It’s not often that Switzerland makes the headlines around the world. But frankly, this is publicity that we could have done without! Last weekend, 57% of the Swiss who voted (53% turnout, which is high by Swiss standards) approved a constitutional amendment to bar the building of minarets.

Opinion polls predicted a 37% vote in favour of this measure, that will almost certainly now be contested in the courts, Swiss and European. The vote went against the recommendations of the Swiss government, the majority of the Swiss parliament, all the mainline Swiss churches and religious communities, and against the media, and revealed a gulf between the leaders and elites, and the people. In the blogosphere on the Internet, neighbouring countries media web sites are showing record levels of response, mainly showing even higher percentages of rejection of Islam. Bloggers in Britain, France and Germany wish they were able to have a referendum to impose their similar views.

I can try to console myself: Geneva, where I live, voted massively again the measure: we have many Muslims, a mosque with minaret, and some 30% of the population here are non-Swiss. Most of the cities where people actually know Muslims voted the same way. The vote has provoked a wave of counter-demonstrations, some with the slogan ‘We are all Muslims’, often with mini-minarets. Legal appeals are under way, or will be shortly, against what the Swiss government itself said in their pre-vote message would be an anti-constitutional measure, since it is so clearly discriminatory.

Many of the opponents of the measure and of the vote blame the government’s and the parliament’s lack of courage in allowing a potentially anti-constitutional vote. And there are now moves to change the law. But in Swiss democracy ‘the sovereign’ is the people. So now the government is saying that it must respect the will of the people, even though this may cause major problems.

There are around 350’000 ‘Muslims’ in Switzerland (so 4.3% out of a total population of some 7.7 million that remains 78% Christian). The Muslims are a relatively new, young and fast-growing group; the population of Balkan origin, mainly fleeing the wars of the break-up of Yugoslavia (and persecution from Christians) multiplied by three in ten years, between 1990 and 2000. But the percentage of practising Muslims is lower than the percentage of practising Christians (10%-15%, as against 20-30%); the vast majority would be better described in the statistics as ‘people originally coming from Muslim countries’.

There has not been one Muslim terrorist attack in Switzerland; no Swiss Muslims have been implicated in terrorist attacks outside Switzerland. This varied and diverse community thought of itself as well integrated, thought it had done all that was needed, pay their taxes, have learnt the national languages. Now their fellow-citizens have turned on them and said ‘no, you’re not integrated’. A majority of Swiss have sent them a strong signal of ‘dis-integration’. It seems that what is still needed from the Muslims is a clear abandonment of their religious and cultural origins!

So how can we understand this vote? It is clear that bridge-builders and wall-breakers must redouble their efforts – and that Muslim and non-Muslim need an honest discussion about fears, whether they are ‘real’ or ‘fantasmatic’! It is too early to detail the reasons for the vote, but it seems that more women voted for the measure, since they see Islam as a religion that maintains women in an inferior position. Some Christians voted the same way: they’re angry that their fellow-believers don’t enjoy the rights in Muslim countries that Muslims enjoy here.

The campaign supporters attacked minarets as a symbol of a supposedly aggressive, conquering Islam. Posters portrayed women in burqas and minarets like missiles. Minarets could attract extreme Muslims, and terrorists. Little-known outside Switzerland is the fact that two Swiss businessmen are being held hostage in Libya, for over 500 days, in revenge for the arrest by Geneva police of Colonel Gaddafi’s son Hannibal and daughter-in-law in 2008, for beating their servants. So many Swiss are understandably angry with a self-styled Muslim country. But none of this justifies a profound betrayal of Swiss democratic values, that far from protecting us, risks creating more tensions and problems.

Perhaps the right-wing nationalists may be secretly delighted if they manage to provoke a more violent Muslim response – they’ll have proved their point that Islam is not a religion of peace. But so far, the reactions have been exemplary in their moderation.

Honest conversations are badly needed – and are taking place. I was a participant in one just after the vote, where a Rabbi friend challenged the Muslims present to clear, straightforward speaking, and admitted how hard and costly this can be on sensitive issues, speaking from his own experience of trying to speak the truth as he sees it to his own community. But seeds of hate and mistrust are easier to sow, and spread faster than the seeds of understanding.

Footnote: There are four minarets in Switzerland today. There are zero requests for planning permission to build more. And there have never been any requests for calls to prayer from the four existing minarets.

Andrew Stallybrass is an Anglo-Swiss writer who works at the Geneva office of Initiatives of Change. He is a vice-president of the Geneva Inter-Faith Platform

Note: Individuals of many cultures, nationalities, religions, and beliefs are actively involved with Initiatives of Change. These commentaries represent the views of the writer and not necessarily those of Initiatives of Change as a whole.