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News & ArtsMonday, November 30, 2009
Religion Swiss Voters Amend Constitution to Ban...
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:31 AM
...minarets?
1
i could go on and on how this might be a good thing. Good to know your verbose opinion shines again, Dan.
2
This is so embarrassing. There have been protests in all the major cities. The vote fell along the typical city vs. countryside lines. I doubt any of these villagers who voted yes have ever even seen a muslim. Please link to the amazingly racist campaign poster. It puts a lot of this vote in perspective. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8297826.stm
5
Before anyone starts bitching about call-to-prayers and impositions on daily, traditional European (read: Christian) life, let's get the record straight -- four minarets in all of Switzerland, no mosque issues the call-to-prayer. The Swiss are idiotic.
8
Let's also ban bell towers. After that whole Texas thing, how can we condone the continuing construction and use of bell towers on churches?
Nothing against Christianity, but it's time to modify architecture to keep the populace safe.
Nothing against Christianity, but it's time to modify architecture to keep the populace safe.
10
Sounds like the people on Capitol Hill who get upset by view-impacting buildings ....
Quite frankly, it's a zoning decision. That plus the reason for a minaret is to have someone cry out the call for prayer, and the Swiss probably don't like the extra noise five times a day.
Just tweet it.
Quite frankly, it's a zoning decision. That plus the reason for a minaret is to have someone cry out the call for prayer, and the Swiss probably don't like the extra noise five times a day.
Just tweet it.
12
@2: Islam is not a race.
Islam is not a race.
Islam is not a race.
Islam is not a race.
Islam is not a race.
Shall I go on.
@5: In the absence of broadcasting the call to prayer, the only purpose a minaret serves is to dominate the skyline with a symbol of Islam. Switzerland is not a nation of immigrants like the US; it has a native population with a native culture - why should they not resist the imposition of the symbols of a foreign culture on their public square.
Islam is not a race.
Islam is not a race.
Islam is not a race.
Islam is not a race.
Shall I go on.
@5: In the absence of broadcasting the call to prayer, the only purpose a minaret serves is to dominate the skyline with a symbol of Islam. Switzerland is not a nation of immigrants like the US; it has a native population with a native culture - why should they not resist the imposition of the symbols of a foreign culture on their public square.
13
@10: You never read the article did you? If you had you'd see that there are no daily calls to prayer. Before you go off like an idiot do a little research. You look less like a douche bag.
15
I am Swiss, and very disappointed with the vote, but I'd like to explain a few things:
@2: the divide did sort of follow the city/country-division, but a LOT of people in small villages and towns that have high percentages of Muslim inhabitants voted for the ban - so the problem is not that they have never seen or met a Muslim.
@12: We may not be an immigrant country in the sense that the US is, but immigrants have played a huge role in our identity, espaecially in the last couple of generations, since we simply have a lot of them, many of them asylum seekers. Their integration is a big and on-going matter of debate here.
No-one expected this outcome, not even the proponents of the ban, the polls in the weeks beforehand all indicated a different outcome - that's why the opponents got lazy and didn't do nearly enough to fight it. Probably a big factor in the outcome were the recent issues with Libya (2 Swiss men are essentially held hostage there, because Gaddafi is angry with us for arresting his son for beating his employees), so I guess a lot of people felt that we are being threatened. It's not an excuse, and I personally hope that this will be rectified somehow, but maybe this explains e.g. the big voter turnout, and high percentage of yes-votes (even in places it wasn't expected).
@2: the divide did sort of follow the city/country-division, but a LOT of people in small villages and towns that have high percentages of Muslim inhabitants voted for the ban - so the problem is not that they have never seen or met a Muslim.
@12: We may not be an immigrant country in the sense that the US is, but immigrants have played a huge role in our identity, espaecially in the last couple of generations, since we simply have a lot of them, many of them asylum seekers. Their integration is a big and on-going matter of debate here.
No-one expected this outcome, not even the proponents of the ban, the polls in the weeks beforehand all indicated a different outcome - that's why the opponents got lazy and didn't do nearly enough to fight it. Probably a big factor in the outcome were the recent issues with Libya (2 Swiss men are essentially held hostage there, because Gaddafi is angry with us for arresting his son for beating his employees), so I guess a lot of people felt that we are being threatened. It's not an excuse, and I personally hope that this will be rectified somehow, but maybe this explains e.g. the big voter turnout, and high percentage of yes-votes (even in places it wasn't expected).
16
Dominique Garraud in France's LA CHARENTE LIBRE
"The lesson of the Swiss minarets vote is valid for all democracies: its absurdity shows the dangers of referendums known as 'popular initiatives', a blessing and a fearsome weapon for all extremists who know how to surf the irrational fears of public opinion."
"The lesson of the Swiss minarets vote is valid for all democracies: its absurdity shows the dangers of referendums known as 'popular initiatives', a blessing and a fearsome weapon for all extremists who know how to surf the irrational fears of public opinion."
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