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**EmpaccalGah** · 12-11-2009, 04:46 PM

This is a Muslim woman, a women's rights advocate offering her opion on the Minaret ban. I wonder if the women shown in Codex's post would agree with her? I don't know but my bet is that most would:

Swiss ban on minarets was a vote for tolerance and inclusion

The Swiss vote highlights the debate on Islam as a set of political and collectivist ideas, not a rejection of Muslims.

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali
from the December 5, 2009 edition

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1205/p09s01-coop.html

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the Somali woman who co-authored the script for Submission (2004), a film by Theo Van Gogh. (Van Gogh, most will recall, was brutally murdered by an Islamic extremist in Amsterdam who was enraged by the film.) She is an ardent anti-Muslim, anti-religious activist, and an outspoken atheist.

This does not invalidate her right to express these views in the Christian Science Monitor, of course, but just to be clear she is an opponent of all things Muslim, so her characterization of the ban on minarets as "a vote for tolerance" must be seen in this light. I don't think she is at all representative of the "average" European Muslim, secular or religious (whoever might fit that profile).

I don't see what the big deal is with the minarets. If people advocate, plan, and carry out violent attacks it becomes a police matter. I don't think religious Islam in Europe is extremist, in my experience. (I lived in the UK most of 1998-2001, 2003-2006.)

I'd also leave the secular Muslims out of this discussion since I assume they are not building minarets for a religion they don't actively follow.

12-11-2009, 04:46 PM	#36
EmpaccalGah Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 410 Senior Member	This is a Muslim woman, a women's rights advocate offering her opion on the Minaret ban. I wonder if the women shown in Codex's post would agree with her? I don't know but my bet is that most would: Swiss ban on minarets was a vote for tolerance and inclusion The Swiss vote highlights the debate on Islam as a set of political and collectivist ideas, not a rejection of Muslims. By Ayaan Hirsi Ali from the December 5, 2009 edition http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1205/p09s01-coop.html Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the Somali woman who co-authored the script for Submission (2004), a film by Theo Van Gogh. (Van Gogh, most will recall, was brutally murdered by an Islamic extremist in Amsterdam who was enraged by the film.) She is an ardent anti-Muslim, anti-religious activist, and an outspoken atheist. This does not invalidate her right to express these views in the Christian Science Monitor, of course, but just to be clear she is an opponent of all things Muslim, so her characterization of the ban on minarets as "a vote for tolerance" must be seen in this light. I don't think she is at all representative of the "average" European Muslim, secular or religious (whoever might fit that profile). I don't see what the big deal is with the minarets. If people advocate, plan, and carry out violent attacks it becomes a police matter. I don't think religious Islam in Europe is extremist, in my experience. (I lived in the UK most of 1998-2001, 2003-2006.) I'd also leave the secular Muslims out of this discussion since I assume they are not building minarets for a religion they don't actively follow.
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