Ever notice the same kerfluffle is never broached regarding synagogues?
The "Free West" French should be ashamed of themselves.
"Planned mosque shows ethnic rifts in France; Natives uneasy with immigrants" by Edward Cody, Washington Post | December 13, 2009
MARSEILLE, France - A new and very different symbol is scheduled to rise soon on another promontory, this one on the north side of the Old Port. It is the $30 million Grand Mosque of Marseille, a place for the metropolitan region’s more than 200,000 Muslims to gather and worship and a dramatic reminder of the Islamic heritage that is grafting itself onto France’s cultural landscape.
The mosque, which at 92,500 square feet will be France’s largest, has become an emblem for the many native French people who feel uncomfortable with an immigrant population that, as its numbers rise, increasingly seeks to live by its own religious and cultural rules rather than assimilate into France’s long Christian tradition.
Here they SCREAM RACISM at you if you are "uncomfortable" with immigrants.
And the French want to hold on to the Christianity while claiming secularism, huh?
Interesting.
The strain is particularly intense in Marseille, where kebab shops line the once-elegant Canebiere Avenue and North African Arabic seems as prevalent as French on the sunny cafe terraces where residents traditionally do their business and take their aperitifs.
But Marseille is not alone; across the wealthy countries of Western Europe, growing communities of Muslim immigrants have created unease among native populations by seeking to affirm their own identities - by building mosques, for instance, or wearing veils in the street.
Yeah, but if they are DRUG-DEALING ILLEGALS from Mexico or wherever, you can't criticize!
And I have no problem with the veil; why should they?
Related: She's Just a Girl
Actually, now I prefer the burka!!!
In Switzerland, voters two weeks ago approved a proposed ban on minarets, towers attached to mosques from which Muslim preachers traditionally call the faithful to prayer by chanting Koranic verses. Many Swiss people fear minarets may join cowbells as symbols of their culture.
FLASHBACK:
"Swiss ban new mosque minarets in backlash against Muslims; Rights groups decry surprise ballot result" by Alexander G. Higgins, Associated Press | November 30, 2009
GENEVA - Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets yesterday, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population.
Related: Hearing the Call of the Minaret
Not just over there, is it?
Isn't it amazing how Jewish racism is acceptable and praised as Muslims face persecution everywhere they go?
Muslim groups in Switzerland and abroad condemned the vote as biased and anti-Islamic. Business groups said the decision hurt Switzerland’s international standing and could damage relations with Muslim nations and wealthy investors who bank, travel, and shop there.
Related: Lying Looters Large and Small: Secret Stashes and Secret Deals
“The Swiss have failed to give a clear signal for diversity, freedom of religion, and human rights,’’ said Omar Al-Rawi, integration representative of the Islamic Denomination in Austria, which said its reaction was “grief and deep disappointment.’’
Diversity is only for some.
About 300 people turned out for a spontaneous demonstration on the square outside Parliament, holding up signs saying, “That is not my Switzerland,’’ placing candles in front of a model of a minaret and making another minaret shape out of the candles themselves. “We’re sorry,’’ said another sign. A young woman pinned to her jacket a piece of paper saying, “Swiss passport for sale.’’
Now THAT is what I LIKE to SEE!!!
The referendum by 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.
Yeah, and they would PROBABLY BE BETTER OFF!!!
So when do the menorahs come down?
The initiative was approved 57.5 to 42.5 percent by about 2.67 million voters. Only four of the 26 cantons or states opposed the initiative, granting the double approval that makes it part of the Swiss constitution. Muslims make up about 6 percent of Switzerland’s 7.5 million people. Many are refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and about one in 10 actively practices their religion, the government says.
Looks like a MAJOR OVERREACTION, huh?
The country’s four standing minarets, which will not be affected by the ban, do not traditionally broadcast the call to prayer outside their own buildings.
So then WHAT is up the SWISS BUNG HOLE?
And why would they be upset about something that sounds beautiful?
