The shame of the Swiss

[Aerlik]

So the Swiss voted in a referendum against building minarets because some extremists misled the people into thinking the warriors of Mohammed were just over the hill about to swarm the country.

Hmm, perhaps Switzerland's WW2 "activities" might still be playing on the Swiss psyche.  Or perhaps the real danger is the encroachment of zionism (note that is 'zionism' - not semitism, the latter is not the former, at all) into our living rooms on a daily basis.

[Denn Forever]

Just to be clear.

Zionism is the belief the Isreal is the home of the Jewish people and they have by rights first dibs on the Land of Isreal?

[IolarCoisCuain]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6938161.ece



From The Times December 1, 2009

Minarets are not an essential part of Islam

The Swiss vote does not infringe Muslim religious rights
Taj Hargey

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.

Their original purpose was to relay the prayer call with the unamplified voice. Today this is done by modern technology, so minarets are not integral to contemporary mosque design. European mosques should stop mindlessly mimicking Eastern design and create prayer halls that blend into the landscape.

Muslims who have settled in Switzerland (and elsewhere in Europe) should not confuse culture with creed. To become integrated into their surroundings, they must relinquish the cultural baggage of their ancestral homelands. They should practice a Swiss Islam that is rooted in the society in which they live.

Although the Swiss have been convinced by right-wing zealots that minarets are a problem, local Muslims should not embrace a victim mentality. They must confront the toxic radicalisation of their faith that is imported from overseas.

The Wahhabi denomination (and its kindred sects), which has unlimited petrodollars and exclusive jurisdiction over Islam's holiest mosques, engenders rampant misogyny, anti-democratic obscurantism and an archaic legal code, which includes an un-Koranic prohibition on non-Muslim religious buildings in Islamic lands. Switzerland now joins Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan in banning the buildings of non-dominant faiths.

When European Muslims unthinkingly endorse this warped theology by desiring medieval Sharia, defending honour killings, stoning to death, forced marriages, Muslim exceptionalism and a separatist society, they only invoke fear and exacerbate anti-Muslim sentiment. When Europe's Muslims extol such un-Koranic doctrines as the niqab (face veil), they exclude themselves from the mainstream.

Only when Muslim immigrants and converts in Europe reject the twisted ideology of a fundamentalist male clergy will the chief causes of anti-Muslim prejudice in Europe recede. Meanwhile, despite the Islamophobic minaret ban, the religious rights of Swiss Muslims remain intact. They do, however, have a rare opportunity to cut the link with the dominant theology of the East and to restore Islam's pristine beliefs.

Dr Taj Hargey is the chairman of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford and the imam of the Summertown Islamic Congregation in Oxford

Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.

[Tony Baloney]

So the Swiss voted in a referendum against building minarets because some extremists misled the people into thinking the warriors of Mohammed were just over the hill about to swarm the country.

Hmm, perhaps Switzerland's WW2 "activities" might still be playing on the Swiss psyche.  Or perhaps the real danger is the encroachment of zionism (note that is 'zionism' - not semitism, the latter is not the former, at all) into our living rooms on a daily basis.

Democratically decided in a referendum.

[screenmachine]

Does anyone really care?

[Billys Boots]

Does anyone really care?

I think this guy does.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Does anyone really care?

I think this guy does.

Billy you may watch you don't end up having a fatwa issued against you! 

[Billys Boots]

Well yerself and Peter McCloone should give him a shout - ye might be able to organise something. 

[Gnevin]

So the Swiss voted in a referendum against building minarets because some extremists misled the people into thinking the warriors of Mohammed were just over the hill about to swarm the country.

Hmm, perhaps Switzerland's WW2 "activities" might still be playing on the Swiss psyche.  Or perhaps the real danger is the encroachment of zionism (note that is 'zionism' - not semitism, the latter is not the former, at all) into our living rooms on a daily basis.

Democratically decided in a referendum.

"The majority have no right to do wrong" - De Valera - Irish Civil War.

[theskull1]

Hardly the boy to quote gnevin when you consider the power he gave to the church

[ziggysego]

Does anyone really care?

I think this guy does.

Damn you, I just laughed out loud in the office 

[Gnevin]

Hardly the boy to quote gnevin when you consider the power he gave to the church

Even a foolish man can sometimes be right.  I would disagree with Dev in the context it was originally said it but would agree with the concept he was attempting to convey.

[stew]

So the Swiss voted in a referendum against building minarets because some extremists misled the people into thinking the warriors of Mohammed were just over the hill about to swarm the country.

Hmm, perhaps Switzerland's WW2 "activities" might still be playing on the Swiss psyche.  Or perhaps the real danger is the encroachment of zionism (note that is 'zionism' - not semitism, the latter is not the former, at all) into our living rooms on a daily basis.

The warriors of mohammed are doing a great job of manipulating countries into giving them their own school systems, banking systems etc and they seem to feel entitled whereever they go, the english are feeling their wrath right now yet if someone wanted to set up a Christian church or a Christian based bank in any of their countries they would be beheaded, Their arrogance is staggering and they are hypocrites.

[no mo do yakamo]

But surely its the result of the second referendum that will count?

[Bogball XV]

I thought this was going to be about the roars of laughter that accompanied Blatter telling the journos about the FAI's request to be the 33rd team.