For European Muslims, Is There an Upside to the Swiss Minaret Ban?
Switzerland’s recent vote to ban the building of new minarets on Muslim mosques might be so backwards that it’ll wind up inciting widespread public support of the Muslim community in Europe. The ban, which narrowly passed on Sunday with 57.5 percent of the vote, will be implemented with the addition of a single line to the Swiss constitution in which the construction of the minarets is outlawed. The architectural towers are tall, distinctive spires that serve as a point from which a call to prayer is made, and are thought of by right-wing Swiss political figures as symbols against the integration of the Islamic people into European society. The backlash that’s resulted is so critical of the measure that we’re left wondering how it could have ever passed to begin with. The Los Angeles Times argued that, “Building a minaret in a European city is arguably the opposite of a secessionist or defiant act.” A number of European papers have expressed their unhappiness with Switzerland’s decisio
