Subscribe95% of posters are skeptical of all religion and 95% of posters despise cultural and racial bigotry and are tuned into detecting it in any scenario... [W]hen discussing Islam, half of the posters here are arguing from a position that Islam is a religion and half of the posters are arguing from a position that Islam is a cultural identity.And the remaining half of posters are attempting to articulate concerns, generally unwelcome everywhere on MetaFilter, about the rise of radical Islam in free societies. Swiss voters may have seized upon a purely symbolic issue and may have gone overboard (or may not have), but it seems this is what the vote is really addressing, not building codes, church bells, or previous Christian atrocities.
Moreover, their chimes are not inherently religious. Compare that to the adhan sung from a minaret, which is inherently religious. [|]Blink.
The Vatican has confirmed that it is negotiating for permission to build the first church in Saudi Arabia...Presiding over the cradle of Islam and home to its holiest sites, the Saudi monarchy has long banned the open worship of other faiths, even as the number of Catholics resident in Saudi Arabia has risen to 800,000 thanks to an influx of immigrant workers from places like the Philippines and India.
In recent years, a self-fashioned uniform for nurses has crept onto the corridors of several state hospitals. Nurses clad from head to toe in black or white niqab (face veil), with the two peepholes over the eyes covered in gauze, have become a common sight in some hospitals. Many times patients can only make out a pair of unsterilised thick gloves emerging from two cuffs attached to a shapeless garment administering medicine and other medical procedures.So you can see how I got the idea that the face veil is becoming more common. I was definitely under the impression that the fundamentalists were becoming more powerful and attempting to push Egypt in the direction of Saudi Arabia in regards to control over women. But I haven't been to Egypt myself and I can only go by what I can gather second-hand.
Swiss leader calls for Jewish cemetery ban
December 3, 2009
BERLIN (JTA) -- A mainstream Swiss political leader is calling for a ban on separate Muslim and Jewish cemeteries.
Christophe Darbellay, president of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, made the statement in a television interview Tuesday, two days after Swiss voters passed an initiative to ban minarets.
Iran "Respect for religious freedom in the country continued to deteriorate. Government rhetoric and actions created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shi’a religious groups, most notably for Baha’is, as well as Sufi Muslims, evangelical Christians, and members of the Jewish community. Reports of government imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on religious beliefs continued.” The state also promoted discrimination in the areas of education, employment, and housing.I read that news story about the cemeteries yesterday but decided not to post it, because it is just one politician's bloviating in order to drum up support. Here, in America our politicians spout crap all the time and very little of it actually ends up being legislated.
Forced marriage and rape are symptoms of honour-based violence (HBV). Murder in the name of "honour" is the ultimate violent crime perpetuated by relatives or members of a community in order to protect or revenge "dishonourable" behaviour. Home Office figures suggest there are around 12 honour killings in the UK every year; thousands of women are killed for the same reason across the world.* I say "for what it is worth" because what Islamic countries allow or don't allow is beside the point. The focus should be on how Europe deals with the increasing presence of Muslim culture in a traditionally Christian area. As an atheist, I am not convinced that banning the construction of new minarets is an unforgivable repression of human rights. If and when the Swiss ever start forcing Muslims to wear identifying armbands or seizing their property or imprisoning them for practicing their religion, then I will see the connection to Nazi Germany.
Swiss Pol Apologizes For Calling For Ban On Muslim And Jewish Cemeteries
Rachel Slajda | December 4, 2009, 12:36PM
A Swiss politician has apologized today for calling for a ban on Jewish and Muslim cemeteries two days after the country voted to outlaw minarets on mosques.
"I am sorry. I didn't mean it like that," said Christopher Darbellay, president of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, a centrist party and the smallest member of the government coalition.
"It was about the principle that we all belong to the same Swiss society," he added.
[...]
The Swiss have a long history of trying to keep their culture free from the influence of both Muslim and Jewish immigrants.
In 1893, Switzerland banned the practice of shechitah, the kosher way of slaughtering animals, citing cruelty because the animals are not stunned first. Although the government opposed the measure, a group called the Anti-Semite Committee gathered more than 83,000 signatures to bring it to a referendum.
Even now, Jews and Muslims must import their kosher and halal meat from neighboring countries. In recent years, some groups have gone farther, trying to ban even its import. In 2003, for example, the Swiss Animal Protection group began a campaign to ban its import, but failed.
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posted by codswallop at 8:49 AM on November 29, 2009 [3 favorites]