In a Land without Minarets
I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in Switzerland this fall / winter, and am snowed into Zurich (or really, out of Washington) right now. Several commentators have remarked that the Swiss ban on new minarets is pretty ironic, given that so few of the Swiss go to church. But cultural identification doesn’t necessarily track worship. I’ve never seen a sophisticated European capital that as fully embraces Christmas. In London or Paris, there are very hip allusions to ironic aspects of the season, but here it seems like a more direct embrace of it. And not just in shops – I just saw a public trolley car on the main shopping thoroughfare of Zurich completely done up as Santa’s sled, being driven by Father Christmas.
Jim,
Since you brought it up, any thoughts on how we ought to think about legislation on such cultural mores? It seems like a difficult issue, but one particularly relevant to the brand of subsidiarity you often advocate.
— Brendan · Dec 19, 07:16 PM · #
given that so few of the Swiss go to church.
i think this weights heavily if you have a radical protestant or american view of religion. in the rest of the world i think the objection is weak, and the point would not seem ironic at all.
— razib · Dec 19, 09:41 PM · #
Brendan:
Great question. I would definitely vote against such a ban in any jurisdiction where I lived. I’d have to think a lot more about your question before I’d go farther than that.
Razib:
I wasn’t endorsing such a view, just noting it. In fact, it was Andrew’s post on this at SR that made me think about it.
— Jim Manzi · Dec 19, 10:19 PM · #
Well, most of the “American” Christmas traditions come from German and Dutch immigrants. So it’s no surprise that you’d see more “American” style Christmas stuff in a German-speaking city like Zurich than you would in Paris (or Geneva for that matter, I’d guess.) You’d find something similar in Munich or Dusseldorf as well.
— ed · Dec 20, 05:51 AM · #
They celebrate Christmas even in Japan, which is not a Christian country at all.
So I think it is time to concede that Santa Claus is, or has become, the patron saint of capitalism.
— Keid A · Dec 21, 09:54 AM · #