attacks Olivier argued that militant Islamism of the type represented by Al Qaeda had peaked and was fading into insignificance. His book Secularism Confronts Islam (Columbia, 2007) offers a perspective on the place of Islam in secular society and looks at the diverse experiences of Muslim immigrants in the West. Roy examines how Muslim intellectuals have made it possible for Muslims to live in a secularized world while maintaining the identity of a "true believer." In 2010 he published Holy Ignorance, When Religion and Culture Part Ways, an analysis of religion, ethnicity and culture and the results when these part ways. After the Charlie Hebdo shooting he argued that most French Muslims were committed to prevent violence, and after the November 2015 Paris attacks, he wrote a strategic analysis of ISIS and the fight against it, published in The New York Times. In 2017, Roy's assertion that jihadi terrorism is only loosely connected to Islamic fundamentalism was criticised by French scholar Gilles Kepel, who said that Roy neither speaks Arabic nor looks into the Salafi doctrine behind the jihadism. Roy has said "I have been accused of disregarding the link between terrorist violence and the religious radicalisation of Islam through Salafism, the ultra-conservative interpretation of the faith. I am fully aware of all of these dimensions; I am simply saying that they are inadequate to account for the phenomena we study, because no causal link can be found on the basis of the empirical data we have available." Other activities Former European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Member Bibliography Généalogie de l'islamisme, Paris Hachette, 1995 Further reading Mathieu Perreault, February 2nd, Journal La Presse, Montreal References External links Website in French Link to English Language Website On Site Washington Post, PostGlobal Panelist Biography and Articles on Le Monde Diplomatique Interview with Olivier Roy: "Full Equality before the Law for All Religions" The Crisis of the Secular State and the New Forms of Religious Expression by Olivier Roy at France Diplomatie 1949 births Living people Islam and politics Sciences Po alumni INALCO alumni French scholars of Islam French orientalists Academic staff of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences Academic staff of the European University Institute French political scientists 20th-century French historians