Swiss minaret ban gains momentum
REAL democracy in action! There could be a lot of 'hurt feelings' over the proposed national referendum in Switzerland, from the BBC The 'liberal left' will probably be more upset than Swiss Muslims if the outcome results in a ban. But even that will be out-done by the vitriol that flows out of the EU in that event... The Swiss would probably be ordered to vote again until they got the result 'right'. Swiss minaret ban gains momentum In Switzerland some 115,000 people have signed a proposal to ban the building of minarets. The campaign is being organised by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), the largest party in parliament. Under Swiss law, a group can request a national referendum if it manages to collect 100,000 signatures. The SVP claims the minaret is not needed for worship, but is a symbol of Islamic law, therefore incompatible with the Swiss constitution. Buildings with minarets, they argue, symbolise a "political-religious claim to power, which challenges fundamental rights". Islam, they say, "places religion above the state and... completely contradicts the federal constitution". Polarisation The campaign wants to force a nationwide referendum on the issue which, under Switzerland's system of direct democracy, would be binding. The country's Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has said the government will oppose the text. The Federation of Churches also called the move "inappropriate". "Polarisation is a bad thing. We should be working on integration," it said in a statement. The move has shocked Switzerland's 350,000 Muslims, many of whom have been campaigning for decades for more recognition for their faith. In theory, Switzerland is a secular state, whose constitution guarantees freedom of religious expression to all. In practice, however, correspondents say that mosques in Switzerland tend to be confined to disused warehouses and factories. Across the country, there are only two small minarets, one in Zurich and one in Geneva, neither of which can be used to make the call to prayer. In Switzerland's capital Bern, the largest mosque is in a former underground car park.

"Polarisation is a bad thing. We should be working on integration," it said in a statement. The move has shocked Switzerland's 350,000 Muslims, many of whom have been campaigning for decades for more recognition for their faith. They just don't get it do they? How can you integrate something that is alien, separate, divisive and suffers from a massive superiority complex? It is absolutely impossible to 'integrate Islam'! Feckin' idiots!

I'm sure that if this site was based in the UK we could be prosecuted and/or closed down for that statement but I happen to agree with you. And there is the nub of the issue! It isn't rocket science to work out that a religion whose sole purpose is to encompass the entire planet and whose members are extolled to preach and convert everyone - and for the more violent members, with Islam's blessing, to murder or incite the murder of those who refuse to convert - is not prepared to integrate with anything! The dogma is completely incompatible and contradictory to the Christian basis of Western Europe and North America. It is only out of courtesy that they have been given the freedom to practice their religion, which does not give them the right to proselytise, by peaceful or forceful means.