It seems worthwhile that folks “talk out” the inevitable conflicts between earnest beliefs and patient tolerance. I detect some progress, or at least clarity, just on this page now.
You never know who’s got it worse than our very diverse nation. At least we’re trying.
Just this weekend Switzerland decided to ban construction of minarets (by referendum vote, 57% to 43%, which of course the news media consider a landslide). There are 400,000 Muslims in that nation of 7 million, and most of them aren’t very religious (in the whole country there are only about 150 mosques and prayer rooms, and only 4 existing minarets and 2 proposed ones). Yet the populace got so scared of “terrorism” and “extremists”, with a lot of help from scare-tactic advertising, that they decided the best defense against bombings is to ban the minaret.
That’s sure to make all those secular and moderate Muslims a tad edgier, wouldn’t you say? Just what nobody wants.
There’s simply no logic to this kind of judgmentalism.
I’m glad we live in a country where we accept that one doesn’t take majority votes on what others can believe. I wish we would stop voting on each others’ marriages and pants-sag and bedtimes and symbols and so on, too.
It seems worthwhile that folks “talk out” the inevitable conflicts between earnest beliefs and patient tolerance. I detect some progress, or at least clarity, just on this page now.
You never know who’s got it worse than our very diverse nation. At least we’re trying.
Just this weekend Switzerland decided to ban construction of minarets (by referendum vote, 57% to 43%, which of course the news media consider a landslide). There are 400,000 Muslims in that nation of 7 million, and most of them aren’t very religious (in the whole country there are only about 150 mosques and prayer rooms, and only 4 existing minarets and 2 proposed ones). Yet the populace got so scared of “terrorism” and “extremists”, with a lot of help from scare-tactic advertising, that they decided the best defense against bombings is to ban the minaret.
That’s sure to make all those secular and moderate Muslims a tad edgier, wouldn’t you say? Just what nobody wants.
There’s simply no logic to this kind of judgmentalism. I’m glad we live in a country where we accept that one doesn’t take majority votes on what others can believe. I wish we would stop voting on each others’ marriages and pants-sag and bedtimes and symbols and so on, too.