Way to go, confederation Suisse!

[zikade]

The voters of Switzerland just passed an interesting law: the building of minarets will be prohibited, and that law will be part of their constitution. Roughly 57% agreed upon that.

If nothing else, it is, at last, something honest to the evil muslim hordes, coming straight from the center of Europe. Next they ban muslim money. Not a joke. They will do that. Sure thing.

It was just the beginning, you just wait and see...

[ptram]

I don't find it very funny. At all.
(Sooner or later, they will do some law against dirty agnostics/eretics like me. Granted. They did several times in the past).

Paolo

[Plette]

I'm not sure I understand the intent of the original post.

[druid]

I'd like to think zikade is being ironic.
If not, I hope he/she takes this stuff elsewhere.
We have enough trouble over religion and science.
Not to mention Quorn and Coca-Cola spare ribs.

[zikade]

I'd like to think zikade is being ironic.
If not, I hope he/she takes this stuff elsewhere.
We have enough trouble over religion and science.
Not to mention Quorn and Coca-Cola spare ribs.

Ironic? No. Try sarcasm or desperation-fueled anger. For years I've preached humanism and now that. Becoming a cynic is all I have for now. Or doIng something really, really bad.

Dwindling hope....

[Jaysen]

It is a shame that a nation would do something like this. Differences aside, there must be a tolerance for disagreement unless we want "war". It is only by actions like this that resentment builds to the point of hostility.

[ptram]

Now, this could also be a great idea for an ucrony. The Turks have defeated the Christians at Vienna, and have invaded Austria. Since the XVII century, the border between Christianity and Islam lays between Helvetia and the then called Austriallah. The Austrian Mohammad Amadeus Mozart writes a Turkish March. O, not all that different, then, I suppose.

Paolo

[zikade]

Now, this could also be a great idea for an ucrony. The Turks have defeated the Christians at Vienna, and have invaded Austria. Since the XVII century, the border between Christianity and Islam lays between Helvetia and the then called Austriallah. The Austrian Mohammad Amadeus Mozart writes a Turkish March. O, not all that different, then, I suppose.

Paolo

Lovely, yes. But thats why forewords were invented...

[AndreasE]

Are there minarets in the USA? I just tried to find pictures of any, but Google failed. The only "minarets" I found was a mountain in California that bears that name.

[nib]

Check out this: http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=75df6f8f-2ff1-4e30-9c43-8eea5cd1ae78&gid=3
The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo--Perrysburg, Ohio
So, yes we have them in the USA

[signinstranger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_States

[LaDeeDahl]

Seattle, Washington has a least one mosque with a minaret ... many churches with steeples ... a towering Mormon temple ...

[kewms]

Try searching "USA mosque images" for a representative selection.

More important, any mosque that wanted to build one in the US could, and any attempt to pass a US law like the one in Switzerland would run smack into our First Amendment protections.

(For non-US readers, the First Amendment to the US Constitution reads:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.)

Katherine

[kewms]

Seattle, Washington has a least one mosque with a minaret ... many churches with steeples ... a towering Mormon temple ...

I've personally seen towering steeples on churches in Switzerland, too. That's the problem. A universally-applied height limit would be one thing, a ban on minarets is quite another.

Katherine