TakingITGlobal - Panorama

Published on: Jul 14, 2004

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=3922

In my country, there are more than 350 registered religions and cults. Only about six of these have their own religious temples. I have been following the process of establishing of a huge Islamic center in our capital city that would not only contain a mosque but also an educational center among other things. But the building was not welcomed with open arms; as soon as the plans for building this big center were revealed, a small group protested and wanted the voters to decide whether the center should be built through a referendum. This was one of the worst things; I have always prided my country as being one of the most liberal and free countries of the world. The right to have religious centers stands in our constitution; that every religion or cult (which is registered) has a right to pray in their own religious temple, and more importantly, that everyone has the right to choose their own religion.

Now that the building of the Islamic center was a problem everyone had something to say about it. Some said it should be built elsewhere and not directly next to the road, some said that the minaret should not be that high, but much lower, others said it should not be build because it would be more a political institution, and again some said that it should be build but only if the Qur’an will be translated and published in Slovene! The last request was a problem, as the Qur’an was translated into Slovene but the Islamic community did not recognize it. They still used the Bosnian version, because most of Muslims here come from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The people were quite confused and there were some conflicts. There were even some that started getting signatures of potential voters who would vote against building the center. So they went to the mayor of Ljubljana with 12000 signatures. But our good mayor, she is one of the most open and kind people on leading position, she disagreed with them. The mayor stood by the Islamic community and together they fought against the xenophobes of my country who had blinded some people.

It has often been on TV, open talks where they exchange arguments, and so on. But there were the 12 000 signatures, and this would mean if the referendum would be approved, it would mean that another referendum in the "land of referendums" would again not get the attention of the voters, and that once again really few people would come and vote. But this referendum would be different, it would not decide about anything stupid and not important like all the others, but it would be one that would violate against human rights, which allows everyone to pray in their own religious temple. And the mayor always claimed that it would be a not fair referendum but that it would be non-constitutional, so she decided to give the request for the referendum to the constitutional court.

It was a long while before we received an answer. And during that time the people that were against the building all became violent, and proved themselves as not just xenophobic, but also unintelligent, by not even knowing or understanding the problem. They did not have any strong arguments but they were all one group that was against building the Islamic center. So they often said bad things about the mayor; that she was not listening to the voice of the people and that sort of thing.

But then things calmed down for a while and the problem was not discussed that much, but we found out that the Andorrans and some other small nations had the same problem too. During this time some other requests for building religious centers came up including a big Buddhist temple and a national center for Jehovah’s witnesses. (Only the second one got approved by local authorities, and the problem with the Buddhist temple was, that it would not fit in the location, which was near an important catholic pilgrim place. But they have then built something, that fits, and it has always been unique to our architecture.)

So now after quite some time of silence, the answer came, the court has judged that the referendum is not constitutional, and should not take place. This was a big win for the mayor, the Islamic community, and human rights! Now the center will be built. The speaker of the Islamic community has already told that if everything goes by plan and everything goes well, that they'll now buy the land, get the plans, and hopefully start building it by the beginning of next year. The construction will last about four or five years.

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by Matija
Published on: Jul 14, 2004
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=3922


In my country, there are more than 350 registered religions and cults. Only about six of these have their own religious temples. I have been following the process of establishing of a huge Islamic center in our capital city that would not only contain a mosque but also an educational center among other things. But the building was not welcomed with open arms; as soon as the plans for building this big center were revealed, a small group protested and wanted the voters to decide whether the center should be built through a referendum. This was one of the worst things; I have always prided my country as being one of the most liberal and free countries of the world. The right to have religious centers stands in our constitution; that every religion or cult (which is registered) has a right to pray in their own religious temple, and more importantly, that everyone has the right to choose their own religion. Now that the building of the Islamic center was a problem everyone had something to say about it. Some said it should be built elsewhere and not directly next to the road, some said that the minaret should not be that high, but much lower, others said it should not be build because it would be more a political institution, and again some said that it should be build but only if the Qur’an will be translated and published in Slovene! The last request was a problem, as the Qur’an was translated into Slovene but the Islamic community did not recognize it. They still used the Bosnian version, because most of Muslims here come from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The people were quite confused and there were some conflicts. There were even some that started getting signatures of potential voters who would vote against building the center. So they went to the mayor of Ljubljana with 12000 signatures. But our good mayor, she is one of the most open and kind people on leading position, she disagreed with them. The mayor stood by the Islamic community and together they fought against the xenophobes of my country who had blinded some people. It has often been on TV, open talks where they exchange arguments, and so on. But there were the 12 000 signatures, and this would mean if the referendum would be approved, it would mean that another referendum in the "land of referendums" would again not get the attention of the voters, and that once again really few people would come and vote. But this referendum would be different, it would not decide about anything stupid and not important like all the others, but it would be one that would violate against human rights, which allows everyone to pray in their own religious temple. And the mayor always claimed that it would be a not fair referendum but that it would be non-constitutional, so she decided to give the request for the referendum to the constitutional court. It was a long while before we received an answer. And during that time the people that were against the building all became violent, and proved themselves as not just xenophobic, but also unintelligent, by not even knowing or understanding the problem. They did not have any strong arguments but they were all one group that was against building the Islamic center. So they often said bad things about the mayor; that she was not listening to the voice of the people and that sort of thing. But then things calmed down for a while and the problem was not discussed that much, but we found out that the Andorrans and some other small nations had the same problem too. During this time some other requests for building religious centers came up including a big Buddhist temple and a national center for Jehovah’s witnesses. (Only the second one got approved by local authorities, and the problem with the Buddhist temple was, that it would not fit in the location, which was near an important catholic pilgrim place. But they have then built something, that fits, and it has always been unique to our architecture.) So now after quite some time of silence, the answer came, the court has judged that the referendum is not constitutional, and should not take place. This was a big win for the mayor, the Islamic community, and human rights! Now the center will be built. The speaker of the Islamic community has already told that if everything goes by plan and everything goes well, that they'll now buy the land, get the plans, and hopefully start building it by the beginning of next year. The construction will last about four or five years. « return.