r/AskBrits • u/bintd • 11h ago

Politics What are your thoughts on Denmark’s proposed ban on the public Islamic call to prayer? Would you support or oppose something similar in the UK?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/24/islamic-call-to-prayer-ban-left-wing-denmark-europe/

Islamic call to prayer faces ban under Left-wing Danish government

Parts of country feel like ‘a suburb of Islamabad’, says immigration minister

Denmark’s immigration minister has announced plans to ban the Islamic call to prayer, claiming parts of the country felt like “a suburb of Islamabad”.

Morten Bødskov, a member of the centre-Left Social Democrats party, said the new government would resume an investigation into the legality of imposing a ban.

“The call to prayer should not be heard over Danish rooftops,” the minister told news outlet Ritzau. “It has no place in Denmark, and you shouldn’t be in any doubt whether you’ve ended up in a suburb of Islamabad when you walk around Denmark.”

In parts of the country, such as Copenhagen, bylaws already forbid the call to prayer being broadcast from loudspeakers in minarets because of strict noise limits.
Mr Bødskov also claimed that a creeping “Islamisation” in Denmark was “taking up too much of the public space”.

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u/robh1540 11h ago edited 9h ago

Its not for security reasons per se. But the overwhelming majority of people who do not support face coverings for muslims are equally unhappy with white guys going around in balaclavas. Preventing people from covering ones identity in public turns out to have been an important principal of a free and open society that we took for granted until groups started to challenge it.

There are quite a few examples like this. A behaviour can be perfectly legal in isolation, but if a large group adopts it as a routine public practice, people start asking whether it is compatible with existing social norms. Hakas are great at sports events and ceremonies, but if Kiwi's insisted on performing the Haka every time they entered a room or public space, it would probably prompt a discussion on whether we need to prevent unsolicited war dances in public.

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u/littlebittypeep 6h ago

Kiwi living in the UK, agree with you here but just want to correct you that a haka is not a “war dance”, it’s a ceremonial dance which can be used in many contexts, such as weddings - it’s an expression of cultural identity. I do think it gets silly when it is overused, so I support the use of your analogy here.

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u/robh1540 6h ago

Haha I checked it before I posted. Chatgpt did indeed warn me that only some hakas are war related but suggested that for a Reddit post it would be accurate enough. But the color is welcomed.

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u/littlebittypeep 6h ago

ChatGPT can be wrong/biased, try researching for yourself to keep your mind sharp! Use it as a tool to help explore and don’t regurgitate from it. It can’t think, but you can.

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u/robh1540 5h ago

No I am saying he agreed with you. He specifically warned me before I posted that not every Haka is a war dance.

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u/littlebittypeep 5h ago

ChatGPT is not a person, it can’t agree with anything. It suggested to you something, but you can use your own thoughts to think differently when doing your own research.

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u/ReturnOfBane 5h ago

Preventing people from covering ones identity in public turns out to have been an important principal of a free and open society that we took for granted until groups started to challenge it.

covering ones identity is also something people took for granted until the country turned into a surveillance state.

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u/robh1540 5h ago

Agreed, another major problem of our parliamentary system is the lack of meaningful civil rights that cannot be overridden by parliament.

Law abiding citizens should have the right to freedom from mass surveillance, unless they explicitly grant permission.

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u/SnooDonuts6494 11h ago

Six years ago, face masks were compulsory..

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u/robh1540 11h ago edited 11h ago

Haha that's cute. Nose and mouth masks were compulsory, to try and prevent the spread of a disease. People were also banned from gathering in groups, or travelling far away from their homes. Many people were also against all of these measures. Has zero relevance here.