Martha Nussbaum on the new religious intolerance

“Her latest book, The New Religious Intolerance, is a vigorous defence of the religious freedom of minorities in the face of post-9/11 Islamophobia. And by minorities she mostly means Muslims. ‘We see unreasoning fear driving a certain amount of public policy, perhaps more in Europe than in the US,’ she explains. And Europe has historical form on all this. ‘The laws that made it illegal to speak Latin in a church but left it legal to speak Latin in universities were covert forms of persecution – and not very covert at all. And you get that all over Europe. You get that in the Swiss minaret case, where a building that expresses the wish of a religious minority is suddenly illegal; you get it in Germany in those cases where nuns can teach in full habit but a teacher can’t wear a headscarf’.”

Giles Fraser talks to Martha Nussbaum.

Guardian, 30 June 2012

SVP politician urges new Kristallnacht for mosques

Alexander Müller (2)Alexander Müller, a Zurich politician from the far-right Swiss People’s Party has caused outrage by appearing to call for “another Kristallnacht” in a hateful anti-Islamic tweet.

The offending message, which has since been taken down from Müller’s @DailyTalk account, said: “Maybe we need another Kristallnacht… this time for mosques.”

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Swiss pastor who runs racist website faces probe

Christine Dietrich Politically IncorrectA Reformist priest from a tiny Bernese village is under investigation by church leaders after it emerged that she helped run a fanatical anti-Islamic website.

The Council of Reformist Churches for Bern, Solothurn and Jura has criticised the priest, and declared her activities on website ‘Politically Incorrect’ to be “incompatible” with her position as a priest due to the “Islam-baiting” that takes place on it, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported.

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Switzerland: court rules in favour of anti-Islam group

MOSCIThe Federal Court says an anti-Islam group has the right to give out leaflets from an information booth if it wants – and the local authorities must protect them.

Fribourg Council banned the group – The Movement Against the Islamization of Switzerland – from setting up an information booth Place Georges-Python during the anti-minaret campaign in 2009. It said it refused to give permission because of a fear that violence and unrest would break out as a result, provoking a legal challenge.

The Federal Court upheld the group’s complaint that the authorities had impinged on its freedom of expression as well as on freedom of information, newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported.

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Amnesty International finds bias against European Muslims

Amnesty InternationalA new report from Amnesty International has found that some European Muslims are regularly denied employment and educational opportunities because of widespread cultural and religious stereotypes that lead to discrimination against them.

The report, titled “Choice and Prejudice: Discrimination Against Muslims in Europe“, examines the lives of Muslims in Switzerland, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. It found that individuals who wear specific forms of dress, like a head scarf, or other symbols associated with Islam, do worse with jobs and schooling because of prejudicial attitudes and legal impunity in these European states.

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Swiss court: No minaret in Langenthal

An Islamic cultural center in the canton of Bern cannot build a minaret, despite having received permission to do so before the controversial ban on minarets.

The Bern Administrative Court ruled today that the minaret in Langenthal was an iconic structure that didn’t comply with municipal regulation on rooftop structures. A complaint against the center’s dome was dismissed.

The challenge to the minaret came from the group “Stopp Minnarett Langenthal,” which said it was satisfied with the ruling.

An appeal can be filed to a higher court within 30 days.

WRS, 3 April 2012

See also SDA-ATS, 3 April 2012

Swiss parliament rejects SVP veil ban motion

SVP Sicherheit schaffen posterThe group responsible for launching Switzerland’s anti-minaret initiative has called the rejection of a motion to ban burqas on public transport and in dealings with authorities “an affront”.

The National Council on Monday rejected a motion by Swiss People’s Party member Oskar Freysinger to ban the wearing of burqa in certain situations. The Council decided with a significant majority that imposing such a ban was unnecessary.

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Anti-Islam group fights Fribourg ban

MOSCIThe Swiss Movement against Islamisation (MOSC) has said it will appeal a Fribourg district court decision blocking it from setting up a stand in the western town.

In October 2009, a few weeks before Switzerland’s controversial vote on the banning of minarets, MOSCI asked the city of Fribourg for permission to erect a stand. The group said it wanted to  present its ideas and ask citizens to vote against the Islamic spires.

After conferring with cantonal police and the prefecture of Gruyère, Fribrourg decided not to grant permission. The town said it wanted to avoid incidents like those in Lausanne several weeks earlier when clashes broke out around a similar stand.

MOSCI has angered many with its insistence that the Muslim prophet Muhammad was genocidal, as well as criticizing his union with Aisha, a very young girl. The organisation also considers Islam a “racist, warlike, and expansionist religion”.

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Swiss mosque site desecrated with pig’s heads and blood

Muslims in Switzerland are responding with shock and outrage after a pig carcass and severed swine heads were discovered buried at the site of a proposed mosque.

Police in the town of Grenchen uncovered the pigs Friday after they received an anonymous message claiming that someone had buried the body parts and spilled 120 liters of blood from the animals in an effort to desecrate the ground to halt the construction of the mosque.

The unsigned flier, written in German, says “This operation was done (conducted) to protest against the growing expansion of Islam in Switzerland,” and says that a similar desecration in Spain earlier halted another mosque construction project.

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Bern protest against Islamophobia

On Saturday, more than 2,000 people gathered in Bern at a protest organized by the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland to demonstrate against discrimination against Muslims.

The protest, which took place at a square in front of the Swiss parliament and had a festive feel to it, also attracted a number of Muslim organizations and dignitaries from other Western countries. They were there to show their support and raise awareness about discrimination against Muslims.

“This event is a pioneering one and is expected to become the biggest Islamic festival in Switzerland which addresses the issue of discrimination against Muslims as well as the stereotypes associated with Islam,” Elie Qassaim, the Swiss Islamic Council’s spokesman, who converted to Islam a few years ago, told the Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA.

Al Arabiya, 30 October 2011