Swiss to Ban Minarets

relic

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Nov 29, 2009
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I like Jimi's version a lot better,and about the minarets,I think it's kinda petty,what's it gonna do except stir....feces?
 

SirJosephPorter

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Nov 7, 2008
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Guess they saw what was happening in Sweden.
Sweden in Grip of Islam

Sweden in Grip of Islam Video


Pat Robertson, yeah. There is an unbiased source. This is the same guy who claimed with a straight face that 25% of trade union workers are on drugs (when he was running for president in 1988 ) . Or who claimed that God told him that Bush was going to win in 1992.

Having said that, banning minarets is really the internal matter for the Swiss. And as I understand, they have not banned building of mosques, they have only banned building of minarets. So I have no problem with that, it is an internal matter for Switzerland.
 

TenPenny

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Jun 9, 2004
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Having said that, banning minarets is really the internal matter for the Swiss. And as I understand, they have not banned building of mosques, they have only banned building of minarets. So I have no problem with that, it is an internal matter for Switzerland.

It's always nice when the nutcase far right wins, and you support them.

 

Colpy

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Nov 5, 2005
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Pat Robertson, yeah. There is an unbiased source. This is the same guy who claimed with a straight face that 25% of trade union workers are on drugs (when he was running for president in 1988 ) . Or who claimed that God told him that Bush was going to win in 1992.

How about the notoriouslty liberal New York Times???

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/magazine/05muslims.html

oh right.

He can't hear me......

Hear no evil.....:roll::roll::roll::roll:
 

SirJosephPorter

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I neither support nor oppose the decision, it is an internal matter for the Swiss. If they had banned building of new mosques, I definitely would be opposed to that. But they haven’t done that. A minaret is an architectural feature and has no religious significance.

It is the difference between a turban (or a kirpan) and a veil or hijab. The first two are religious icons, an integral part of Sikh religion, the second two are merely social constructs in Islam. Banning the first two would bring you into conflict with the Charter of Rights, banning the second two wouldn’t.

Same way, I don’t see what the fuss is about.
 

Andem

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Mar 24, 2002
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GENEVA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations' top human rights official on Tuesday criticized a Swiss ban on building Muslim minarets, saying the measure was "clearly discriminatory."

Such a ban is "discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take, and risks putting the country on a collision course with its international human rights obligations," said UN High CommissionWeer for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

In a referendum held on Sunday, Swiss voters approved an initiative launched by right-wing and ultra-conservative groups to ban the construction of new minarets. The Swiss government was strongly opposed to the initiative but it had to respect the result of the vote.

"I hesitate to condemn a democratic vote, but I have no hesitation at all in condemning the anti-foreigner scare-mongering that has characterized political campaigns in a number of countries, including Switzerland, which helps produce results like this," Pillay said.

She noted that politics based on xenophobia or intolerance "is extremely disquieting, wherever it occurs."

"It is corrosive, and -- beyond a certain point -- can become socially disruptive and even dangerous," she added.



I honestly have to question why anybody believes they have the right to criticize the outcome of the will of the people. The unfortunate thing is that the people of Switzerland were never really given the chance to answer the question of whether they even wanted to allow non-European immigrants into their country.
 

SirJosephPorter

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I honestly have to question why anybody believes they have the right to criticize the outcome of the will of the people. The unfortunate thing is that the people of Switzerland were never really given the chance to answer the question of whether they even wanted to allow non-European immigrants into their country.

You said it, Andem. We all should be concerned if freedom of religion is threatened, especially in a European, developed country. However, a minaret has nothing whatever to do with Islam. Nowhere does it say in Koran that a mosque must be constructed with a minaret on top.

I remember some localities in the past have taken exception to the McDonald arch. They demanded that McDonald build its restaurant to blend in with the surroundings, without the arch. McDonald complied with the request. This is no different.

Swiss people think, rightly or wrongly, that they don’t want minarets in their country, that mosques must be constructed without minarets. Minaret is not an integral part of Islam, like turban or kirpan is an integral part of Sikhism.

So if the Swiss decide to ban the construction of minarets, that is their business, and nobody else’s.
 

SirJosephPorter

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Even if they banned non-citizens from building mosques, I wouldn't have an issue.

I agree. However, if they banned citizens from building mosques, I would have a big problem with that. Forget about mosques, they could even ban foreigners from building a house, they still would be withing their right, it won't violate any fundamental, basic human rights.
 

Sparrow

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Nov 12, 2006
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As well as providing a visual cue to a Muslim community,[citation needed] the main function of the minaret is to provide a vantage point from which the call to prayer (adhan) is made. Call to prayer in Islam happens five times each day. These times are at sunrise, noon, day, sundown, and evening. In most modern mosques, the adhan is called not from the minaret but from the musallah, or prayer hall, via a microphone and speaker system.

After reading the above I don't know if I would like the calling to prayer 5 times a day on a speaker system in my neighborhood. However, if there is an agreement that there would be no calling I would not have any objection but the papers better be very well written to prevent a change of mind.
 

SirJosephPorter

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After reading the above I don't know if I would like the calling to prayer 5 times a day on a speaker system in my neighborhood. However, if there is an agreement that there would be no calling I would not have any objection but the papers better be very well written to prevent a change of mind.

I think one of those calls to prayer is quite early in the morning, around 5.00 a.m. or so. Imagine a loud, booming call on the loudspeaker at 5 0’clock in the morning ‘Allah hoo Akbar’, loud enough to wake the dead.