Minarets in Switzerland

[lph]

As long as you'd be as happy and proud posting a picture on the Internet of your hypothetical 11(?)-year-old daughter shirtless as you were of your son ...

(Who is a great-looking kid and I wasn't offended by seeing him shirtless at all. But you get my point.)

Good point, OakLeaf. I do get it, but I don't think it's really a fair comparison. Wearing a top for women is in most countries (unfortunately, I'd say) not a question of choice. And as far as I've understood, wearing a veil is.

[crazycanuck]

Sorry to keep this thread going....I came across this from today's Independent
:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...s-1845103.html

[shootingstar]

Sorry to keep this thread going....I came across this from today's Independent
:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...s-1845103.html

So glad he is speaking out from within the community about what happened to his sister.

I firmly believe real change...comes from within a community. Article also shows real effort by police in U.K. to spot certain things even if there needs to be more reporting.

I also think that honor killing, like other terrible things ie. some Chinese girl babies given away at birth (or worse), to orphanages in China...happens but not as frequently as outsiders think. It's always the minority from within a community, who do the violent, other crap that makes the vast peace-loving majority look guilty/bad, etc.

And I'm glad they photographed the outspoken person who is speaking out against honour killing of his sister, to be someone wearing turban. What a person traditionally wears does not truly define his/her define thoughts, intellect and how to the person lives out their religious beliefs.

While lruan rightfully does say we put our cultural blinders and filters, on a differernt cultural /religious practice, this is my take:

I absolutely acknowledge my cultural filter and as someone who's mother is a picture bride where she never met her husband prior to marriage, I do have a personal opinion what can or cannot work within traditional confines. She was also extremely lucky to have married a guy who was/is kind to her, etc.

Earlier in this thread, CC gave article on some residents protesting construction of an Islamic high school in their Australian region. Now how on earth, is that any different than a traditional Mennonite high school in Ontario..('course it tends to out in the country)? I visited one with my conservative Mennonite friend (who wears a white cap on her hairbun and always, always wears dressses and dark pantyhose, even when its 90 degrees F). We dropped by a graduation picnic. The girls were playing baseball, in their dresses, pantyhose and running shoes.

My friend is only one of 3 who remained conservative Mennonite, other is an older sister. Remaining 5 siblinigs left the Mennonite fold voluntarily. And their children many are not religious at all....but because there is regular extended family contact for this Mennonite family, these non-Mennonite/non-religious children/next generation are respectful to Mennonites and others who are "different". I have met her nieces and nephews at various family functions. Forces of assimilation are powerful...over the generations in North America.

What I am trying to say how much personal, frequent exposure a person has to progressive plus traditional/fundamental folks of a particular community, really helps one learn that a fundamentalist-looking community, has many shades of grey/interpretations.

Otherwise some outsiders or people whose family members not from a culture/religion, etc. will never get over their "fear".

[OakLeaf]

I also think that honor killing, like Chinese girl babies given away at birth to orphanages in China...happens but not as frequently as outsiders think.

IMO it's just the opposite. There have been at least a dozen honor killings among white, almost certainly Christian families in Ohio alone just in the past year. It's just that the press in predominantly Christian countries calls them "honor killings" when they're committed by Muslims, and nothing at all when they're committed by Christians or people of other religions.

[shootingstar]

IMO it's just the opposite. There have been at least a dozen honor killings among white, almost certainly Christian families in Ohio alone just in the past year. It's just that the press in predominantly Christian countries calls them "honor killings" when they're committed by Muslims, and nothing at all when they're committed by Christians or people of other religions.

So presumably, in the press, these dozen killings in Christian families are merely reported as domestic violence, /family member murder/homicide?

Thx for the reminder.

[Thorn]

A new perspective on the saga (I want to fly to Switzerland just to hug him)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126264916012115609.html

In November, Switzerland voted to ban the construction of new minarets, the towerlike structures that adorn mosques. A week or so later, in an apparent act of defiance, a new minaret unexpectedly sprang up here.

But the new minaret is not attached to a mosque; this small town near Geneva doesn't even have one. And it's not the work of a local Muslim outraged by Switzerland's controversial vote to ban the structures, which often are used to launch the call to prayer.

.Instead, Bussigny's minaret is attached to the warehouse of a shoe store called Pomp It Up, which is part of a Swiss chain. It was erected by the chain's owner, Guillaume Morand, who fashioned it out of plastic and wood and attached it to a chimney. The new minaret, nearly 20 feet high and illuminated at night, is clearly visible from the main highway connecting Lausanne and Geneva.