&gt; although I imagine conservative Jewish populations are an exception<p>I&#x27;m a dane living in Copenhagen. I am atheist as well. I really do not get what you mean by &quot;conservative Jewish populations are an exception&quot; to good cultural assimilation.<p>I grew up unaware of the jewish population, I studied and later worked with several jews, unaware that they were in fact jewish, My wife had several jewish friends from college. Except for the fact that some of them chose to live &quot;more&quot; jewish than others - and generally take Fridays off - I have <i>never</i> ever noticed them to stand out in any way. In fact, I have known several people for years without realizing that they were jewish.<p>They seem to have been assimilated to the point where it is actually a threat to the (little) cultural diversity that Denmark has.<p>It is the same way in the other Scandinavian countries. Your comment is very, very strange.<p>&gt; I read a suggestion many years ago (well before Turkey entered the EU)<p>Turkey has not entered the EU. In fact, due to concerns about democracy and human rights, they have not even been promised that they can start negotiations.<p>&gt; Like anyone, I have some mixed feelings about this as seen from across the Atlantic. I both like and dislike America&#x27;s fragmented and vigorous culture, and I think of these more homogenous countries like I think of the small town I live in; with some rose colored glasses on about how &#x27;nice&#x27; they must be.<p>One very important mechanism to make the Danish society work, is <i>trust</i>. We are generous with welfare. We have paid education through college&#x2F;university or equivalent. In fact, in addition to free tuition, we will <i>pay</i> you to take an education. Danish &quot;SU&quot; (&quot;Education Support&quot;) amounts to DKK5941 &#x2F;month - apx $10464&#x2F;year.<p>The backside of the trust is, that one of the least socially acceptable things you can do is to <i>cheat</i> the generous system.<p>&gt; At any rate, it seems to me that Denmark should be allowed to ignore Syria if it wants, and also turn away refugees if it wants, or vet them on whatever criteria the country decides to<p>It seems to me, that every country in the world - Denmark included - should accept their fair share of refugees. Smaller populations with different cultures are generally not a problem. Only when populations with very different culture and religious views grows faster than their culture as well as the host country culture can adapt to eachother do problems arise.