Swiss mosques–A rocky path

This letter, slightly edited appeared in the Melbourne Age.
THE success of the referendum in Switzerland to ban minarets on new mosques (The Age, 1/12) fills us with disquiet. This concern arises whenever laws are enacted that target a minority community, whether limiting the display of religious symbols in France, quarantining welfare payments to Aborigines in the Northern Territory or restrictions on Muslim places of worship.
The world is a different place to what it was in the early 20th century, when laws against Jews were commonplace. But this throwback to those times ought to be of concern to everyone who values an open and non-discriminatory society.
These may be small steps, but they are down a path that cannot lead to anything good.
Steve Brook and Tom Wolkenberg, Australian Jewish Democratic Society, Melbourne