Resisting the public intrusions of Islam

Jonathan L. writes:

Regarding the Swiss referendum on banning minarets, I think controversies concerning public spaces and public architecture are the best way to drive home to the average person the impossibility of liberalism and non-discrimination as total ways of life. People already accept the need for such restrictions on personal freedom as building standards, zoning codes, and covenants, conditions, and restrictions because they understand that even one incongruous element can mar the aesthetics and livability of a place.

Islam’s encroachment on our public spaces is thus the perfect opportunity to puncture the liberal delusion that every culture can coexist in one place in harmony and mutual “respect,” as public spaces are inherently either-or. Either we have Western skylines without domes and minarets, or we have Islamic skylines with domes and minarets. Either we have Western public spaces where dogs are walked and the sounds are mostly of white noise, or we have Muslim public spaces with no dogs, public foot baths, and the blaring call of the muezzin five times a day. The average person will immediately grasp this, and the liberal intellectual will finally be cornered into admitting the untenability of his beliefs. Muslim precipitateness in embarking on grand public works projects (as in the mega-mosques planned for Boston and London) before Muslims’ demographic position is more secure, is like the premature attacks of 9/11, a hidden boon to defenders of the West.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 10, 2008 11:12 AM | Send