Posted by John Romano in News and Analysis on November 29, 2009
GENEVA (YBH.ME) – Voters in Switzerland today banned future construction of mosques with minarets atop them. The vote, approved by Swiss voters with a 57.5% majority, does nothing to discriminate against the practice of Islam itself. The 4 mosques in Switzerland with minarets currently are not affected.
An anti-Islam ad in Switzerland.
Supporters of the initiative asserted that the minaret is not just a symbol of Islam but also “a sign of political power and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage and genital mutilation of girls.”
Amnesty International said that the vote would most likely be reversed by the Swiss Supreme Court or the European Court of Human Rights.
Opinion polls taken just ten days ago showed the initiative failing by a wide margin. Experts believe that people participating in the poll my have changed their answer out of fear of reprisal from Muslims, or so as to not seem intolerant to the pollster.
The minaret’s presence has been a flash point in many European countries as Muslims gain a foothold in Western Europe. Mosque projects in France, Italy and Germany have also met with protests.
Muslim groups throughout Switzerland denounced the vote. It’s important to note that many Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, not only ban Christian churches but legally forbid the practice of any religion besides Islam.
#1 by Ashraf on November 30, 2009 - 4:06 am
I guess its time for Muslims to ban to swiss products from their countries as well.
#2 by Jay on November 30, 2009 - 4:35 am
Clean your own house first Ashraf. You may ban the Swiss products, but that does nothing to prove that you are anywhere close to accepting that there are some serious issues with your religion. Let some one build a Church or Temple in Mecca and we will let you build a hundred minarets….. We know you will never do that, cause you are intolerant to the core.
#3 by Jinto556 on November 30, 2009 - 4:10 am
how about when the saudi's allow christians to practice openly the swiss allow muslims to alter their skyline. deal?
#4 by Matt on November 30, 2009 - 1:44 am
Whoa! Everywhere I read comments about this story, I see all this tit-for-tat BS about “Hey, when Muslims stop being jerks to us in their countries, we’ll start being nice to them in ours.”
I live in Brooklyn near a Muslim school, so I observe plenty of second generation kids in a non-Muslim country. Naturally, their culture is watered down when they can come to our country and do what they want. They can’t keep their kids from watching Spongebob. Their culture is being eroded by new media just like yours.
If we want these people to play it cool in the future, we have to expose our ideological selves to them, because that is the behavior of people who know they’re right. This doesn’t mean that we don’t take actual security threats seriously. There will always be nutjobs with bombs, but we can’t expect radicals to chill while they’re made to feel like second-class citizens. MY ATTITUDE IS DIFFERENT FROM APPEASEMENT, I feel it is something like a natural courtesy among earthlings.
#5 by SLL on December 2, 2009 - 11:58 am
Thank you for being a reasonable voice of what "Western" ideology and belief is really about. Democracy is about promoting freedom for all until it begins to harm others – "My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins." Even many Muslims don't agree with how Saudi Arabia portrays Islam, but it is a sovereign nation and its government has the right to govern however it wishes. Naturally this right belongs to the Swiss as well, however we Europeans should remember our values and not allow them to be replaced by fear mongering. As the proverb goes, if we don't use our beliefs to guide our life, then our lives will determine our beliefs. Peace to you.
#6 by Prof Aighedd on November 30, 2009 - 1:46 am
1) The Swiss can decide what they want in their own country.
2) In the last 60 years, how many churches have been constructed in the muslim countries? Zero!!
3) In the last 60 years, how many mosques have been constructed in Europe? Thousands!!
4) Every islamic commentator speaks about “discrimination”!!!!
5) When in Rome, do as the Romans do! Are the muslims in Europe listening?
#7 by Ricky on November 30, 2009 - 10:47 am
It's interesting that we (west) criticize the fundamental lack of tolerance in Muslims and then we ourselves display intolerance, and to top it all we give Muslim intolerance as the basis and excuse for our own intolerance. The logical conclusion of all this is simply that we are starting to loose the advantage we once had, as we no longer are tolerant and hence can no longer criticize others for not being either.
Secondly, people born into freedom (like most west) have started to take their freedoms for granted. The thinking that a majority should be able to gang up on the minority is fraught with danger and ultimately oppressive societies, against which the founders of democratic/secular political order fought and brought about the political system under which we live…alas people are no longer aware of the true reasons and beauties of secular and tolerant system.
For the proponents of this ban, I suggest reading up on the philosophical underpinnings of the political system and western society before you attempt to explain this ban as a means to "protect" western society. You may be surprised to learn the reasons why the Laws evolved to espouse the freedom of religion and expression and why the good Laws are "generic" and not "specific" – just imagine what you'd need to do to this law to make it truly generic and the possibilities will startle you. I warn you to not simply ignore those possibilities simply because you see them as unlikely as you are in the majority, since everyone is in a minority at some stage.