In Defense of Minarets, Freedom and Reason

 

This is an authorised, unofficial translation by Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine. It may contain errors.



EXCERPT FROM FIGU SPECIAL BULLETIN

No. 51, January, 2010

Reader's question


Mr. Meier, I do not belong to any religion or any sect and I am just not sure what I should think about the minaret initiative [referendum]. What is you attitude, and that of FIGU, in regard to religions and to their sects? And what is it, in regard to faith and the believers? And what is your opinion in regard to the passing of the minaret referendum and the spreading of Islam in Switzerland, and outside of the Islamic countries in general? And what, fundamentally, have you to say regarding religions and sects?
R. Knecht, Switzerland

Answer


Your question cannot be answered with a few words, consequently I must range a little further afield. The FIGU society is independent, apolitical, free, mediatory and supra-denominational, which naturally also applies to my person. For the society, as well as for me, religions and sects are institutions and groups which are far from our everyday life and beyond the result of our logical thoughts and feelings. Religions and sects correspond to organisations and groups which stultify the truth and the consciousness and through which the human being is led away from actual reality and its truth, and, through which, by means of false teachings, he is beaten into serfdom and his consciousness is kept enslaved. This occurs along with this: that with nonsensical, false teachings, the believers are financially exploited, and not few of them are sexually abused, and so forth. For this, and other reasons, the FIGU society, and I, distance ourselves from all religions and their sects, which are atrocious, mighty enterprises and have, since time immemorial, brought misery and want, as well as terror, murder, manslaughter, hate, jealously, destruction and war over the Earth and its humanity - and also still do so today. Religions and sects are consciousness-stupefying spreaders of fallacious teachings, through which uncountable believers are led into error, are exploited and are kept far from reality and its truth. That, briefly, is what I have to say in regard to religions, sects and faiths. If further answers in this direction are important for you then I recommend to you my book, "God-delusion and God-delusion Disease".


There is something to say, from my point of view and that of the FIGU society, as well as regarding our attitude concerning faiths, religion and sects, as well as in regard to our opinion about the minaret initiative and the spreading of Islam. We are, in every regard, absolutely antireligious. We belong to no religion and no sect and are also no such religion or sect. We also do not count ourselves as atheists, although, like them, we acknowledge no divinity because God only corresponds to a highly-imaginative and illusory fantasy of the human brain. Our teaching starts with a Creation Universal Consciousness that has a natural origin and evolutive form, from which everything came about in a natural way by means of evolution, and further evolves. The whole thing is based on a natural intelligence through which everything exists and develops, and which, however, does not interfere in any of the matters, of any form at all, of the creatures, respectively, creations which came forth from it by means of evolution. This is the reality and its truth, consequently we can assume from this to be knowing in regard to this, whereby this knowledge and this knowing is not compatible with any belief.

Our attitude in regard to belief and to the believers in religions and sects is very simple. Fundamentally we tolerate them all and do not interfere in their machinations. The religious and sect believers are, for us, no more and no less than simple human beings who maintain their own belief which is, for us, taboo and therefore incontestable. If a human being is a member of a religious or sectarian faith then that is his matter alone and is none of our business. Each human being can think and believe what he wants according to his conscience, as has been recorded, as follows, by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Article 18
Freedom of Conscience and Religion
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.


The FIGU society holds to that and therefore so do I, consequently we do not discriminate against any believers, and indeed it makes no difference which religion or sect they belong to. However, that which we do attack are the religions and their sects with their unbelievably consciousness-stultifying, fallacious teachings of the God-delusion and the God-delusion disease. These are schizophrenic products of delusion, which are, by means of false teachings, hammered into the believers through dishonest machinations and which impair the intelligence as well as reason and only allow them to make delusional decisions. Angst about a hammered-in, divine punishment does not allow the believer to be himself anymore, rather only to be humble before an imaginary god who screams for blood and revenge and who lacks any real humanity. With indoctrination, the religious representatives, such as priests, ministers, preachers and the pope, and so forth, as well as sect gurus, compel the clueless human beings with violence, false teachings and lies towards erroneous, delusional belief, and belief in God. This delusion establishes itself in them and is further inherited from generation to generation, consequently the human beings continue to become further removed from the effective reality and its truth. And what is thereby obtained is the fact that the faithful no longer have any of their own freedom and opinions, because, through the religious and sectarian indoctrination, they become completely lost and only orientate themselves towards that which the false teachings of the religions and sects wrongly teach and hammer into them, to become opinion. But exactly this indoctrination of opinion contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which quite clearly and unambiguously demands that every human being has the right to a free opinion:


