Tag Archives: mosques

France and the perceived failure of multiculturalism

By Mark | September 18, 2011

The French government announced on Friday that, from now on, public prayer would be illegal. The move, which comes on the heels of legislation prohibiting French students from wearing headscarves and French women from wearing the face-covering niqab in public, is said to be in response to the fact that French Muslims, unable to find […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics | Also tagged A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population, assimilation, France, honor killings, laïcité, Marine Le Pen, Marseille, McGuillicuddy, MetaFilter, multiculturalism, Muslim, National Front, Nazi analogies, Nazi occupation, Nicolas Sarkozy, niqab, Paris, prayer, public prayer, public streets, secularism, separation of church and state, stealing content from Metafilter, UMP | 33 Comments

Ground Zero bullshit

By Mark | August 16, 2010

I want to write something tonight about the so-called “ground zero” mosque. I say so-called because it’s actually a few blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood, but that doesn’t seem to deter people, even on the left, from calling it the “ground zero” mosque, like it’s a giant mosque being built triumphantly […]

Posted in Other, Politics | Also tagged 9/11, asshole Republicans, celebrity roasts, Constitution, David Hasselhoff, Feisal Abdul Rauf, freedom of religion, Gathering of the Juggalos, ground zero, ground zero mosque, Hindu, Islam, Islamization of America, Islamophobia, jihad, Juggalos, Laura Ingraham, Pearl Harbor, Pentagon, reality television, Republican lies, roasts, Rush Limbaugh, Shinto, tea party, Tila Tequila | 40 Comments

Juan Cole on the Swiss minaret ban

By Mark | November 30, 2009

Yesterday, the people of Switzerland voted to make the construction of minarets illegal in their country. Minarets, as you may know, are the narrow towers adjoining mosques from which Muslims are called to prayer. The action, which is sure to prompt legal action on behalf of Switzerland’s 5% Muslim minority, is being furiously debated online […]