Swiss Ban Minarets

[Heald]

Swiss voters back ban on minarets (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8385069.stm)

The short version: A Swiss referendum backed the banning of the construction of new minarets in the country.

Lets make this clear: all this ban has done is stopped the building of minarets, not mosques. Minarets are not an important feature of mosques, in fact historically they are just a feature of Middle Eastern construction that have come to be associated with mosques, but otherwise serve no important religious feature.

It is not uncommon for areas to ban the building of ugly, pointless buildings or features on a building, and minarets frankly look stupid in anywhere apart from the Middle East. They don't belong in Europe, fact.

It's deeply disturbing that the opponents of the ban have tried to paint those who support the ban as out-of-touch, racist, extremist right-wing, fascist Islamophobes. No one in the West likes the look of minarets, they're frankly disgusting.

Discuss.

EDIT: UN has denounced the ban on its Twitter account as it 'discriminates against Muslims'. So, not only are they completely wrong, they are also completed biased. Bang up job all round, you corrupt pen-pushing idiots.

[RedStarWarrior]

I was listening to this on the radio.

The real problem I have with the ban is that there are 400,000 Muslims in Switzerland, but only 4 minarets. A ratio of 50,000 to 1 would be better than the current 100,000 to 1.

[Heald]

You're acting as if Muslims need minarets, when they don't. They're just a certain kind of architecture. There are still mosques, they just don't have the unnecessary minarets that look stupid in a country like Switzerland.

[Lady Vulpix]

What's the point of banning an architectural feature? Minarets don't do anyone any harm. You may or may not like them, but that's no reason to ban them.

[RedStarWarrior]

So? Let them have their damn buildings.

I mean, THERE ARE SO MANY FUCKING CHURCHES, yet we aren't banning the creation of more.


I DEMAND A MINARET MADE OUT OF SWISS CHOCOLATE!

[Roy Karrde]

You know really the most I have on this is a Yahoo article so I really have no depth in the issue. That being said, I doubt anyone can deny either rightly or wrongly that there is some Anti Islam sentiment going through Europe right now. One thing the ban is being connected to is the Head Scarf ban in French Public Schools, the Dutch Burqa ban, and other things that Europe has taken up in the last few years that have been seen as 'Anti Islam'. If the ugly Minarets become THAT much of a problem eventually, then focus on it then, I would think there are some bigger problems that Europe needs to deal with when it comes to their Muslim populations ( Radical Imams, Honor Killings, Forced Marriages ), than ugly buildings.

[Houndoom_Lover]

That's like banning the cross on top of the church. This ban does nothing but piss people off- way to go, Swissies.

Besides, Minarets can be quite lovely. The Muslin houses of worship by where my Grandparents live are breathtakingly astounding.

[Crystalmaster Mike]

I heard about there being talk about a ban, I just didn't know it was backed up yet.

@Roy Karrde: I recognized that tendency here, too. In Belgium, head scarfs have been banned at public schools, too. It wasn't even initialized by an extremist party, either. The ban was issued by one school. Then there came protests about the measure because it was thought not to be theirs to make, but that of the council preciding over all public schools. Result? The responsibility was given, officially, to that council... who promptly put the measure in place nation wide... or at least up in Flanders, AFAIK.

[Blademaster]

Aren't minarets those lighthouse-shaped towers on the side of the Taj Mahal?

Who bans something you BUILD, anyway? What's gonna get stricken from the books next? Gothic arches? Greek columns? Dirt roads? I just don't get the logic behind this.

[Andrew]

I kind of like the idea that no-one is allowed to have a religion....

Maybe they're trying to bring in the new order of Ikea.

[RedStarWarrior]

I kind of like the idea that no-one is allowed to have a religion....

Maybe they're trying to bring in the new order of Ikea.
That's Sweden, my dear.

EDIT: The UN has a Twitter? The fuck?

[Telume]

I thought the Minarets were supposed to represent the pillars of Islam?

Nonetheless banning them is kind of stupid, what harm are they doing?

In regards to the anti-Muslim sentiment running through Europe, I seem to remember the story of a Belgian wife who was scorned and rejected for taking on the culture of her husband who I believe was from Kuwait.

[Heald]

I thought the Minarets were supposed to represent the pillars of Islam?

Nonetheless banning them is kind of stupid, what harm are they doing
Mosques predate minarets by many decades. They don't represent anything and have no important religious purpose. Their main purpose was for the call to prayer, although now with modern broadcasting equipment, plus the fact Switzerland doesn't let Muslims scream their mantra 5 times a day makes them completely useless.

They were already effectively banned in Switzerland anyway as pretty much every planning application for one in the last two years has been rejected.

It is not uncommon for municipalities to ban ugly architecture and to ban certain styles or styles that don't fit the aesthetic of the town. All this has done has banned a certain kind of Middle Eastern architecture that doesn't belong in Western Europe. The only reason why this was so widely reported is because there is this whole hysteria about how you're not allowed to piss off Muslims because of terrorism and all that crap.

[Telume]

Mosques predate minarets by many decades. They don't represent anything and have no important religious purpose. Their main purpose was for the call to prayer, although now with modern broadcasting equipment, plus the fact Switzerland doesn't let Muslims scream their mantra 5 times a day makes them completely useless.

They were already effectively banned in Switzerland anyway as pretty much every planning application for one in the last two years has been rejected.

It is not uncommon for municipalities to ban ugly architecture and to ban certain styles or styles that don't fit the aesthetic of the town. All this has done has banned a certain kind of Middle Eastern architecture that doesn't belong in Western Europe. The only reason why this was so widely reported is because there is this whole hysteria about how you're not allowed to piss off Muslims because of terrorism and all that crap.

You'd think this sentiment would be a lot worse here considering we were the site of one of the biggest terrorist acts this century. But I don't think they're banned here.