Article 19
Freedom of Opinion and Information

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.


As a result of the religious and sectarian indoctrination, however, the believer no longer has his own free opinion, rather only the belief-delusion opinion which was hammered into him by religions and sects, consequently he, at least in this relationship, can no longer form his own opinion and also can no longer hold such an opinion. Therefore, only a hammered-in, terribly religious, and sectarian, opinion is held, through which religious hate also comes about. Fundamentally, in Switzerland we have freedom of thought and religious freedom as it is clearly and distinctly recorded in the quoted Human Rights article. Nevertheless religious freedom is disregarded, as is also the case with the ban on minarets. The threadbare excuse that the Islamic religion is not targeted with the ban holds no water because, for the faithful, a minaret with a half moon on the top is - like a church steeple - no more and no less a symbol of their cult's building and of their religious cult. The whole thing has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism, rather, singly and alone with a symbol of a religious cult. If now, insanely, a ban is decreed for the Islamic cult's minaret, as a result of religious hatred and race hatred, as well as as a result of disinformation and overflowing cowardice in regard to Islam - which in no manner is to equate with the terror of the extreme and radical Islamists - then it would only be fair if the towers and the ringing of bells of the Christian soul-launching-pads, with their rooster or cross of Christ on the top, were also forbidden. Church towers are also a sign and symbol of a religious cult, specifically the Christian cult, therefore also these need to be eliminated if the minarets of Islamic mosques are to be forbidden. The same would also have to apply for synagogues and temples if these had towers, minarets and the like as the cult buildings' marks of identification. But such a deed would actually be just as crazy as the ban on minarets, about which it can only be said that the Islamic believers and their dignity and equality and equal worth, as well as the sisterhood and brotherhood, are thereby also defamed and thrown in the filth. There is also an article about that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was likewise disregarded by the minaret proscribers, and which says:


Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.


And in regard to this - that all human beings are equal before the law - article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is also violated as a result of the ban on minarets. This is namely because, the Islamic believers, who are also human beings, as are Christians and other believers of other religions, are, with the ban on minarets, refused the right, which they were promised, concerning their equality before the law in regard to their right in the matter of religion, and cult buildings in accordance with their religiously defined building tradition. This description is not farfetched because with some intelligence and reason these facts can be derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:


Article 7
Equality Before the Law

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.


In its further meaning, equality before the law therefore means that, also in regard to their religious acquisitions, just as with religious cult buildings, human beings are permitted to erect such according to their tradition, and that it is nobody's business to forbid this, and it certainly makes no difference which religion or other cult it concerns. That is therefore also equality before the law, consequently the protection of the law also relates to human beings' religious and cultic buildings, which have, for them, a great ideological and psychic significance. To willingly offend against that, as for example, with the ban on minarets, amounts not only to a breach in regard to human rights, rather it is also a groundless impertinence and a catastrophic interference in the realm of the legally-guaranteed freedom of belief, and the associated cult buildings. When, legally, there is a freedom of belief and religious freedom, then that alone already also stipulates that every religious community of the faithful, and other kinds of religious communities of faith, must be entitled to their own cult buildings and, that is to say, in the normal, traditional context and extent. If this is not dealt with in this way then the law is disregarded and broken. And that is also true in regard to the Islamic cult buildings, respectively, the mosques, for which the minarets are the public symbols.


