The Swiss had a vote today....kind of an interesting vote. It concerned the continued building or banning of Islamic Minarets.
Fifty-eight percent of the vote today....said to ban further construction of Minarets. You can still build a Mosque but the tower-like Minarets are now out.
It was a shocker. On Friday....it was pretty much settled with pre-polling data that this wouldn't take more than twenty-five percent of the national vote. Somewhere in their analysis...the poll guys screwed by over thirty percent. Typically....that would be impossible.
The Swiss...for those pondering the situation....are a fairly relaxed, calm and conservative crowd. They have national health care, lots of free education, and some of the best roads in Europe.
Lately...there's been this fear amongst the Swiss that Muslims are taking a strong bit of control over local events. Over the past decade...construction of Mosques over all of Europe has been on the rise. Currently, there are four of these Minarets in Switzerland and I'm guessing they probably had plans for another dozen.
Do you absolutely need a Minaret? No....a Mosque could be built without the tower-like building out front. If you go and check out the rules for Minarets...there are at least ten different styles that various Muslims consider "official".
The curious thing...almost five percent of the 7.8 million folks in Switzerland....are Muslims. This adds up to almost 400,000 Islamic folks.
The vote has unsettled a number of folks there. There were a couple of folks out there commenting on their blog sites that the EU courts would take up this matter quickly and settle it. The curious thing...is that Switzerland never approved the EU application. So there's no court action to occur here...it's basically final.
Muslim feelings? Well...they probably are wondering what the big deal is and why they are being picked on. If I were a Muslim sitting in Switzerland...I might start pondering about relations with my neighbors and what kind of problems exist.
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