political and social sciences, who coordinated the project Migration and Religion in International Law.
The results of the study were presented on July 18 in the northeastern city of Trieste.
Integration instead represents a win-win scenario, says Pascale
According to the findings of the project, "we don't always have a negative perception of migration, however if we associate migration with religion the negative perception is obvious", or, "even worse, we perceive migration as a problem and religion as an aggravating" factor, without realizing that "the integration of migrants in the social fabric would represent a win-win" situation, noted the professor.
"This is the conclusion we have reached, which may be banal but is supported by scientific arguments," stated Pascale, presenting the results of the research at a meeting in Trieste.
The academic explained that the study was based on the method of intersectionality, which had never been used before to study the relationship between migration and religion.
The project involved "constitutionalists, church historians, European law experts, political scientists, economists and historians."
Several meetings were held at various partner universities like La Sapienza, Luiss (both in Rome) and the University of Bologna.
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Some Christian refugees say they are Muslim when they reach Europe
One of the issues examined by the research, stressed Pascale, was the "credibility of the conversions of asylum seekers, or those people who had always identified as Christians but, once they reached Europe, stated they were Muslim to justify a reason for persecution."
Other problems concerned security, the use of religious symbols, "like the famous crucifix in schools", as well as the "religious freedom" of resident migrants, said the professor.
After the event on July 18, he concluded, "publications will follow. We would like to incentivize in the future the cooperation with economists and statisticians to further study the concrete impact of these themes".