Switzerland bans minarets

By Michael J.W. Stickings

BBC:

Swiss voters have supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets, official results show.

More than 57% of voters and 22 out of 26 cantons -- or provinces -- voted in favour of the ban.

The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People's Party, (SVP), the largest party in parliament, which says minarets are a sign of Islamisation.

The government opposed the ban, saying it would harm Switzerland's image, particularly in the Muslim world.

Not surprisingly, some conservatives, including in the U.S., are applauding the result, given their anti-Muslim views. But this is a pretty appalling expression of illiberalism in a generally liberal country, that is, in a country that generally values freedom highly. It's not just that Switzerland's image will be harmed in the Muslim world, it's that Switzerland has essentially voted against its own principles, against itself.

History is littered with examples of popular rule suppressing freedom, whether through direct democracy, as here, or through legislative action. And there have been many examples, of course, of countries violating their own generally liberal principles. (Think of slavery and segregation in the U.S., or the Patriot Act, "enhanced interrogation," and so much else that was done in response to 9/11.)

This vote, motivated in large part no doubt by widespread fear of the scapegoated Other that Muslims have been turned into even in generally liberal parts of the world like Western Europe, reveals a gaping hole in the commitment to freedom and diversity not just in Switzerland but in other liberal democratic countries where, one suspects, there is a good deal of sympathy, notably on the right, for such anti-Muslim initiatives broadly.

Andrew Sullivan:

Why not synagogues? Or did a neighboring country try that already? It's hard to think of a gesture more useless with respect to a real problem -- integration of Muslim immigrants -- or clumsier as a way to provoke religious hostility and intolerance and thereby further radicalize Swiss Muslims. But it is a useful reminder that religious liberty and toleration have roots that are not so deep in Europe.

Needless to say, the Swiss people have voted stupidly, irresponsibly, and illiberally. They've made themselves look bad, and acted counter-productively, at a time when we need to be fighting religious extremism, including jihadist Islamism, not by violating our principles but by reinforcing just what it is we stand for.

Which is decidedly not banning minarets, or anything of the kind.