With the ban on minarets, not only is the dignity and freedom and the equality of Muslims put into question, radically curtailed and trampled under foot, they are also, in evil and gross measure, discriminated against and criminalised. This is a fact which, again, also offends against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is indeed clearly recorded and explained in the following:

Article 2
Ban on Discrimination

1. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
2. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Billy


If the ban on minarets is now considered, then it is clear that this offends, in its entire extent, against several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That is not only very regrettable, rather also shameful for Switzerland, which up until now, had a good reputation worldwide as a state founded on the rule of law - a reputation which is now enormously tarnished with the ban on minarets. Besides that, I must say, as a Swiss citizen, that I am very deeply ashamed for all those who are responsible - to which not only the initiators belong, rather also all the voters who supported the ban with their votes - for this monstrous lack of tolerance in regard to the ban on minarets, and the associated hatred against Islam.
Billy

AUSZUG VON FIGU SONDER-BULLETIN
Nr. 51, Jan. 2010


EXCERPT FROM FIGU SPECIAL BULLETIN

No. 51, January, 2010




Leserfrage

Reader's question



Herr Meier, ich gehöre keiner Religion und keiner Sekte an und bin mir nun nicht sicher, was ich wegen der Minarettinitiative denken soll. Was ist Ihre und des Vereins FIGU Einstellung zu den Religionen und zu deren Sekten? Und wie zum Glauben und zu den Gläubigen? Und was ist Ihre Meinung zur Annahme der Minarettinitiative und der Islamausbreitung in der Schweiz und ausserhalb der islamischen Länder überhaupt? Und was haben Sie grundsätzlich bezüglich Religionen und Sekten zu sagen?
R. Knecht, Schweiz

Antwort


Mr. Meier, I do not belong to any religion or any sect and I am just not sure what I should think about the minaret initiative [referendum]. What is you attitude, and that of FIGU, in regard to religions and to their sects? And what is it, in regard to faith and the believers? And what is your opinion in regard to the passing of the minaret referendum and the spreading of Islam in Switzerland, and outside of the Islamic countries in general? And what, fundamentally, have you to say regarding religions and sects?
R. Knecht, Switzerland

Answer

Ihre Frage kann nicht mit wenigen Worten beantwortet werden, folglich ich etwas weiter ausholen muss: Der Verein FIGU ist unabhängig, unpolitisch, frei, vermittelnd und überkonfessionell, was natürlich auch auf meine Person zutrifft. Religionen und Sekten sind sowohl für den Verein wie auch für mich Institutionen und Gruppierungen, die fern unseres Alltags und ausserhalb unseres logischen Gedanken- und Gefühlsgutes sind. Religionen und Sekten entsprechen wahrheits- und bewusstseinsverdummenden Organisationen und Gruppierungen, durch die die Menschen von der effectiven Wirklichkeit und deren Wahrheit weggeführt, mit Irrlehren in Knechtschaft geschlagen und in bewusstseinsmässiger Sklaverei gehalten werden. Dies nebst dem, dass mit unsinnigen Irrlehren eine finanzielle Ausbeutung der Gläubigen betrieben wird und nicht deren wenige sexuell missbraucht werden usw. Aus diesen und anderen Gründen distanzieren sich der Verein FIGU und auch ich von allen Religionen und deren Sekten, die greuelhafte Machtunternehmen sind und seit alters her Elend und Not sowie Terror, Mord, Totschlag, Hass, Eifersucht, Zerstörung und Krieg über die Erde und deren Menschheit brachten – und es auch noch heute tun. Religionen und Sekten sind bewusstseinsverblödende Irrlehrenverbreiter, durch die unzählige Gläubige in die Irre geführt, ausgebeutet und von der Wirklichkeit und deren Wahrheit ferngehalten werden. Das in kurzer Weise, was ich in bezug auf Religionen, Sekten und Glauben zu sagen habe. Wenn für Sie weitere Antworten in dieser Richtung wichtig sind, dann empfehle ich Ihnen mein Buch ‹Gotteswahn und Gotteswahnkrankheit›.


