Swiss Minaret controversy facts for kids

A minaret is a tall, tower-like structure that is part of a mosque, which is a place of worship for Muslims. Its main purpose is to call people to prayer, similar to how a bell tower calls people to church. Around 2009, there was a big discussion in Switzerland about whether new minarets should be allowed to be built.

On May 1, 2007, two political groups, the Swiss People's Party and the Federal Democratic Union, started a special vote called a popular referendum. They wanted to stop any new minarets from being built in Switzerland. On November 29, 2009, the people of Switzerland voted on this issue, and most of them agreed with the ban.

Why the Debate Started

The discussion about minarets in Switzerland had two main parts:

• Some local Muslim groups wanted to build minarets in different towns across Switzerland. However, in some of these towns, people did not agree with these plans.
• There was also a wider talk across the country about whether building minarets was a good idea for Switzerland and if it could cause problems.

First Minaret Controversy

The debate about minarets really started in eastern Switzerland in 2005. A cultural group from Turkey asked for permission to build a six-meter-tall minaret on the roof of their meeting center. People living nearby were not happy about this idea. They formed a group to try and stop the building.

Some members of this opposing group had strong religious beliefs that were different from the Muslim group. Some of these members were also on the committee that was supposed to decide if the building plans were okay. Because of this, the plans were turned down. The Muslim community took the case to court, but they lost. Even though they lost the court case, the minaret was still built in 2009. Similar situations happened in other Swiss towns as well.

Political Action

The two political parties, the Swiss People's Party and the Federal Democratic Union, tried several times to ban minaret building at a local government level (called "cantonal" level in Switzerland). However, these attempts never led to a vote because the local parliaments decided that banning minarets would go against the country's main rules, the Swiss Federal Constitution.

In 2007, these parties decided to try at the national level. At this level, new laws proposed by the people cannot be easily stopped by courts for being unconstitutional. Their proposal was simple: "The building of minarets is prohibited." If this idea became law, it would be added to Article 72 (Section 3) of the Swiss Federal Constitution.

Images for kids

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  Mosque in Winterthur