Finally, politics are involved too. The new religious pluralism brings cultural conflicts back to modern societies, which presumably would have been overcome in a secularized environment. Part of this new religious pluralism is caused by the missionary expansion of traditional or new religions. Other causes are international migration movements, which bring people from poor regions or states in war to the industrialized countries. In Western Europe, due to immigration, we can observe an increased religious pluralism.
Mosques are no longer rare in large cities.
Apparently harmless examples such as Islamic women wearing head kerchiefs bring out old conflicts causing confrontations between public and church environments. Historically, in many modern societies religion became as system of beliefs and practices limited to the private sphere of individual behaving. Today, with the new religious pluralism, religion and parareligious practices turn to be a public issue. Old religions in new places and new belief systems have to fight once again for their recognition as a valid system of belief, which should be respected in an open society. On the other hand this religions sometimes do not accept historical divisions between public and private affairs.