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After a recent public lecture, a man asked me whether it was more difficult to be a Muslim today in the UK today than it was 20 years ago. I replied for me personally no but perhaps for some, just as I was sure other religious minorities might face their own challenges. He seemed surprised because for him, the rise of right wing parties and racist sentiments in Europe was essentially about the problem of immigration and by that he meant Muslim immigration. This was amongst other things a nod to the Swedish elections over the weekend. Sweden, a country regarded as the bastion of a liberal and open democracy is facing its biggest test in recent years. The Swedish Democrats, the far right party, which has only recently tried to shed its neo nazi image, has gained support winning just under 18% of the vote. Like many parties across Europe it’s been working to rebrand itself, changing its flag, cultivating a more respectable image for mainstream appeal, but despite the political challenge it poses to the centrist parties, the results were not the seismic shift many had forecast. Yet Sweden is only the most recent country to see a lean towards the right where immigration is a potent factor but only one factor. While the results don’t depict a one dimensional story of Europe returning to the 1930s, we shouldn’t be complacent about Europe going through its own soul searching as its values fragment and shift. While all kinds of international forces are at play, for some the shift is due to the decline of a Christian Europe, which is often depicted in phrases such as godless rationality or in stark contrast to the rising minarets. Mosques are not only places of worship they represent civilisational change which many fear to be the gradual Islamisation of Europe. Europe and Islam have a complex history and the recent influx of refugees from the Middle East has exacerbated many of the tensions. But for the most part we saw the best of Europe in its welcome of those literally fleeing for their lives. Sweden welcomed more refugees per capita than any other European country. Its true that hospitality comes at a cost and that integration and cohesion are difficult, maybe even impossible for some. But extremist parties play on people fears, that the world is full of broken promises and that salvation lies in new dreams and a new leader. We should be neither complacent nor hysterical about the political changes as 80% of the Swedish population did not vote for the Swedish Democrats – they are now part of the ongoing democratic debate in Sweden but for all their appeal and rhetoric, for now, it’s the main parties who will keep the empathy and the liberal story alive.