Zurich Right Raises Spectre of "Koran Schools"

The Zurich canton in Switzerland currently recognizes just three religious groups: the Protestant, Roman Catholic and the Old Catholic Churches. Recognition bring public money to assist in projects that benefit the wider community, not just members of those churches. The government is looking at granting official recognition to other religions as well, but politicians on the Right are using scare tactics in order to fight this proposal - and even the recognized churches object to what is being said.

NZZ Online reports:

The People's Party claims that cantonal contributions - which are given to all recognised religions - would be used by Muslims for fundamentalist religious teaching. Party literature even shows a montage of the Zurich Münster with its tower replaced by a minaret and the words “it’s a question of time”. ... Gioia Weber from the Federal Commission against Racism told swissinfo that this was the case, adding that the Right's campaign bordered on being racist. ... Markus Notter, director of justice in canton Zurich, said that assertions that cash could be used for “Koran schools” were simply false.

If the effort to treat all religions equally fails, that will probably cause people to question whether any religions should get official state recognition and, as a consequence, special treatment. All Swiss cantons deal with the separation of church and state (or lack thereof) differently. Some do treat all religions equally while others explicitly favor Christian groups. Many Swiss conservatives, like their counterparts in the United States, favor the latter situation.

Read More:

• Religious Right
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Separation of Church and State 101