Your question cannot be answered with a few words, consequently I must range a little further afield. The FIGU society is independent, apolitical, free, mediatory and supra-denominational, which naturally also applies to my person. For the society, as well as for me, religions and sects are institutions and groups which are far from our everyday life and beyond the result of our logical thoughts and feelings. Religions and sects correspond to organisations and groups which stultify the truth and the consciousness and through which the human being is led away from actual reality and its truth, and, through which, by means of false teachings, he is beaten into serfdom and his consciousness is kept enslaved. This occurs along with this: that with nonsensical, false teachings, the believers are financially exploited, and not few of them are sexually abused, and so forth. For this, and other reasons, the FIGU society, and I, distance ourselves from all religions and their sects, which are atrocious, mighty enterprises and have, since time immemorial, brought misery and want, as well as terror, murder, manslaughter, hate, jealously, destruction and war over the Earth and its humanity - and also still do so today. Religions and sects are consciousness-stupefying spreaders of fallacious teachings, through which uncountable believers are led into error, are exploited and are kept far from reality and its truth. That, briefly, is what I have to say in regard to religions, sects and faiths. If further answers in this direction are important for you then I recommend to you my book, "God-delusion and God-delusion Disease".
Aus Sicht des Vereins FIGU und mir sowie hinsichtlich unserer Einstellung zu Glauben, Religion und Sekten sowie in bezug auf unsere Meinung zur Minarettinitiative und der Ausbreitung des Islam ist einiges zu sagen. Wir sind in jeder Beziehung absolut antireligiös, gehören keiner Religion und keiner Sekte an und sind auch keine solche. Wir rechnen uns auch nicht zu den Atheisten, obwohl wir wie diese keine Gottheit anerkennen, weil Gott nur einem menschlichen phantasievollen und illusorischen Gehirngespinst entspricht. Unsere Lehre geht von einer Schöpfung Universalbewusstsein aus, die natürlichen Ursprungs und evolutiver Form ist, aus der heraus evolutionsmässig auch alles in natürlicher Weise entstand und weiter evolutioniert. Das Ganze beruht in einer natürlichen Intelligenz, durch die alles existiert und sich entwickelt, die sich jedoch in keinerlei Belange irgendwelcher Form der aus ihr evolutionsmässig hervorgegangenen Kreaturen resp. Schöpfungen einmischt. Dies ist die Wirklichkeit und deren Wahrheit, folglich wir davon ausgehen können, diesbezüglich Wissende zu sein, wobei dieses Wissen und Wissendsein mit keinem Glauben vereinbar ist.


There is something to say, from my point of view and that of the FIGU society, as well as regarding our attitude concerning faiths, religion and sects, as well as in regard to our opinion about the minaret initiative and the spreading of Islam. We are, in every regard, absolutely antireligious. We belong to no religion and no sect and are also no such religion or sect. We also do not count ourselves as atheists, although, like them, we acknowledge no divinity because God only corresponds to a highly-imaginative and illusory fantasy of the human brain. Our teaching starts with a Creation Universal Consciousness that has a natural origin and evolutive form, from which everything came about in a natural way by means of evolution, and further evolves. The whole thing is based on a natural intelligence through which everything exists and develops, and which, however, does not interfere in any of the matters, of any form at all, of the creatures, respectively, creations which came forth from it by means of evolution. This is the reality and its truth, consequently we can assume from this to be knowing in regard to this, whereby this knowledge and this knowing is not compatible with any belief.
Unsere Einstellung zum Glauben und zu den Gläubigen der Religionen und Sekten ist sehr einfach. Grundsätzlich tolerieren wir sie alle und mischen uns nicht ein in deren Machenschaften. Die religiösen und sektiererischen Gläubigen sind für uns nicht mehr und nicht weniger als einfach Menschen, die ihren eigenen Glauben pflegen, der für uns tabu und also unanfechtbar ist. Ist ein Mensch einem religiösen oder sektiererischen Glauben anhängig, dann ist das seine alleinige Angelegenheit und geht uns nichts an. Jeder Mensch kann gemäss seinem Gewissen denken und glauben, was er will, wie das durch die Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte folgendermassen festgehalten ist:


