Walter Wobman, leader of the Swiss People's Party that promoted the referendum, said the group will now fight to ban the burqa as well as to institute a law against forced marriage. It may be pointed out that the People's Party first wanted to launch a campaign against the traditional Islamic methods of slaughtering animals but was afraid of testing the sensitivity of Swiss Jews.
To quote Esposito again, the far right persistently refuses to face a 21st century reality: to acknowledge and accept the fact that many Muslims are integrated citizens and that Islam is now a European religion, and, in fact, the second largest religion in many European countries.
The seven-million strong American Muslim community has received the ban on Minarets in Switzerland with alarm and dismay. The referendum is seen as part of a recent disturbing trend in Europe to restrict the religious freedom and self-expression of religious and ethnic minorities, notably of Muslims.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged President Obama to repudiate the decision of Swiss voters to deny Muslims in that nation the same religious rights granted to citizens of other faiths. "Our nation's silence on this flagrant denial of religious freedom would send a very negative message throughout the Muslim world, which must improve its own record on religious rights.
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is troubled that Swiss voters have succumbed to the intolerance and fear mongering of the Swiss Party. The decision to ban mosque minarets is an act of religious discrimination and intolerance, as it targets Islamic places of worship and denies Swiss Muslims the freedom to build their house of worship using their preferred architectural style.
The Swiss vote raises the question whether the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy - upheld so preciously by the European nations - are practiced as reverently as they are preached? By voting to ban this right, it is Swiss- and Western - values which become poorer and less meaningful. This is a setback for strategies to bring Islam into the European mainstream.
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