Good day,
It seems like a number of cities around North America are modifying their by-laws in order to allow the Islamic call to prayer to be broadcast using sound amplification.
http://news.google.com/search?q=muslim+call+to+prayer
The mayors are allowing these exemptions to be made.
Concerned about:
Update: I’ve reached out to the local government (via email), asking them about how this amendment can be challenged.
If you are in Ontario and would like to challenge these amendments to the by-laws, then please let me know. We can team up and take this challenge to the municipal government(s).Are you directly adversely affected by the call to prayer?
I don’t live next to a mosque that calls the faithful to prayer. If I did, I would do either one of two things: accept and put up with the ways of my Muslim neighbors or move out. Minorities have their own peculiar cultural ways. Giving them room to preserve their traditions facilitates social integration.
Don’t challenge those amendments; embrace them.
That doesn’t seem like a viable strategy to me.
That is only going to lead to cultural silos. And would work against integration in the long run.
Cultural silos? If you are from Canada, come visit us in New York City. The whole planet is there: every minority in the world living cheek by jowl. Not even the bombing on 9/11 changed anything. Magic.
By the way, what’s wrong with cultural silos? There is no mixing of colors in the distinct bands of the rainbow, and its beautiful. And the clear pure sound of each and every instrument in the orchestra contributes to the wonderful music ensemble.
You need to rethink, my friend. God made us all dissimilar for a natural magical reason. Man tries to fuse us all into an ugly contrived homogeneous mess.
@Sree I think cultural silos can work against integration. If this statement ought to be considered as true (need data/evidence) then that actually works against integration and how integration into the wider society can and does lead to better standards of living.
Related to this discussion, I think a good strategy would be to engage the wider Muslim community in Canada and have an on-going series of discussions around separation of religion and how laws are architected.
have an on-going series of discussions around separation of religion -- genidmaSounds good to me. I think that would be fruitful. "Sharia law" has got a bad connotation in the US. It would be nice to see some open discussion.
sree said: You need to rethink, my friend. God made us all dissimilar for a natural magical reason. Man tries to fuse us all into an ugly contrived homogeneous mess.And dissimilar means some people are superior to others and are deserving of more ? And who is the judge of that, YOU ??
In this Coronavirus pandemic, why don’t we just let the ugly contrived homogeneous mess of poor people die as long as our stout leaders survive, is that what you are proposing ? Let’s just leave the old people to die, their usefulness is past and they just add to the homogeneous mess, no?
@genidma: I think cultural silos can work against integration.Why do you think so? We live on a planet with many different distinct cultures; and yet, immigrant workers of all nationalities are embedded in practically every country in the world. Cross border trade, tourism and communication integrate our global community of humanity. You can see evidence of this in every travel hub: Amsterdam, New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo. People of all creeds mingle freely together without conflict. Every country should be governed like an international airport without imposition of personal values on others in the public space.
May we engage each other in an intellectual inquiry on public policy like political scientists in an academic setting? Apparently, you have taken offense with what I said:
sree said: You need to rethink, my friend. God made us all dissimilar for a natural magical reason. Man tries to fuse us all into an ugly contrived homogeneous mess.Allow me to rephrase and explain my argument which was put to a hypothetical discussant: an immigrant Muslim adjusting to life in North America. The topic introduced by @genidma is about the Islamic call to prayer. Obviously, it is something Muslims want in a society that have people who won’t let them have their way. For the sake of debate, I am playing the Devil’s advocate to examine the @genidma proposition to deny the Muslim request already approved by local governments in Canada and the USA.
Allow me to rephrase and explainI kept waiting for that. Didn't see it. It was more like, "let me dig myself into a racist hole even deeper"
Why don’t we have a daily call to science? Each day, we broadcast over a giant public address system, some profound quote of a great scientist.
Atheists should get their own secular version of the Muslim call to prayer, if the Muslims get to do it.
Atheists should get their own secular version of the Muslim call to prayer, if the Muslims get to do it.As Lausten would say, who is stopping them? Gays have gotten the right to marry, trans their bathrooms, and now Muslims get the call to prayer. This is progressive liberalism at work. And it is a good thing for a country that celebrates freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
The Muslim call to prayer lasts 3 to 5 minutes. It’s not a big deal and shouldn’t treated as such by other folks. To Muslims, it’s a big deal. It’s a reminder to Muslims to stay focused on being a good human being and contribute to the community of which they are a part.
Why would anyone object to this reminder of civic duty?
The Muslim call to prayer is a call to be a slave of Allah. It is creepy superstitious nonsense that has taken over a large portion of the world’s population. In the most devout of Muslim societies, human rights are secondary to religious dogma.
@timb , from where did you get this impression of the Muslim call to prayer and Muslim society? Have you ever spent time in that cultural silo? Your observations are consistent with movie depictions providing the backdrops of and motivations for special forces missions into Iraq and Afghanistan to extract human rights activist journalists and the oppressed women who are dying to shed their powder blue burqas for itsy bitsy polka dot bikinis?
I know that devout Muslims consider themselves to be slaves of Allah. And I have heard the “call to prayer”. It has an eerie quality. It is creepy because it is sent out to the entire society, and ALL are subjected to it. Not just Muslims. It represents an imperialistic religion whose ideologies and dogma set it to expand throughout the world. And when they fully take over a society, then anyone who is not a devout Muslim is a 2nd class citizen. And anyone who decides they don’t want to be a Muslim anymore, could be subject to death.
It is the most pernicious of religions.
Now, anyone who wants to be a Muslim has a right to be a Muslim. Just don’t try to force it on anyone else. In fact, the people who could potentially save us from fundamentalist Islam, are moderate Muslims. If they can ever wrest control of the dogma from the fundamentalists, that would be great. We could all live in harmony, or as much as we do with other evangelical religions.
They can send their call to prayer out on their members’ cell phones.
The common sound space belongs to everyone, not just them.
They can send their call to prayer out on their members’ cell phones.Sounds like a billion dollar idea. Invent the app and patent it. Every Muslim family can have the call to prayer 5 times a day without waiting for the guy in the mosque to do it.
The common sound space belongs to everyone, not just them.Agreed. The loud rap music vibrating the concrete at the gas station every time a belligerent art form aficionado pulls in needs to be addressed. It's far more oppressive than the Muslim call to prayer.
My billion dollar ideas are a dime a dozen.
At least the rap bass fans in their cars are not trying to recruit you to their religion, and it only happens, typically rather briefly, when you happen to come near enough to them to hear the overflow of sound. It is not something regular that you have to come to expect impinging on you everyday, whenever it is time for some freaky religious nuts to pray.
Now blasting out classic rock and roll on your car speakers, is something that I would be fine with, as long as it is not offensive to others. Rap, otoh, I just tolerate.