Our attitude in regard to belief and to the believers in religions and sects is very simple. Fundamentally we tolerate them all and do not interfere in their machinations. The religious and sect believers are, for us, no more and no less than simple human beings who maintain their own belief which is, for us, taboo and therefore incontestable. If a human being is a member of a religious or sectarian faith then that is his matter alone and is none of our business. Each human being can think and believe what he wants according to his conscience, as has been recorded, as follows, by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Artikel 18
Gewissens- und Religionsfreiheit

Jeder Mensch hat Anspruch auf Gedanken-, Gewissens- und Religionsfreiheit; dieses Recht umfasst die Freiheit, seine Religion oder seine Überzeugung zu wechseln, sowie die Freiheit, seine Religion oder seine Überzeugung allein oder in Gemeinschaft mit anderen, in der Öffentlichkeit oder privat, durch Lehre, Ausübung, Gottesdienst und Vollziehung von Riten zu bekunden.


Article 18
Freedom of Conscience and Religion
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Daran halten sich der Verein FIGU und also auch ich, folglich wir keine Gläubigen diskriminieren, und zwar ganz gleich, welcher Religion oder Sekte sie angehören. Was wir allerdings angreifen, das sind die Religionen und ihre Sekten mit den unglaublich bewusstseinsverdummenden Irrlehren, dem Gotteswahn und der Gotteswahnkrankheit. Schizophrene Wahngebilde, die den Gläubigen durch unlautere Machenschaften irrlehremässig eingehämmert werden, die den Verstand sowie die Vernunft beeinträchtigen und sie nur noch wahngläubige Entscheidungen treffen lassen. Angst vor einer eingehämmerten göttlichen Strafe lässt die Gläubigen nicht mehr sich selbst, sondern nur noch demütig sein – vor einem imaginären nach Blut und Rache schreienden Gott, dem jede wirkliche Menschlichkeit fehlt. Indoktrinierend zwingen die Religionsvertreter, wie Priester, Pfaffen, Prediger und der Papst usw. sowie Sektengurus, die unbedarften Menschen mit Gewalt, Irrlehren und Lügen zum irren Wahn- und Gottesglauben. Dieser Wahn setzt sich in ihnen fest und wird weitervererbt, von Generation zu Generation, folglich die Menschen immer weiter von der effectiven Wirklichkeit und deren Wahrheit abkommen. Und was damit erwirkt wird, ist die Tatsache, dass die Gläubigen keine eigene Freiheit und Meinung mehr haben, denn durch die religiöse und sektiererische Indoktrinierung gehen diese völlig verloren und richten sich nur noch darauf aus, was die religiösen und sektiererischen Irrlehren als Meinung misslehren und ihnen einhämmern. Genau diese Meinungs- indoktrinierung widerspricht aber der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte, die ganz klar und eindeutig fordert, dass jeder Mensch das Recht auf eine freie Meinung hat:


The FIGU society holds to that and therefore so do I, consequently we do not discriminate against any believers, and indeed it makes no difference which religion or sect they belong to. However, that which we do attack are the religions and their sects with their unbelievably consciousness-stultifying, fallacious teachings of the God-delusion and the God-delusion disease. These are schizophrenic products of delusion, which are, by means of false teachings, hammered into the believers through dishonest machinations and which impair the intelligence as well as reason and only allow them to make delusional decisions. Angst about a hammered-in, divine punishment does not allow the believer to be himself anymore, rather only to be humble before an imaginary god who screams for blood and revenge and who lacks any real humanity. With indoctrination, the religious representatives, such as priests, ministers, preachers and the pope, and so forth, as well as sect gurus, compel the clueless human beings with violence, false teachings and lies towards erroneous, delusional belief, and belief in God. This delusion establishes itself in them and is further inherited from generation to generation, consequently the human beings continue to become further removed from the effective reality and its truth. And what is thereby obtained is the fact that the faithful no longer have any of their own freedom and opinions, because, through the religious and sectarian indoctrination, they become completely lost and only orientate themselves towards that which the false teachings of the religions and sects wrongly teach and hammer into them, to become opinion. But exactly this indoctrination of opinion contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which quite clearly and unambiguously demands that every human being has the right to a free opinion:
Artikel 19
Meinungs- und Informationsfreiheit

Jeder Mensch hat das Recht auf freie Meinungsäusserung; dieses Recht umfasst die Freiheit, Meinungen unangefochten anzuhängen und Informationen und Ideen mit allen Verständigungsmitteln ohne Rücksicht auf Grenzen zu suchen, zu empfangen und zu verbreiten.


