The best way to fan fears

The campaign to ban minarets in Switzerland has fanned fears of Islamic fundamentalism, writes the daily Die Presse: "With their vote the people of Switzerland have done their country a huge disservice. The country's Muslims, who make up 4.5 percent of the population, many of whom come from the former Yugoslavia, are for the most part well-integrated and largely unproblematic. Religious peace has been dealt a severe - and needless - blow. Moreover, in such questions it becomes a religiously neutral state like Switzerland to behave neutrally. The degree to which the unexpected outcome of the referendum has unnerved the government can be read in the sentence - meant reassuringly - that the four existing minarets do not have to be taken down. The initiators' hard-nosed bet has paid off: Their campaign has succeeded in fanning fears of militant Islamic fundamentalism, which may be a problem in some regions of the world, but certainly not in Appenzell [where 71 percent voted in favour of the ban]."

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