Other religious traditions, including Islam, are present in them. The encounter between religions may be a chance, an invitation to think over one's own convictions in order to welcome the truth about God and about mankind. Most Churches in Europe are aware of pluralism as of a fundamentally positive fact. Some of them have yet to take position on this issue. In general, many Christians wish to think in depth about their faith, which no longer relates simply to social matters, but to their own serious personal conviction.
Motivated believers meet together in dynamic parishes or base communities.
They seek a spirituality founded on a firm and open-minded theology. Moreover, key tenets of the Christian faith are no longer accepted by some people who still declare themselves to be Christian. Sometimes they live without any reference to Christ. While priests, ministers, religious men or women, and laypeople work hard to educate believers, there is a definite lack of leadership. Muslim perspective For a long time, the presence of Muslims was rather discrete.