The people of Switzerland are voting today in a national referendum, to decide on whether to ban future construction of mosque minarets in the country.
The Muslim population of the country is estimated at 400 000, or 5% - 6% of the 7,5 M population of Switzerland. This compares with some 60 000, back in the 1960s. The Swiss government claims that fewer than 13% of these practice their religion.
Currently, there are some 160 mosques and cultural centers serving the Swiss Muslim minority. To date, there are a total of four minarets in the country.
Switzerland’s right-wing political parties have provoked the referendum, after having presented a petition with over 150 000 signatures supporting the proposed ban.
Surveys made in the run-up to Sunday’s referendum indicate that 53% of voters oppose the initiative. However, support for the ban has grown in the past weeks.
Whereas this has been seen as primarily a political move, there is concern that women’s groups have been successful in getting the support of female voters, by emphasizing what they perceive as the way Muslims treat women.
“If we give them a minaret, they’ll have us all wearing burqas,” said one Swiss housewife. “Before you know it, we’ll have sharia law and women being stoned to death in our streets. We won’t be Swiss any more.”
Feminist involvement has boosted the campaign, according to a poll, 39% of women support the ban on minarets, compared to 31% of men.
The Muslim community condemns the referendum as “a dirty campaign”. A local Muslim leader said. “They’re trying to provoke us.”
Reactions among the business community are pointed. There are fears of a reaction against Swiss products similar to the one suffered by Denmark over the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in 2005.
“The brand ‘Swiss’ must continue to represent values such as openness, pluralism and freedom of religion,” said Hanspeter Rentsch, a member of the board of Swatch, the watchmaker.
The Swiss government is worried about reprisals plunging Switzerland into the front line of the war against terror. Micheline Calmy-Rey, the foreign minister, said a yes vote “could make Switzerland a target for Islamic terrorism”.
Whatever the result of Sunday’s referendum, the arguments seem likely to continue.
“In Switzerland,” said Hisham Maizer, president of the Swiss Federation of Islamic Organizations. “The debate about Islam is only just beginning.”
Author: Balgarska, 29 Nov 2009 14:45:59
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
We really should do the same thing in Bulgaria! Ban the minarets, the very idea of mosques with minarets are really disgusting. Why are we allowing Turks to show their arrogance by having minarets on our land?? If they want minarets then they should go to Turkey and build it there.
Author: Bill, 29 Nov 2009 15:57:20
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Bulgarska:
Pardon me, but what's wrong with minarets? They're only architectural design. There was some objection here in Germany, too, but it was solved by a simple compromise. Minarets could be built, but the Muezzins can't disturb the whole neighborhood with the calls to prayer, be they personal or recorded.
Nobody objects to crosses on catholic churches, do they?
Author: NellieotAmerica, 29 Nov 2009 17:09:32
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Balgarska
"We really should do the same thing in Bulgaria! Ban the minarets, the very idea of mosques with minarets are really disgusting. Why are we allowing Turks to show their arrogance by having minarets on our land?? If they want minarets then they should go to Turkey and build it there."
I agree. Turkey has NO business meddling in Bulgarian politics, building mosques in Bulgaria, or having Turkish language TV. The Turkish vermin have to submit to Bulgaria or det the hell back to Diarbekir, no one will miss them in Bulgaria. We don't want Bulgaria to be infiltrated with Muslim vermin like Germany is.
Author: WickedWitch, 29 Nov 2009 17:13:03
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Nellie,
You know that arguing with yourself out loud is not that good for your sense of reality, right?
Author: DrFaust, 29 Nov 2009 17:21:28
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Bill,
I forgot in my statistics No. 4:
Snide remarks from the sideline (topic irrelevant).
Since this is the trademark of the hit-and-run bitch (she disappears usually immediately after she placed one of her sniper attacks), it doesn't change really the 95%. Her postings are irrelevant not only regarding the content, even numerically she can't compete with the industrious cockroach.
Author: NellieotAmerica, 29 Nov 2009 17:23:39
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
WW
If you are implying that Balgarska is my sock puppet--she isn't. It is just that all great minds think alike.
Author: NellieotAmerica, 29 Nov 2009 17:27:17
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Bill
" Pardon me, but what's wrong with minarets? "
They represent Islam. Islam is bad. Don't make me go over all the reasons why Islam is bad. I have listed them more than once. How dumb are you?!?
Author: Balgarska, 29 Nov 2009 17:39:38
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
In a right and just world, mosques in Europa would be torn down and minarets knocked down. Mosques are not European, nor are they a part of our culture. So, why should they be forced down our throats by building them in Europa?!?!!
In Saudi Arabia, construction of churches are absolutely forbidden and I agree with that policy! Two cultures, two people and two religions should be kept separate and not merged, period.
Author: WickedWitch, 29 Nov 2009 17:45:16
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
I don't disappear. I just have no interest in what you have to foam about trying to defend your flagrant idiocy.
Author: WickedWitch, 29 Nov 2009 17:47:59
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
And, now it's painfully obvious you don't even have a passing acquaintance with statistics, let alone have studied it - you can't even fake it convincingly.
Author: NellieotAmerica, 29 Nov 2009 17:53:50
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Balgarska
" In Saudi Arabia, construction of churches are absolutely forbidden and I agree with that policy! Two cultures, two people and two religions should be kept separate and not merged, period."
Try explaining this to the communist Eurotrash liberals. Islam is not just a religin, it is a way of life. It is Sharia law, Jihad, submission.......pray, pay and obey........
Islam is absolutely incompatible with western culture and society. It should not be allowed to spread and destroy our civilization. But are the Euromorons paying attention? Look at nut cases like fistula here. The moron has plenty of screws loose in his head rattling around.
I hoe I get reincarnated as a brain cell, so I never have to see him again!
Author: DrFaust, 29 Nov 2009 17:59:45
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Bill,
I have fun! To read 'texts' by the bitch is really funny! This mixture of 'me and Nelson Mandela', 'me and Gandhi', 'me and other brilliant minds' and 'I am soooo super smart and you don't have the slightest idea, you idiot' on the one hand and absolute ignorance in whatever field on the other hand, dressed in a few impressing sounding no-brainer sentences, trying to impress people but only revealing her arrogance and her inferiority complex - very amusing! What a pity that she gives only so rarely examples of her amusing dumbness!
Author: NellieotAmerica, 29 Nov 2009 18:03:16
Swiss Referendum to Determine Minaret Construction Future
Bill
When America was free of the shackles of Islam, say, fifty years ago, the current response to the attack at Fort Hood by an enemy faction would have been unthinkable.
I have watched in abject horror the elites' stunning reaction to this act of war. The denial, the submission, the excuses, the dodging, the self-flagellation, the shame -- the deceiving of the American people by the media, the military, society, law enforcement, authorities and politicians, all the way up to and including the White House -- amounts to the enforcement of Shariah law.
Shariah law forbids criticism of Islam. And here we are.
We are witnessing an Islamized America. This is well beyond political correctness. We are enforcing Shariah law. We will not insult Islam -- that is Shariah law. We self-censor -- that is Shariah law. We disrespect ourselves and our nation so that we might respect Islam. This is dhimmitude. We should be raging; we should be outraged. We should be strategizing for this worldwide conflict. We should be debating about which leader will best handle Islam's war on the West. And yet we have not one leader who begins to understand the conflict -- that's how feared the subject matter is. Not one leader.
That's why Islam is bad, that's why minarets are bad. Got it?
