Every major German paper on Friday covers the Thursday-morning arson attack on a mosque in Baden-Wuerttemberg -- an attack which evokes the recent Christian vs. Muslim religious violence in The Netherlands. The culprits threw a Molotov cocktail at the entrance, but the fire was put out before any major damage could be done. Most of the country's left-of-center dailies reported the straight news and avoided the subject on their editorial pages, but the conservatives used the opportunity to rant against parallel societies and point out failures in Germany's multicultural society.

"Arson Attack on Mosque in Sinsheim, churches call for more intensive dialogue between Islam and Christianity; Schily warns of parallel societies," reads the headline in the left-leaning Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung goes light on the headline ("Attack on Mosque in Baden-Wuerttemberg") but its subhead clearly reflects the conservative bias that the left-of-center German government has not done enough to combat Muslim extremism nor to investigate the Germany-based Islamist cell responsible for murdering Dutch film director Theo van Gogh. "The (conservative) opposition demands that (Interior Minister Otto) Schily explain what he knows about Dutch Islamist leader," the subhead states dryly.

But now, with left-of-center newspapers maintaining silence, it's on to the conservative op-eds!

"Western cultures are drifting further apart from the traditional, in some places pre-modern, societies," the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes in a leader. "Especially explosive is the clash with Islam, the direct neighbor of the West, but also the historical competitor of European Christianity." Islam itself, it notes, is divided between fundamentalists and reformists. As they migrate to Europe, militant Islamists are using "traditional Muslim convictions to agitate against 'decadent Europe and America.' The jihadis are implementing (that thinking) through terrorist violence." In looking at the difficulties of integrating Islam into Europe, the paper writes, the same elements are continually highlighted: the treatment of women, attitudes on sexuality and the moral ideals that accompany them. "For any Muslim woman who no longer has a (personal) problem with and is deeply transformed by the European guidelines for gender equality or the sexual behavior and notions of morality and relationships, there's always a big army of traditionalists and fundamentalists standing on the other side who, day-to-day, put up tremendous cultural barriers." Can you ban religious fundamentalism, the paper ask? Nope. But you can ask for more from your Muslim immigrants.

The opposition Christian Democrats, the paper notes, are demanding that Berlin take a more proactive and preventative approach to Muslim immigrants -- especially Islamists. "Germany's cultural diversity can only prosper if Europe's Leitkultur (leading culture) is accepted. In Germany, that's German culture," it argues. The term is controversial because of its populist overtones. But the paper also seeks to narrow its definition. "This doesn't mean people have to be Germanized," it writes. "But they do have to learn the language, accept the laws of a democracy and the customs developed over generations. Other countries that allow immigration make that same demand."

A while back in Germany, the slogan "Foreigners, please don't leave us alone with the Germans," were popular in leftist circles. But, notes the leading article in Die Welt: "To present Germany, a free society, as deficient and in need of therapy through non-European cultures, and to grant these the same value and the same room for development as the German civilization of enlightenment and Christianity belongs to one of the biggest idiocies in recent history, and it's also made it easier for pre-modern, fanatical parallel universes to emerge."

It continues: "No country in Europe is free of preachers of hate, oppressed Muslim girls or lawless ghettos." Then the editorial goes on to explain the history of Muslim immigration in Germany -- most came as "guest workers" to work in mines after World War II. The closure of the mines later primarily affected the immigrant population -- the impact was buffered for German laborers. Immigrants also took jobs Germans didn't want. When it came time to go home though, East Anatolia was in the midst of a civil war and they made the "morally correct" choice to stay here in Germany, even if they were considered second-class citizens. Unfortunately, that also made them easy to radicalize for Islamists who showed up later. Germany should now restrict the Islamists who abuse Germany's freedom and oppress women. "But ushering these parallel societies in to the better enlightened Christian (one) requires that we not linger any longer on notions of multiculturalism."