Article 19
Freedom of Opinion and Information

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Durch die religiöse und sektiererische Indoktrination hat der Gläubige jedoch keine eigene freie Meinung mehr, sondern nur noch die ihm durch Religionen und Sekten eingehämmerte Glaubenswahnmeinung, folglich er zumindest in dieser Beziehung sich keine eigene Meinung mehr bilden und auch eine solche nicht mehr vertreten kann. Also wird nur noch eine stinkreligiöse und sektiererische sowie eingehämmerte Meinung vertreten, durch die auch Religionshass entsteht. Grundsätzlich haben wir in der Schweiz Gedanken- und Religionsfreiheit, wie im aufgeführten Artikel der Menschenrechte klar und deutlich festgehalten ist. Nichtsdestotrotz wird die Religionsfreiheit missachtet, wie das auch mit dem Minarettverbot der Fall ist. Die fadenscheinige Ausrede, dass mit dem Verbot nicht die islamische Religion gemeint sei, die zieht nicht, denn ein Minarett mit einem Halbmond auf der Spitze ist, wie ein Kirchturm, nicht mehr und nicht weniger für die Gläubigen als nur ein Symbol ihres Kultgebäudes und ihres Religionskultes. Mit Extremismus und Terrorismus hat das Ganze nichts zu tun, sondern einzig und allein mit einem Religionskultsymbol. Wenn nun verrückterweise durch Religionshass und Rassenhass sowie durch Desinformation und triefende Feigheit in bezug auf den Islam, der in keiner Art und Weise mit dem Terror der extremen und radikalen Islamisten gleichzusetzen ist, für die Minarette des Islamkultes ein Verbot erlassen wird, dann wäre es nur des Rechtens, wenn auch die Türme und das Glockengeläute der christlichen Seelenabschussrampen mit ihrem Gockel oder Christuskreuz auf der Spitze verboten würden. Auch Kirchtürme sind ein Zeichen und Symbol eines Religionskultes, eben des Christenkultes, also gehören auch diese eliminiert, wenn für die Moscheen des Islam die Minarette verboten werden. Gleiches müsste dann auch zutreffen für Synagogen und Tempel, wenn diese Türme, Minarette und dergleichen als Kennzeichen der Kultgebäude hätten. Aber tatsächlich wäre ein solches Tun ebenso hirnrissig wie das Minarettverbot, zu dem nur gesagt werden kann, dass damit auch die Islamgläubigen und ihre Würde und Gleichheit, die Gleichberechtigung sowie die Schwesterlichkeit und Brüderlichkeit diffamiert und in den Dreck gestossen werden. Auch dazu gibt es einen Artikel in der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte, der von den Minarettverbietern ebenfalls missachtet wurde und der besagt:


