.... Due to the country’s system of direct democracy, that decision will now be incorporated into the Swiss constitution. It’s a decision that has attracted international condemnation from the Muslim world, Europe and even the Vatican, which called it a "blow to religious freedom". But the Swiss people had their say, and it turns out that they don’t want to see minarets on their skylines. [Intelligence Squared] Read more
France: 41% oppose more mosques, 46% oppose minarets .... It's not only minarets that they're upset about. Just 19% of the French accept that a mosque should be built if the Muslims request it. It's the lowest ratio in the past twenty years. While the number of opponents has returned to the level of the 1980s. 41% oppose building mosques, 36% said they were indifferent and 4% have no opinion. [Islam in Europe] Read more
75% support for the ban on minarets in London Daily News poll Londoners support the Swiss government’s decision to ban minarets and mosques according to a new poll in The London Daily News, further highlighting the "sensitivities" and concerns in the capital at the growing influence of Islam.
Callers to London's leading early morning radio show, the Nick Ferrari programme on LBC, also expressed their concerns with one caller citing how "out of character" a minaret would be if built in London. [The London Daily News.com] Read more [via Islam in Europe]
The case of the Swiss minarets .... How cherished and universal Western freedoms and values really are is a question that the West itself will have to answer. What happens to these values and freedoms in the next few years will be critical in the formulation of a new Western identity: one that will either be universal and inclusive, or selective and exclusive. [altmuslim] Read more
Swiss Muslims urged to seek removal of ban on minarets Sheikh Qaradawi Qatar’s prominent Islamic scholar and chairman of the International Federation of Ulema (IFU) Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has urged the Muslims of Switzerland to seek the annulment of the ban on the construction of minarets on mosques in that country, according to reports published in the local Arabic press. [Gulf-Times.com] Read more [via Islamphobia Watch]
Minarets are not an essential part of Islam Switzerland’s referendum vote to ban minarets is needlessly xenophobic but it does not infringe the religious liberty of Swiss Muslims. Minarets remain emblematic of mosques in the Muslim heartlands but there is no theological reason why houses of worship in the West have to incorporate such towers. [Times Online] Read more
