STAFF EDIT: Swiss miss-take

An unexpected result to a referendum held in Switzerland Sunday yielded a new ban on the construction of minarets throughout the country, the religiously symbolic towers that function to summon Muslims to prayer. A New York Times article covering the vote reported the right-winged Swiss People’s Party’s sentiments that increased Muslim immigration threatens Swiss values and traditions. This kind of development rising from a country with a historical reputation of open-mindedness and acceptance is a bitter pill for anyone who thought the stage for religious discrimination was waning, not gaining momentum. The decision reached by the people of Switzerland certainly will echo worldwide, notably here in America where religious obligations have come to clash with legislation concerning both reproductive and homosexual rights.

What sets the Switzerland referendum apart from the conflicts in the United States is that the Swiss constitution already had provisions for religious freedom guaranteed to its citizens ‘- those which Sunday’s vote revisited and curtailed. The Swiss People’s Party’s fear that increased Muslim influence will soil Swiss tradition ‘- but what of the traditions secured by the Swiss Constitution, which has heretofore protected equal rights for all? And in a country where 6 percent of its residents are Muslim, according to the Times article, no longer should it even be a matter of the Swiss tradition, but rather laws and regulations should apply to the diverse culture that has come to comprise the current Swiss citizenry. In the same way that the constitution didn’t originally promise religious freedom with some exceptions, members of the Swiss conservative population cannot ignore that their country is populated not only by Swiss natives but also many racial and religious exceptions.

Currently, there are only four minarets standing in Switzerland, none of which actually function to call Muslims to prayer. Rather than being functional literally, they serve as symbols of Muslim faith, and once served, for Switzerland, as symbols for religious tolerance. Likewise, their removal will serve as a symbol for unsettling political change sweeping through not only the country but also the world. It’s upsetting that in this age of integration, in which the societies of all countries have become melting pots for different cultures, faiths and lifestyles, there can still be ideas of separation and discrimination. Immigration and integration are inevitable, what isn’t, unfortunately, is universal acceptance. Switzerland’s decision is just another disappointing two steps back in the slow march toward tolerance.