The municipality in Førde in Sogn og Fjordane county is giving Muslims and persons of other faiths, specifically Catholics, a new place to gather in the Hafstad neighborhood. But the condition to use the place is that the noise coming from calls to prayer or clock-ringing should not go above 55 decibels.
According to Firda newspaper this noise level corresponds to a loud discussion. International E-Road 39 which passes by the place gives off more noise.
The Førde municipality decision has already met with criticism. "A noise limit will violate human rights and the Norwegian constitution if it doesn't also include church clocks," says researcher Njål Høstmælingen of Oslo University to Bergens Tidende.
Source: VG (Norwegian) h/t Hodja (Danish)
2 comments:
I can understand church clocks being grandfathered out of the law. As a tolerant Muslim I respect others, and especially our religeous differences. This will also help improve Islam's perception in the West.
I agree with the above. There is no good reason to make concessions on any issue. Dialogue is always the first step - it would be horrible if politicians tried to pre-empt the shouts and threats of fundamentalists simply by catering to them before anything was even said.
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