The Swiss: Coming to their senses on Islam

In a sign that Europeans may be coming to their senses, "Switzerland will hold a nationwide referendum on whether to ban the construction of minarets where Muslims traditionally issue the call to prayer, officials said Tuesday," according to PR-Inside.com.

Upon first glance, this may seem a little excessive. However, this may be the sort of response necessary to combat the spread of militant Islam throughout the continent. Is it fair to say that Europeans grow tiresome of bowing to every Muslim's wish, while seeing that said Muslim will not reciprocate?

Yesterday, I documented that two seventh graders in England were given detention for refusing to pray to Allah. Appropriately, a grandfather of one of the students stated, "But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war. "

"The U.N. expert on racism, Doudou Diene, has said the campaign is evidence of an «ever-increasing trend» toward anti-Islamic actions in Europe."

Can anyone imagine why that is? Could it be that a significant portion of Muslims have demonstrated to other religions, not just in countries where Islam is the primary religion but in countries that are and have been predominantly Christian or another religion? We've seen, read, and heard about instances where Muslims have demonstrated their intolerance, whether it was the Muhammed cartoon flap of a couple years back, the murder of Theo Van Gogh, or the threats against Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Yet, we're supposed to demonstrate how tolerant we are in the west, while Muslims trample over basic rights of speech and religion.

We've seen, in England, Lord Chief Justice Phillips state that a Muslim could essentially practice Sharia but yet not conflict those beliefs and practices against standard British law: "He supported the idea that Sharia could be reasonably employed as a basis for "mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution". He went further to defend Williams's position from earlier in the year, explaining "It was not very radical to advocate embracing sharia law in the context of family disputes, for example, and our system already goes a long way towards accommodating the archbishop's suggestion." and "It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law."

Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, stated the same thing in February: "Noting the anxieties which the word Sharia provoked in the West he drew attention to the fact that there was a debate within Islam between what he called "primitivists" for whom, for instance, apostasy should still be punishable and those Muslims who argued that Sharia was a developing system of jurisprudence that such a view was no longer acceptable. He made comparisons with "Orthodox Jewish practice" (Beth Din) and with the recognition of the exercise of conscience of Christians."

The Swiss people are getting it right.

Now, if only the rest of Europe would follow suit...