Swiss voters back ban on minarets.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

Swiss voters have supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets, official results show. More than 57% of voters and 22 out of 26 cantons - or provinces - voted in favour of the ban. The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People's Party, (SVP), the largest party in parliament, which says minarets are a sign of Islamisation. The government opposed the ban, saying it would harm Switzerland's image, particularly in the Muslim world.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Bern, says the surprise result is very bad news for the Swiss government which also fears unrest among the Muslim community. Our correspondent says voters worried about rising immigration - and with it the rise of Islam - have ignored the government's advice. "The Federal Council (government) respects this decision. Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted," said the government in a statement, quoted by the AFP news agency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8385069.stm

[Liberal Veteran]

1. I'd be okay with this if they also banned steeples.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. Why?

What is the point of banning an architectural construct except to piss people off?

[Liberal Veteran]

3. If this were a blanket ban on religious towers (which steeples and minarets are), it would be fair.

Otherwise, they are singling out a specific religion for restrictions and that seems like a bad path for a country to go down.

[mitchtv]

4. are steeples allowed in Muslim countries?

I'm sure not in the Gulf region.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Woohoo! Let's all race to the bottom!

This isn't math. Two negatives do not a positive make.

[ORDagnabbit]

6. good question...

[Kalyke]

7. Yes, but they look a little different.

This is Bethany Beyond the Jordan Catholic Church in Jordan:



This is an Orthodox Church in Jordan:

/tpod.html#

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. Why would that be fair?

If you want to build something on private property and it meets all of the usual planning requirements, why should it be denied on religious grounds?

[kiva]

9. Last I heard Switzerland wasn't particularly interested

in becoming a multicultural country. If its citizens have voted against this, I'm not sure why the opinion of an American about private property is particularly important.

[SoCalDem]

10. and it all comes back to the crux of the issue..

If someone wants to emigrate to a country, they should be ready to assimilate. It's always amused me a bit to see the western women who go to the middle east..they wear head scarves because it's the custom there, even though they are not muslim , but whenever muslims emigrate to another country that is NOT a muslim country, they get bent our of shape when people of that country want them to adapt to western ways..

They want it both ways..always.. they enforce their rules on visitors and transplants to their countries, but when they leave, they expect their host countries to NOT ask them to do the same..

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. Nice broad-brush statement there.

The vast majority of Muslims who emigrate to other countries are able to integrate. It's an extremely loud minority who make a stink about the culture of their new home not conforming to their extremist ideals. You'll find that most mainstream Muslim organizations in Western countries condemn that type of behavior in no uncertain terms.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. Banning certain types of structures is not going to change the cultural makeup of the country.

All it is going to do is engender feelings of persecution amongst a minority of the population.

[FarCenter]

13. Can I get the bells in the Catholic church banned?

Damn annoying.

If they want to send messages they can use Twitter.