Switzerland (?!) Leads Muslim Backlash

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Taking a page from the annals of blatant religious intolerance, Swiss voters banned the building of minarets on mosques. Minarets are the iconic towers rising from mosques from which muezzins call the faithful to prayer. Approved by 57% of the voters and 26 of 30 cantons, the ban enjoys the status of a constitutional amendment. There are four minarets in Switzerland, a country of 7.5 million, of which 450,000 are Muslim and of whom 45,000 practice their religion. Under existing law those four minarets are not permitted to broadcast the call to prayer outside the mosque itself, and are exempt from the ban (grandfathered in).

Swiss Minaret

Switzerland making religious intolerance a constitutional mandate? How could this happen in such a proper, neutral democracy as Switzerland? The right wing. No, not our right wing but the Swiss right wing. The nationalist Swiss People's Party labeled minarets as symbols of rising Muslim political power that could one day transform Switzerland into an Islamic nation. [AP Nov. 29, 2009] That idiotic hypothesis is all it took to get the sophisticated Swiss riled up enough to institutionalize religious intolerance. After all, nothing messes with neutrality like the possibility of being taken over by fanatical Muslims.

Anti-Minarets Poster

As our right wing is called the Christian right, should American Muslims fear their minarets and muezzins despite the First Amendment? Maybe not under an Obama administration but nothing’s to stop a future president (like the last one) to pay little mind to the Constitution. And, if history is any guide here, once religious fear mongering gets on a roll the Jews are next.

Is this so implausible? Don’t think so. Religious preaching and the religious right’s tentacles are already slithering into our society. Not a day passes without the Catholic Church and, to be fair, other religious institutions taking stands on social issues and putting political pressure on public officials to tow the religious line. Patrick Kennedy being denied communion in the State of Rhode Island is but one glaring example. The Archbishop of Providence, a well spoken man who stood up well to Chris Matthews, defended his position calmly and (in his world) logically as one does when convinced of its righteousness.

Today our office received a call from a local minister inquiring about insurance. “But first”, he said, “What do you stand for?” The underwriter who fielded the call, himself born-again, was dumbfounded at such an inappropriate, qualifying question from a religious figure. Our office is a mile from Manhattan in New Jersey.

So congratulations to Switzerland for safeguarding its neutrality by banning construction of minarets, thus staving off impending takeover by Muslim extremists. Catholics beware the Swiss feeling threatened by the Vatican – church steeples will be next.

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