As a result of the religious and sectarian indoctrination, however, the believer no longer has his own free opinion, rather only the belief-delusion opinion which was hammered into him by religions and sects, consequently he, at least in this relationship, can no longer form his own opinion and also can no longer hold such an opinion. Therefore, only a hammered-in, terribly religious, and sectarian, opinion is held, through which religious hate also comes about. Fundamentally, in Switzerland we have freedom of thought and religious freedom as it is clearly and distinctly recorded in the quoted Human Rights article. Nevertheless religious freedom is disregarded, as is also the case with the ban on minarets. The threadbare excuse that the Islamic religion is not targeted with the ban holds no water because, for the faithful, a minaret with a half moon on the top is - like a church steeple - no more and no less a symbol of their cult's building and of their religious cult. The whole thing has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism, rather, singly and alone with a symbol of a religious cult. If now, insanely, a ban is decreed for the Islamic cult's minaret, as a result of religious hatred and race hatred, as well as as a result of disinformation and overflowing cowardice in regard to Islam - which in no manner is to equate with the terror of the extreme and radical Islamists - then it would only be fair if the towers and the ringing of bells of the Christian soul-launching-pads, with their rooster or cross of Christ on the top, were also forbidden. Church towers are also a sign and symbol of a religious cult, specifically the Christian cult, therefore also these need to be eliminated if the minarets of Islamic mosques are to be forbidden. The same would also have to apply for synagogues and temples if these had towers, minarets and the like as the cult buildings' marks of identification. But such a deed would actually be just as crazy as the ban on minarets, about which it can only be said that the Islamic believers and their dignity and equality and equal worth, as well as the sisterhood and brotherhood, are thereby also defamed and thrown in the filth. There is also an article about that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was likewise disregarded by the minaret proscribers, and which says:
Artikel 1


Article 1

Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geiste der Brüderlichkeit begegnen.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Und bezüglich dessen, dass vor dem Gesetz alle Menschen gleich sind, wird durch das Minarettverbot auch der Artikel 7 der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte verletzt. Dies, weil nämlich den Islamgläubigen, die auch Menschen sind, wie die Christen und sonstigen Gläubigen anderer Religionen, in bezug auf ihre Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz hinsichtlich ihres Rechtes in Sachen Religion und Kultgebäuden gemäss ihrer religiös geprägten gebäulichen Tradition mit dem Minarettverbot das ihnen zugesicherte Recht verwehrt wird. Diese Darlegung ist nicht weit hergeholt, denn mit etwas Verstand und Vernunft lässt sich aus der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte diese Tatsache ableiten:




And in regard to this - that all human beings are equal before the law - article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is also violated as a result of the ban on minarets. This is namely because, the Islamic believers, who are also human beings, as are Christians and other believers of other religions, are, with the ban on minarets, refused the right, which they were promised, concerning their equality before the law in regard to their right in the matter of religion, and cult buildings in accordance with their religiously defined building tradition. This description is not farfetched because with some intelligence and reason these facts can be derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Artikel 7
Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz

Alle Menschen sind vor dem Gesetz gleich und haben ohne Unterschied Anspruch auf gleichen Schutz durch das Gesetz. Alle haben Anspruch auf den gleichen Schutz gegen jede unterschiedliche Behandlung, welche die vorliegende Erklärung verletzen würde, und gegen jede Aufreizung zu einer derartigen unterschiedlichen Behandlung.


Article 7
Equality Before the Law

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz bedeutet also in weiterem Sinn, dass die Menschen auch in bezug auf ihre religiösen Errungenschaften, wie eben religiöse Kultgebäude, ihrer Tradition gemäss solche erstellen dürfen und dass es niemandem ansteht, dies zu verbieten, und zwar ganz gleich, um welche Religion oder sonstigen Kult es sich handelt. Auch das ist also Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz, folglich sich der Schutz des Gesetzes auch auf des Menschen religiöse und kultische Gebäulichkeiten bezieht, die für ihn eine grosse ideologische und psychische Bedeutung haben. Willentlich dagegen zu verstossen, wie z.B. durch das Minarettverbot, kommt nicht nur einem Bruch in bezug auf die Menschenrechte gleich, sondern es ist auch eine bodenlose Frechheit und eine katastrophale Einmischung in den Bereich der durch die Gesetze garantierte Glaubensfreiheit und die damit verbundenen Kultbauten. Allein schon wenn gesetzmässig eine Glaubens- und Religionsfreiheit gegeben ist, dann bedingt das auch, dass jeder Religions- und sonstigen religiösen Glaubensgemeinschaft ihre eigenen Kultgebäude zugestanden werden müssen, und zwar im normalen traditionellen Rahmen und Umfang. Wird dem nicht so gehandelt, dann wird das Gesetz missachtet und gebrochen. Und das gilt auch in bezug auf die islamischen Kultgebäude resp. die Moscheen, deren offenes Zeichen die Minarette sind.


