Introduction
Religious tolerance is one of the basic principles of Swiss democracy, and it is especially critical for the country to provide people with freedom of religious expression. At the same time, there is a controversial attitude to the Muslim community among Swiss citizens who are predominantly Christian. It is possible to state that there is significant tension in Switzerland concerning the rights of the Muslim minority. In general, the opposition between the secular and Christian representatives of the Swiss society and the Islamic community is a relevant topic that influences the current development of Switzerland. Muslims are typically stereotyped as radicals, criminals, and potential terrorists who endanger the stability and peace of Europe in general and Switzerland in particular. No need to say that this attitude aggravates social tensions between the representatives of different cultural and religious traditions that are supposed to co-exist peacefully in European society. In addition, it makes the immigration of Muslims a controversial topic in the Swiss political and social discourse. One of the problems Switzerland has to solve is the community’s polarization due to the opposition of the Christian and secular majority to the Muslim minority.
Discussion and Analysis
Even though European culture is supposed to be inclusive and diverse, it is still possible to describe it as an example of Christendom. Spruyt and van der Noll claim in the article ‘The “Islamized stranger”: On “chronic” versus “contextual” salience in the measurement of anti-Muslim prejudice’ that people traditionally associate Europe with Christianity, and religious heritage is essential to its image and history (Spruyt and van der Noll, 2017). Switzerland is not the exception, and its historical development is closely connected with the Christian faith. Currently, there are two official religions in Switzerland, which ensures that various congregations live in peace in one country without confronting each other. The main point is that these two official congregations accepted on the state level are Swiss Protestant and Roman Catholic churches that are both Christian (Spruyt and van der Noll, 2017). It is possible to state that the attitude to the Jewish church and Buddhists is also tolerant in the Swiss society that regards these beliefs as acceptable for Europe (Spruyt and van der Noll, 2017). The main problem and controversy are connected with the public attitude to Muslims and the Islamic faith that most people in Switzerland consider opposite to the Christian culture that endangers the European way of life (Spruyt and van der Noll, 2017). This situation leads to serious controversy connected with the attitude to immigrants, their acceptance by Swiss society, and integration.
The article by Vista and Banfi entitled ‘Institutionalising Islamophobia in Switzerland: The burqa and minaret bans’ develops the similar topic of legal persecution of the Islamic culture and controversial attitude to it. The legal context surrounding the questions of immigration and integration of the Muslim population into Swiss society shows that Switzerland resists Islamic intrusion into its culture on the state level. For instance, the federal legislation on foreigners was ratified in 2008, according to which the country welcomes only highly professional foreigners with preliminarily approved documents (Vista and Banfi, 2017). In 2014, the Swiss government signed the popular federal initiative that resists mass immigration, which reflects the views of the majority residing in the country (Vista and Banfi, 2017). At the same time, there are no comprehensive and transparent regulations that prohibit discrimination based on the religious and cultural background of the person, which allows people to oppose the Muslim minority actively (Vista and Banfi, 2017). The Swiss government is often criticized for this policy by the United Nations and the representatives of the European Union, but still, there is no other legal to protect ethnic and religious minorities in the country (Vista and Banfi, 2017). In most cases, it reflects the desire of the Swiss population to participate in direct elections, and they support anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim policies.
Numerous legislations emphasize the negative attitude of the Swiss population toward Muslims. These laws and regulations restrict the rights of the Islamic community, making them adapt to the European way of life and social norms. The following facts from the article illustrate these claims vividly, including the ratification of the act that prohibited construction of minarets on the Helvetic territory in 2009. In addition, wearing burqa in public spaces was officially prohibited in 2006 in Switzerland. In 2016, the ban on burqa in public places has become federal, and this initiative was popular among the majority of citizens (Vista and Banfi, 2017, p. 54). Therefore, the regulations emphasize the need for Muslim people, especially women, to integrate into Swiss society. It is possible to assume that the focus on females wearing burkas is made due to their significant difference from the European view on how women should look.
The cultural discourse in Switzerland is an example of the Eurocentric narrative that supposes that there is no place for Muslims in it. There are both official and unofficial bans on the manifestations of Islamic culture and the religious affiliation of Muslims (Vista and Banfi, 2017). In other words, the legislative, political, and cultural discourses promote the image of the Muslim person as an alien in the European culture. The vital detail is that this perception is supported by the majority of the population of Switzerland, which leads to the radicalization of the local community.
The article by Hafez entitled ‘Schools of thought in Islamophobia studies: Prejudice, racism, and decoloniality’ develops the discussed topic and features the historical insight into this question. Islamophobia in Europe has historical roots, which makes this process seem natural in the contemporary European discourse. The article by Hafez (2018) describes the main issues surrounding Islamophobia or anti-Muslim views that are dominant in Swiss society. The peculiar detail is that the prejudices about Muslims date back to the postcolonial tradition and are wide enough to form a complex worldview. According to the investigation, the notion of Islamophobia was initially articulated in 1910 during the French colonial presence in Algeria (Hafez, 2018). The popularization of anti-Muslim views in other European countries, including Switzerland, started at the beginning of the 2000s and was enhanced by the terrorist attacks, including the Twin Towers in the United States on September 11, 2001 (Hafez ,2018). Generally, there is a rational justification for the increasing polarization in Swiss society regarding the Muslim minority. People see the news about the radical Islamic terrorists who aim to destroy the Western and predominantly Christian civilization (Hafez, 2018). The adverse reaction to everything associated with the Muslim faith and Islamic culture is automatically stereotyped in a negative manner.
