CBC News - World - Swiss vote to ban new mosque minarets
First minarets, then holy cheese? No time for religious freedom on the Swiss watch?
First minarets, then holy cheese? No time for religious freedom on the Swiss watch?
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.
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.
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.
Even if they banned non-citizens from building mosques, I wouldn't have an issue.
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.
Are the Swiss banning churches with bell towers and steeples?