David Miller Minorities And Minrets Essay

In “Majorities and Minarets: Religious Freedom and Public Space”, originally published in 2014 in the British Journal of Political Science, David Miller seeks to address the issues that are raised when “democratic majorities take decision that impose restrictions on religious minorities” (Miller, 2014, p. 437). Miller does so by analysing a concrete case, namely the Swiss referendum decision to ban the construction of Islamic minarets. He critically examines two possible reasons for the opposition of such a ban: (a) “the human right to freedom of religion, and (b) the liberal principle of equal treatment of cultures” (Miller, 2014, pp. 437). However, he does not take a clear stance himself on whether he thinks the arguments for the decision to ban the

443-445). However, Miller diminishes the importance of minarets in the Islamic religion. Miller does so by arguing for the preservation of a nation’s indigenous, cultural identity and stating that “favouring immigration controls and opposing the building of minarets does not mean treating Muslims as less than equal citizens” (Miller, 2014, pp. 453). It might be true that Muslims are not less-worthy, but such a ban does imply that they do not have equal rights to freedom of religion. Minarets, according to Miller, are not essential for the practice of religion, but neither are Christian (2014, p. 445). Thus, prohibiting the construction of minarets is indeed a clear attack on the fundamental values of Muslim’s rights to freedom of religion. Beside the functional meaning of a minaret to call for prayer, it also has symbolic meanings. It symbolises “the raising of mankind towards God” (Benzine, 2011, p. 19), referring to the human affirmation at the Oneness of God. Moreover, it is believed that a minaret is designed to remind the Muslim believer of Allah, as its architectural structure