I completely agree, I am really not a fan of any kind of religion and seeing MORE religious buildings isn't really something I welcome. The old churches that we have in Switzerland, I can appreciate them as historic buildings that say something about the past, and value them for their architectual merit, but building very tall minarettes and any other kind of religious stuff, is not really something I'm ecstatic about. In the end, I guess it doesn't affect me at all, but I would be COMPLETELY AGAINST hearing the muezzin call to prayer in Switzerland, if that ever happened.

a) are you trawling the basement for threads?
b) IIRC (without re-reading the whole thread), the minaret issue is not linked to prayer calls.

What do you mean? I'm not supposed to post in older threads? This subject is still current in the news...

Tread lightly Lauren, "post from holland" and MissChievious, this thread is about whether or not mosques should be allowed minarets [in Switzerland], NOT whether or not mosques should be allowed. I'm warning you to stay on topic.

Dutch views and incidents are not relevant here.

I don't believe they should be allowed at all (minarets) and churches should also be bulldozed.

The size of your spire/minaret has nothing to do with how good you are at practicing your religion. It is not required to get on with your day to day life.

Technically Switzerland is a Christian country and whilst that gets on my wick along with any other religion, I don't believe it's in the interests of the general population to build a minaret, no matter how pretty or how many non-locals complain.

(That's me being careful!)

Sorry I must add here I have absolutely nothing against anyone practising a religion as long as it's not shoved down my throat.

Thanks

Source : GRIS

Good, and lets keep it on topic. Building minarets... yes or no.

Going back to this why does the Mosque have to include a minaret in the first place? Is this not M.E. architecture?

Why can it not be merged to make both sides happy, swiss architecture and muslim inside?

Perhaps it also shows a lack of willing for those who worship within Mosques to blend in with local culture, but always reverting back to the source so to speak?

Dunno just thoughts

Mosque with Minaret .... temple / prayer hall ... no minaret :

so two mosques to cater to around 4% of the population ... erm ?

Going to be dumb now, but what difference does a prayer hall or a mosque to carrying out your religion? Can you not worship without a minaret?

If you are a Wahabi, then no problem, they are pretty orthodox & see this as being too decorative. For Sunni & Shia, a minaret is considered mandatory for the adhan (call to prayer).
That said, Singapore has mosques with minarets, however no loudspeakers, if this is what stops Cantons from passing planning, maybe it is a good "Swiss" compromise ?

Another dumb question, does the minaret have to be a "dome" shape?

I may have to consult my imam friend on this...

Google is your friend .....

Of course, but without a minaret you don't have the added effect of showing how glorious Islam is, I guess. Does anyone really think that if Minarets are allowed the next one to go up will be as unobtrusive as the one in Zurich?

As far as freedom of religion goes, I think it's only tolerated as far as Swiss sensibilities go, and for the time being I guess, Minarets fall into that category. A similar thing happened a few years ago when Switzerland restricted Kosher/Halal butchering as being cruel, authorities were naturally met with cries of anti-semitism.

(Isn't this thread being a little over-moderated? I think a discussion of events in another country, provided they relate to minarets, is pretty relevant.)

"The 'natives' of the Cape were subdued long ago and other cultures, beliefs and languages were surplanted"

As a fellow South African, i am urged to set this straight. Islam was brought to South Africa (in the context of the Cape) by Malaysian slaves that the colonial british needed as labour. Indeed every non-native South African can lay claim to some degree of erosion in their culture, language etc.... However each community still remains uniquely distinct and a mosque is to a South African as integral a part of our communities as would be the dutch reformed church around the corner.

I was amazed to see the mosque in Balgrist (zürich) lacking a minaret and having no call to prayer (particularly over ramadaan) when the protestant church directly over the road chimed twice for 15min every Sunday.

Yeah well got to that and found....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minaret...in_Switzerland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minaret
So I'm on it if not a little slow!

How many protestant churches ring their bells in Saudi Arabia? For that matter, how many protestant churches are in Saudi Arabia?

From my short findings I come to the conclusion if the locals vote against it, then it doesn't happen, regardless of what it is.

Now one need not got to such extremes..... had europe managed to subdue the Arabs back during ye 'olde crusades , there would be catholic churches in the gulf states today.... one need only look to turkey where both christians and muslims tolerate the presence of a place of worship. The point here is not where places of worship belong.... it is in my opinion, whether cultures who wish to be part of an international community have the right to subdue the freedoms of religious expression simply cos it's too different from their own standards.

PS: I am not religious by a mile