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Minaret Referendum in Switzerland

State Dept. Highlights Religious Freedom Violations

March 12, 2010

Author: Adelle M. Banks

Source: Beliefnet/Religion News Service

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2010/03/state-dept-highlights-religiou.php

The State Department issued its annual human rights report Thursday (March 11), noting religious freedom violations in countries ranging from China to Iraq to Saudi Arabia.

The report on 194 countries called 2009 "a year in which ethnic, racial, and religious tensions led to violent...

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Baking Swiss Treats Amid Acid Debate

January 26, 2010

Author: John Tagliabue

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/world/europe/27swiss.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Bertram Decker’s second-floor office in Nestlé’s big food plant here looks out over the town’s only minaret, a wooden turret topped with a gilt star and crescent.

The minaret, atop a Turkish cultural association, is one of only four in all of Switzerland,...

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Inter-Faith Meet Condemns Swiss Mosque Minarets Ban

January 14, 2010

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Thaindian News

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/inter-faith-meet-condemns-swiss-mosque-minarets-ban_100303961.html

Religious scholars and intellectuals Thursday condemned the Swiss government’s recent ban on minarets of mosques in their country and decided to approach the United Nations and Amnesty International in the matter.
...

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Fords Protest Swiss Minaret Ban

January 13, 2010

Author: Robin Riskin

Source: The Bi-College News

http://www.biconews.com/?p=22375

A wooden minaret capped in a green cloth stood outside of Founders starting at 8 a.m. Friday.

Edin Fako ‘11 erected it to protest Switzerland’s recent ban on the construction of minarets—tower-like structures featured in Islamic architecture from which the call to prayer is made.

Fako broadcast the call to prayer—or adhaan—from...

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When the Swiss Voted to Ban New Minarets, This Man Built One

January 6, 2010

Author: Deborah Ball and Anita Greil

Source: The Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126264916012115609.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTTopCarousel

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...

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French Mosque’s Symbolism Varies With Beholder

December 27, 2009

Author: Steven Erlanger

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/europe/28marseille.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

The minaret of the new Grand Mosque of Marseille, whose cornerstone will be laid here in April, will be silent — no muezzin, live or recorded, will disturb the neighborhood with the call to prayer. Instead, the minaret will flash a beam of light for a couple of minutes...

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Sarkozy Delivers a Mixed Message to France's Muslim Immigrants

December 9, 2009

Author: Edward Cody

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/08/AR2009120802018.html?sub=AR

Faced with swelling unease over the place of Muslim immigrants in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy called Tuesday for tolerance among native French people but warned that arriving Muslims must embrace Europe's historical values and avoid "ostentation or provocation...

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