Apparently the Swiss have passed a couple new laws:
1. Muslim girls in school have to take swim classes with the other students, including boys.
2. Muslim boys in school have to shake hands with their teachers, both male and female. It is apparently an important part of Swiss culture for students to shake the hands of their teachers.
Thoughts?
I think this is a step in the right direction, for the most part.
Unless there's some health or safety reason involved, I'm not terribly comfortable with government enforcing majority cultural norms. Nor am I terribly anxious that government should bend over backward in accommodating minority cultural practices.
So how far can it go?
Maybe we should passing a slew of laws, for example, to get those Amish people to stop living the way they do and integrate with the rest of US society?
I can see a vested state interest in having citizens who know how to swim. Maybe because I grew up in a county that instituted a sixth grade swim lesson reirement in response to drownings of local people who made their living on the water and couldn't swim.
however, I would argue that the parents should be allowed to provide their child with comparable swimming instruction funded by the family or their religious institution. Otoh, the state did specifically permit religiously appropriate clothing and respond to the fact that the official position of the religion the parents adhere to is that the prepubescent status of the girls allows them to submit to the requirement without breaking religious law. The parents' personal preference for a more conservative lifestyle is simply that - a preference. Which they need to weigh against their preference to live in Switzerland.
i'm also uncomfortable with laws requiring physical contact between people, period. And I am curious about wether or not the boys would be permitted to wear gloves and if that would be an adequate accommodation for their religious proscription.
I rather like the attitude of the Swiss. They just denied a passport to someone for being annoying. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7520991.html
"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein
Wow, what an interesting story. I was struck by the size of that cowbell in the picture--seriously, it was a Christopher Walken moment.Originally Posted by Alan
Good thing Donald trump isn't trying to get a Swiss passport.
DH is actively, at this moment, workng to get his Swiss passport.
Oh also, I have cowbells like you wouldnt believe stuf in random places around our house. Seems like everytime DH or hs family went ro Switzerland, cowbells showed up here. That, and clocks, and linens.
I love that cow bell story. Love it. When I'm queen, annoying people will not be allowed!
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