Swiss ban minurets

[SamIam]

I guess the Swiss are not as neutral as they would like the world to believe.

GENEVA (AFP) – Swiss voters approved a ban on new minarets being built, with the success of the far-right initiative causing dismay among the Alpine country's tiny Muslim community.

The referendum to ban the towers or turrets attached on mosques from where Muslims are traditionally called to prayer was approved by 57.5 percent of voters who cast ballots and in 22 out of the country's 26 cantons.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091130...mislamreligion

[TheMercenary]

You know I read this and I am just not sure what to think about it. Switzerland is not that big of a country and they did elect a pretty right wing government in the last round of elections. I guess I am not all that surprised.

Christopher Caldwell, in his 2009 book “Reflections on the Revolution in Europe”, writes that Europe has faced mass immigration in the second half of the 20th century and does not know how to deal with this new population, which in some countries accounts for about 10% of the population. He compared this immigration to mass immigration to the United States from non-northwest European countries from the late 19th century until now, and how the United States had to adjust the image of itself and “become” a nation of immigrants. Europe, he writes, has yet accepted the fact that it has to adjust to this reality. And unlike the growing and boisterous America of the late 19th century, 21st century Europe is a continent in decline: with low birth-rates and a culture that may be termed as relativistic. The culture of Islam is confident in itself and its values, and when the two face each other, European liberalism seemed to have shirked back in mild accommodation. The best example of that is the Archbishop of Canterbury proposing that sharia law be accepted as a precedent in deciding cases in Britain like English common law.

http://www.examiner.com/x-27914-Newa...o-ban-minarets

[TheMercenary]

And another view altogether.

Having said that, Sunday's vote, for all the hand-wringing leading up to it, was a decidedly mild-mannered sort of protest. The construction of new minarets is banned, but the building of mosques is unaffected, and the vote does not affect the four existing minarets in the country. Nobody's freedom of worship is threatened, but a symbolic message has been sent.

But what message, exactly? The vote betrays an undercurrent of fear among the Swiss—a fear that is not without cause. There is no denying the connection between radical imams and terrorist acts. Nor should anyone look away from the fact that too many European Muslims flatly reject the norms of their host countries, sometimes in ways that are criminal: honor killings, child brides and the like.

Yet banning minarets does nothing to address that fear. It merely makes it less likely that the average Swiss will be confronted by a visible symbol of Islam upon his skyline. Thus, even as a symbolic gesture, it seems to encourage a head-in-the-sand approach toward the 5% of Swiss who are Muslim. In much of Europe, this is the norm anyway, the result of political correctness and cowardice.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by SamIam

I guess the Swiss are not as neutral as they would like the world to believe.

Switzerland has been neutral, but at the same time, always strong on defense, from mining the tunnels to mandatory small arms caches.
They see the Muslims as a threat to their way of life, their country, because the Muslims don't want to be Swiss, they want to be Muslims living their way, in Switzerland.

[TheMercenary]

And this from the French... You know, that country that tried to ban the veil?

France's FM Bernard Kouchner condemns Swiss minaret ban

Bernard Kouchner said he was shocked by the decision which, he said, showed "intolerance" and should be reversed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8385893.stm

[Trilby]

The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way

[wolf]

Go Swiss.

It's hard enough to maintain national identity with four languages and all those mountains ...

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Nearby mountains wouldn't be bad working substitutes for minarets anyway. The whole point of these towers is to enhance sound projection for the vocal call to prayers.

Me being the sort I am, I'm imagining some unorthodox types deciding an Alphorn call from the mountainside would be just the thing to enhance an Allahu akbar, come to prayers, come to prayers! -- you happy wanderers, you.

("Allah-h-allah -- that last call was a roughie. Anybody got a Ricola?")