In its further meaning, equality before the law therefore means that, also in regard to their religious acquisitions, just as with religious cult buildings, human beings are permitted to erect such according to their tradition, and that it is nobody's business to forbid this, and it certainly makes no difference which religion or other cult it concerns. That is therefore also equality before the law, consequently the protection of the law also relates to human beings' religious and cultic buildings, which have, for them, a great ideological and psychic significance. To willingly offend against that, as for example, with the ban on minarets, amounts not only to a breach in regard to human rights, rather it is also a groundless impertinence and a catastrophic interference in the realm of the legally-guaranteed freedom of belief, and the associated cult buildings. When, legally, there is a freedom of belief and religious freedom, then that alone already also stipulates that every religious community of the faithful, and other kinds of religious communities of faith, must be entitled to their own cult buildings and, that is to say, in the normal, traditional context and extent. If this is not dealt with in this way then the law is disregarded and broken. And that is also true in regard to the Islamic cult buildings, respectively, the mosques, for which the minarets are the public symbols.
Mit dem Minarettverbot wird nicht nur die Würde und Freiheit und die Gleichheit der Muslima und Muslime in Frage gestellt, radikal beschnitten und mit Füssen getreten, sondern sie werden auch in bösem und grobem Masse diskriminiert und kriminalisiert. Eine Tatsache, die auch wieder wider die Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte verstösst, wird doch da folgendes festgehalten und erklärt:


With the ban on minarets, not only is the dignity and freedom and the equality of Muslims put into question, radically curtailed and trampled under foot, they are also, in evil and gross measure, discriminated against and criminalised. This is a fact which, again, also offends against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is indeed clearly recorded and explained in the following:

Artikel 2
Verbot der Diskriminierung
1. Jeder Mensch hat Anspruch auf die in dieser Erklärung verkündeten Rechte und Freiheiten, ohne irgendeine Unterscheidung, wie etwa nach Rasse, Farbe, Geschlecht, Sprache, Religion, politischer und sonstiger Überzeugung, nationaler oder sozialer Herkunft, nach Eigentum, Geburt oder sonstigen Umständen.
2. Weiter darf keine Unterscheidung gemacht werden auf Grund der politischen, rechtlichen oder internationalen Stellung des Landes oder Gebietes, dem eine Person angehört, ohne Rücksicht darauf, ob es unabhängig ist, unter Treuhandschaft steht, keine Selbstregierung besitzt oder irgendeiner anderen Beschränkung seiner Souveränität unterworfen ist.



Article 2
Ban on Discrimination

1. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
2. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Wenn nun das Minarettverbot betrachtet wird, dann wird klar, dass dieses im gesamten Umfang gegen mehrere Artikel der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte verstösst. Das ist nicht nur sehr bedauerlich, sondern auch beschämend für die Schweiz, die bis anhin einen guten weltweiten Ruf als Rechtsstaat hatte, der nunmehr mit dem Minarettverbot gewaltig angekratzt ist. Ausserdem muss ich sagen, dass ich mich als Schweizer für alle jene in Grund und Boden schäme, welche für diese ungeheure Toleranzlosigkeit in bezug auf das Minarettverbot und den damit verbundenen Islamhass verantwortlich sind, wozu nicht nur die Initianten gehören, sondern auch all die Wählenden, die mit ihrer Stimme für das Verbot eingetreten sind.
Billy


If the ban on minarets is now considered, then it is clear that this offends, in its entire extent, against several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That is not only very regrettable, rather also shameful for Switzerland, which up until now, had a good reputation worldwide as a state founded on the rule of law - a reputation which is now enormously tarnished with the ban on minarets. Besides that, I must say, as a Swiss citizen, that I am very deeply ashamed for all those who are responsible - to which not only the initiators belong, rather also all the voters who supported the ban with their votes - for this monstrous lack of tolerance in regard to the ban on minarets, and the associated hatred against Islam.
Billy

 

Posted: January 29, 2010

Michael Horn