Go and look for some special cookies or chocolates from your country. Make sure they don't contain alcohol, gelatine or one of the E-marks that Muslims aren't allowed to eat, in case your bf's family is religious. For me it is easy, I can even bring Baileys and Whisky from the taxfree

But cookies, chocolates, sweets, that are special for your country, are generally very very welcome! They keep asking me to bring more 'stroopwafels' and Dutch cheese !

Schools have nothing to do with the 'non'secularism of a country. The Netherlands are a secular country, but we have schools with a Christian vision, an Islamic vision, public schools that have no religious vision, schools that teach according to the montessori or jenaplan vision. That does not make us less secular. It makes us secular because there is space for all religions to establish themselves in a school.

Tamikidakika, you may say your schoolsystem is more secular than, for instnace the UK, because they allow Christian festivities and Turkey does not. But in Turkish primary schools Sunni Islam is a compulsory lesson. In schools in the Netherlands, the type of religious education depends on the type of school you choose, it doesn't 'depend' on the fact that every state sponsored primary school offers obliged Sunni İslam lessons. They aren't as obliged as they used to be, Christian parents can send the Turkish schools letters that they are not Muslim and therefore their children don't have to take these lessons. Yes, a big improvement. But what about Alevis? They consider themselves Muslim, but they have to write a letter to the schoolprincipal 'that they are not Muslim' (though they consider themselves Muslim) in order for their children not to take Sunni lessons. How secular is that?

You can't debate on secularism comparing the UK, The Netherlands and Turkey. Because the meaning of secularism is different in those places. In the Netherlands, secularism means that the state doesnt interfere with religion, that you can establish religious schools and that parents are free to choose what school they send their children to. It means that you can celebrate Christmas with a schoolplay in a church, and you can celebrate Ramazan with an iftar-meal in the schoolhall. If you're lucky, your school does both.
In Turkey it means direct control of religion by the state, where the state has picked Sunni İslam to be the 'right' religion that needs state protection and state interference. Its no use to debate on secularism or education without keeping that in your mind. But what you say, is simply untrue: different types of education do not make a country less secular.

I didn't take the time to read all of this. Because I am pretty sure I can guess the content. And everybody knows how I think about freedom of speech, and how we should be able to talk about everything. Muslim violence, christian violence. I really don't care how you name it, it is violence and religion, and I'm against both either way.

But to be honest Catwoman, the title you choose for this forum, doesn't look like you aimed at a friendly debate to discuss 'Muslim violence'. It seems a little inflammatory to me, and can understand if anyone would object to the title alone, instead of any of the posts. Wish you had picked another title, it's bad enough if members pick such titles, let us administrators and mods not be the bad example...

Müzik should be with a Z though, not an S