On the 29th of this month, Switzerland will vote on banning minarets. Home to approximately 300,000 Muslims, the Swiss People’s Party and Federal Democratic Union are behind a referendum claiming that the construction of a minaret is not protected by the freedom of religion as it has “no religious significance”.
Actually, minarets not only have religious but historical significance as well. Furthermore, minarets are described as “symbols of a religious-political claim to power and dominance which threatens – in the name of alleged freedom of religion – the constitutional rights of others.” I am not sure how building a couple of minarets here and there would be an infringement on the constitutional rights of others…