Posted on 05/04/2007 5:34:33 PM PDT by Cornpone
The construction of minarets in Switzerland looks sets to go to a nationwide vote after a group of rightwing politicians launched a campaign calling for a ban.
The country's Muslim community says it is stunned by what it sees as an "Islamophobic" move, which it warns will undermine already fragile relations.
Those behind a people's initiative, who include members of the county's biggest political party, the Swiss People's Party, have until November 2008 to raise the 100,000 signatures required to force a ballot.
Opponents are angling their attack on article 72 of the Swiss constitution, which allows the authorities to take appropriate measures to maintain the peace among different religious communities.
People's Party parliamentarian Ulrich Schlüer, who is co-president of the campaign committee, argues that the construction of minarets will create problems in communities and threaten the peace.
This has already happened in cantons Solothurn and Bern where plans to build minarets have run into local opposition.
"The minaret has nothing to do with religion: it is not mentioned in the Koran or other important Islamic texts. It just symbolises a place where Islamic law is established," Schlüer told swissinfo.
And it is this issue of Islamic law, and its so-called "incompatibility" with Swiss law, that lies at the root of rightwingers' complaints about minarets.
"No one in the [People's Party] is anti-Muslim. I think all Muslims in Switzerland are free to live here, but they have to respect that we have western-oriented liberal laws and that these laws are valid for everyone who wants to live here," said Schlüer.
He added that he had yet to receive the official backing of his party, but believes this will be forthcoming at its general assembly at the end of June when strategy will be fine-tuned ahead of October's parliamentary elections.
The rightwing drive to force a nationwide vote on minarets is being seen as a major setback by the League of Swiss Muslims. Adel Méjri, the organisation's president, says the construction of minarets is not even a priority for Swiss Muslims.
"As an organisation that is helping Muslims to integrate and become model citizens, we are shocked by this initiative," he said.
"In our opinion, there are other far more important issues to address but the launching of this initiative blocks the possibility of dialogue."
What particularly galls Méjri is the fact that at the end of March the Swiss justice minister and strongman of the People's Party, Christoph Blocher, invited around 20 members of the Muslim community for talks on integration and security.
Méjri also points to a report by the Federal Commission against Racism in September last year, which revealed that Swiss Muslims face discrimination in all walks of life – a situation that could be exacerbated by the minarets' affair.
"Through dialogue we can find solutions but the aggressive – or dare I say "Islamophobic" – way in which this [minarets] is being treated could have unforeseen consequences. This kind of initiative threatens peace and hurts Muslims," he said.
Both the Protestant and Catholic churches have rallied to the defence of the Muslim community, claiming the constitutional right to religious freedom allows the building of minarets.
"We must recognise that there are a large number of Muslims in Switzerland and they have a right to practise their religion," said Walter Müller, spokesman for the Swiss Bishops Conference.
Yet while church leaders dismiss the initiative as a propaganda stunt, they say there is a deep need for further and extensive dialogue to help allay public fears of Islam.
"While it's true that there is this right to religious freedom, I don't think we can suddenly erect 20 minarets in Switzerland without there being an understanding of how Muslims practise their faith and an understanding of the importance of a minaret or mosque," said Simon Weber, spokesman for the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches.
Outstanding news. Would like to see this all over Europe.
I think all Muslims in Switzerland are free to live here, but they have to respect that we have western-oriented liberal laws and that these laws are valid for everyone who wants to live here,” said Schlüer.
***
Don’t hold your breath, Herr Schlüer.
I love this new Muslim communities “warning” about moves to protect and preserve Western values are “endangering already fragile relations”. Dudes, you don’t want fragile relations, go back where the hell you came from! I sincerely hope the Swiss finally get a sense of where stuff like this is going, and always will go, when one
lets Muslims dictate the terms of their social standing..Europe in general would be better off if it threw half of them out NOW/
I lived in Zurich for a while, and the only muslims I noticed were drug dealers.
There's a classic "read between the lines" if ever there was one.
I think they are Normalphobes.
Well, I'm really worried about that.
I've got an idea.
SEND THEM BACK TO WHERE EVERYBODY LOVES MINARETS.
Europe is changing. Let the radical Muslims continue their sheehanagans and they will find their Allies on the left and center running away. We need the left to get a taste of Islamic law in LA and see how quickly they see the light when they start finding their brethren beheaded in bathhouses. The left is one of the primary reasons why Islamic radicals so hate America.
Would like to see this all over Europe.
America too!
They've been watching how Jesse Jackson does it.
"Y'all got a nice setup heah. Pity if sumthin' happen to it..."
I don’t know the first thing about the Swiss press, but does anybody else notice the predominance of “rightwinger” (one word?) in the headline and throughout the story? Would that be considered there, as it would be here, as editorializing in the negative? “Well, it’s just the rightwingers causing problems, so we can ignore this easily enough.”
Meanwhile, there is no predominantly-Muslim country where Christians are permitted to build new churches. Yet Muslims demand the right to build mosques when they enter non-Muslim countries.
Almost all these mosques are being funded by the Saudis. We have little tiny black churches here in the South - in areas where there are absolutely no Muslims - being bought by the Saudis and a “mosque” with one attendant installed. We have big buildings in other cities being converted to mosques, such as Houston, where the Saudis bought the old Federal courthouse and converted it to a mosque and conversion center.
Spain - which I visit a lot - is getting new mosques every day courtesy of the Saudis and its own leftist government. There aren’t many Muslims in any of these places. They’re trying to project a big presence, and after they invade us or strike us militarily, they hope to have clients for the mosques they have already built. This is serious business, and I’m glad the Swiss recognize it.
Islamaphobia or attachemnt to their heads staying on their necks?
Aren’t the Muslems “peaceaphobes”?
Good point. In many countries the opposition to Islamism has a distinctly left-wing component--Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands were NOT "right-wingers"--but the MSM ignores it.
Agree!
They can’t coexist with each other, how could they be expected to coexist with the civilized world?
Why are Muslims not expressing such sorrow over American deaths , from 9/11 onwards, and denouncing their Islamofascist bretheren?
Islam is not a religion of peace, it represents a barbaric state of mind and uncivilized submission.
The Swiss have it right, and may G_d speed their cause, while the rest of Europe will become a pyre to Allah and his hounds of silently approved slaughter.
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