The action to ban minarets on mosques in Switzerland or any other western nation has nothing to do with religion, it concerns culture. Mosques are already a departure from western architecture which affects the aesthetics of a community. However, they are places of worship and cannot be banned. There can be controls over the style of architecture, however. Minarets are a futher departure and is explicitly an eastern style. Many Muslims adapt to the countries where they settle, but there is a general trend for Muslims from the Middle East or Africa to maintain their original culture and not adapt. The minaret is a symbol of this trend and should not be allowed in the west. Another example of this principle is when the Mormons wanted to put up a huge spire with the Angel Moroni on top on a new church in Belmont, Massachusetts, some years ago, in violation of existing codes. It created quite a controversy with "religious intolerance" being injected into the issue. But it was an architectural matter and it was settled by a compromise which allowed a much smaller spire, although one that exceeded the maximum height of the building code.
The action to ban minarets on mosques in Switzerland or any other western nation has nothing to do with religion, it concerns culture. Mosques are already a departure from western architecture which affects the aesthetics of a community. However, they are places of worship and cannot be banned. There can be controls over the style of architecture, however. Minarets are a futher departure and is explicitly an eastern style. Many Muslims adapt to the countries where they settle, but there is a general trend for Muslims from the Middle East or Africa to maintain their original culture and not adapt. The minaret is a symbol of this trend and should not be allowed in the west. Another example of this principle is when the Mormons wanted to put up a huge spire with the Angel Moroni on top on a new church in Belmont, Massachusetts, some years ago, in violation of existing codes. It created quite a controversy with "religious intolerance" being injected into the issue. But it was an architectural matter and it was settled by a compromise which allowed a much smaller spire, although one that exceeded the maximum height of the building code.