The sponsors of the initiative provoked complaints of bias from local officials and human-rights groups with campaign posters that showed minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman. Backers said the growing Muslim population was straining the country “because Muslims don’t just practice religion.’’
Oh, it was a PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN that got 'em ALL FEARED UP, huh?
“The minaret is a sign of political power and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage, and genital mutilation of girls,’’ the sponsors said.
Of course, DROPPING BOMBS on them and MISSILING their villages is OKAY!!!
They said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey compared mosques to Islam’s military barracks and called “the minarets our bayonets.’’ Erdogan made the comment in citing an Islamic poem many years before he became prime minister. Anxieties about growing Muslim minorities have rippled across Europe in recent years, leading to legal changes in some countries. There have been French moves to ban the full-length body covering known as the burqa. Some German states have introduced bans on head scarves for Muslim women teaching in public schools.
Oh, in the LANDS of FREEDOM and FREE SPEECH?
Mosques and minaret construction projects in Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany, and Slovenia have been met by protests. But the Swiss ban on minarets, sponsored by the country’s largest political party, was one of the most extreme reactions. Amnesty International said the vote violated freedom of religion and would probably be overturned by the Swiss supreme court or the European Court of Human Rights. The seven-member Cabinet that heads the Swiss government had spoken out strongly against the initiative but the government said it accepted the vote and would impose an immediate ban on minaret construction.
The issue remained a story for days as well in the divisive, agenda-pushing paper.
"Swiss ban on minarets stirs anger" by Associated Press | December 1, 2009
GENEVA - A top Swiss official said yesterday that voter approval of a ban on minarets next to mosques could be struck down in court, as critics at home and abroad swiftly condemned the vote, saying it undermined the country’s secular image.
Legal analysts have questioned whether the ban on the Islamic towers used for the call to prayer is compatible with Switzerland’s constitution and international human rights law.
Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said it would come into force immediately, but indicated it could be overturned. “The ban contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights,’’ Zurich daily Blick cited Widmer-Schlumpf as saying. Switzerland currently presides over the European Court of Human Rights, which rules on breaches of the convention.
The vote brings the focus of a Europe-wide debate over Islam and immigration to Switzerland, and is a serious slap in the face for the government, which campaigned against it. France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said he was “a bit scandalized’’ by the vote. “I hope that the Swiss will go back on this decision rather quickly,’’ Kouchner said on France’s RTL radio. “It is an expression of intolerance, and I detest intolerance.’’
Then he must detest Israel, huh?
Get in line.
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Back to France:
In Marseille last month, youths of North African origin twice poured into the streets, some of them destroying cars and boats docked in the Old Port, to vent their feelings over Algeria’s mixed luck in a pair of qualifying matches for the World Cup soccer tournament.
Yeah, those violence-prone Muslims!!
Of course, American cities get ripped apart when their teams win (and a kid or two may even get beaten to death), but when you are reporting through a Muslim-hating Zionist prism, you know....
“We must demand that those youths choose,’’ said Marine Le Pen, vice president of the right-wing National Front, headed by her father, former presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. “You cannot have two nations in your heart, two allegiances.’’
Yeah, unless you are an Israeli!
Ronald Perdomo, a right-wing lawyer and Marseille politician, called the planned mosque a “cathedral mosque’’ designed to be a “symbol of non-assimilation’’ that will send a message from its 75-foot-high minaret that Marseille’s Muslim residents are “imposing their religious norms.’’
After failing in two lawsuits to block a construction permit for the mosque, Perdomo’s Regional Front and three other rightist groups filed a new suit recently alleging that Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin sidestepped building regulations in granting the permit and thus violated the constitutional separation of church and state....
Only a problem when it is a mosque, huh?
Then tear down the grand cathedrals of Christianity and no more synagogues!
Recognizing the unease President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative government has launched what it calls a “national identity debate,’’ in which French people are officially encouraged to reflect on what it means to be French.
Translation: Are we a bunch of Islamaphobes?
Seems more and more western governments are.
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