It is necessary to mention the attitude to Muslim refugees in this topic that is discussed in the article by Couttenier et al. entitled ‘The violent legacy of conflict: Evidence on asylum seekers, crime, and public policy in Switzerland’. The public attitude to refugees and asylum seekers among the Swiss population correlates with earlier attitudes toward Muslims. In recent years, the number of refugees from Arab countries increased significantly due to the military conflicts in that region. All countries of the European Union welcomed the refugees, but Switzerland was among the few exceptions (Couttenier et al., 2019). It was a vivid example of the attitudes towards Muslims that most people in Switzerland had. The Swiss population and politicians’ main argument to explain their resistance to the refugees is the fear of crimes and terrorism that are directly associated with Islamic radicals (Couttenier et al., 2019). In addition, there is a widespread opinion that Muslim refugees do not want to integrate into European society. Instead of it, they try to change the European culture and social norms by imposing their views on these questions, which endangers the Christian basis of the Swiss worldview (Couttenier et al., 2019). This opinion concerning accepting Muslim refugees reflects the dominant right-wing attitudes in Switzerland, leading to the formation of a society that does not want to welcome strangers. The religious affiliation strongly connected with culture is the primary characteristic that determines the attitude of Swiss citizens toward this topic.
The peculiar detail is connected with various age groups’ different views on Muslims, faith, and immigration issues discussed by Potarca and Bernardi ‘Mixed marriages in Switzerland: A test of the segmented assimilation hypothesis’, and Rigo and Saroglou’s ‘Religiosity and sexual behavior: Tense relationships and underlying affects and cognitions in samples of Christian and Muslim traditions’. The investigation shows that younger citizens of Switzerland offer more liberal and tolerant views on these questions and are more likely to marry a person from the Islamic culture (Potarca and Bernardi, 2018). An older generation of Swiss people, in turn, resist intermarriages with the Muslim population and actively oppose this phenomenon (Potarca and Bernardi ,2018). This example shows that Swiss society is not homogeneous in its views on Muslims, even though the dominant majority of the citizens think that Islam is the religion that is opposite to Christianity. As a result, most people in Switzerland share the stereotypical perception of Islam and Muslims and find considerable evidence from real life that support their views (Rigo and Saroglou, 2018). It leads to the inner conflict in the attitudes to strangers in general and Muslims in particular within Swiss society and emphasizes the existing generation gap.
Conclusion
It is possible to conclude that Muslims are regarded as the odd element in the comparatively homogeneous society in Switzerland, as the sources show. The norms of religious tolerance, democracy, and freedom of self-expression for all people who reside in the country suppose that people of all cultural backgrounds should be welcomed in Switzerland. Though practice shows that Christian and secular cultures can co-exist peacefully in this European state, the majority of Swiss citizens regard the Islamic culture as strange and dangerous. Therefore, the attitude to Muslim refugees and immigrants is negative in Switzerland, and most people share this view on the Islamic faith. At the same time, this adverse view of Muslims leads to the aggravation of radicalism in Swiss society. People become more polarized in their opinions on the questions of immigration and religious tolerance, which is opposite to the ideals the European Union articulates. It allows assuming a vital need to solve this issue using peaceful methods because the radicalization of society might lead to adverse outcomes shortly.
Reference List
Couttenier, M., Petrencu, V., Rohner, D., and Thoenig, M. (2019) ‘The violent legacy of conflict: Evidence on asylum seekers, crime, and public policy in Switzerland’, The American Economic Review, 109(12), pp. 4378–4425.
Hafez, F. (2018) ‘Schools of thought in Islamophobia studies: Prejudice, racism, and decoloniality’, Islamophobia Studies Journal 4(2), pp. 210-225.
Potarca, G., and Bernardi, L. (2018) ‘Mixed marriages in Switzerland: A test of the segmented assimilation hypothesis’, Demographic Research, 38, pp. 1457–1494.
Rigo, C., and Saroglou, V. (2018) ‘Religiosity and sexual behavior: Tense relationships and underlying affects and cognitions in samples of Christian and Muslim traditions’, Archiv Für Religionspsychologie / Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 40(2/3), pp. 176–201.
Spruyt, B., and van der Noll, J. (2017) ‘The “Islamized stranger”: On “chronic” versus “contextual” salience in the measurement of anti-Muslim prejudice’, Political Psychology, 38(6), pp. 977–989.
Vista, E., and Banfi, E. (2017) ‘Institutionalising Islamophobia in Switzerland: The burqa and minaret bans’, Islamophobia Studies Journa 4(1), pp. 53-71.