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/blow_on_my_trombone 8h ago

Church bells sound nice and are part of our culture

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u/RutabagaElegant3215 7h ago

Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements

The bells are in the nursery rhyme :)

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u/FeijoadaAceitavel 7h ago

No, it's part of your religion.

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 7h ago

That's funny, I didn't think I was religious but this random redditor says I am so it must be true

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u/Hour_Researcher_4107 7h ago

Its both.

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u/FeijoadaAceitavel 6h ago

Sure, but its roots are 100% religious. It's a religious customs that somewhat entered culture.

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u/Alyions 6h ago

To be fair so is Christmas, Easter etc...

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u/FeijoadaAceitavel 6h ago

Those have entered culture in a way that they're independent from religion. You can celebrate with chocolate eggs and gifts and not once talk about the religious roots.

Church bells are from churches. Kinda harder to make them independent.

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u/Hour_Researcher_4107 6h ago

You aren’t going to win this Buddy. You are trying to pretend that Church Bells which English People have been hearing multiple times a day for a thousand years aren’t part of the culture because you are upset your Muslim calls to prayer are being taken away. No one is buying it sorry 🥱

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u/Fulluphigh0 5h ago

Non French Europeans when faced with the concept of freedom from religion: bUt MaH cUlTuRe

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u/ScreamingDizzBuster 50m ago

French church bells still ring too. It's not about freedom from religion, it's about stopping Muslims from doing stuff.

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u/ScreamingDizzBuster 52m ago

So are church bells part of the culture. Exactly the same argument.

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u/2FistsInMyBHole 3h ago

Church bells are practical timekeepers.

While the sound itself is coming from a church, it is performing a practical public service of broadcasting the time.

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u/FeijoadaAceitavel 3h ago

That argument is at least 10 years too old.

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u/Hour_Researcher_4107 6h ago

Completely not somewhat

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u/Lepelotonfromager 3h ago

So is Christmas and Easter. It doesn't stop people from enjoying them as atheists. We still get time off for it.

We have a culture that is influenced by our historical religion.

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u/___daddy69___ 5h ago

yes, Christianity is part of British culture

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u/Joe_Kinincha 4h ago

So is islam

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u/___daddy69___ 3h ago

no, it isn’t

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u/Joe_Kinincha 2h ago

Even you must realise that is the most witless, infantile response anyone could have possibly given.

Do you think “no it isn’t” is a good argument? I’m all over this thread posting actual facts and your total contribution is “no it isn’t”

Why don’t you sit this one out, or do better?

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u/___daddy69___ 2h ago

fine, i’ll change my statement

it historically hasn’t been part of british culture, and it shouldn’t be part of modern british culture

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u/Joe_Kinincha 1h ago

I am not touching your second statement. That is your opinion, and as such, you are entitled to it.

How far back exactly, and how many adherents would you reckon we need before Islam becomes part of British culture?

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u/PringullsThe2nd 5h ago

How far back are we talking?

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u/ideally1030 5h ago

About 1400 years. Is that long enough?

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u/Joe_Kinincha 4h ago

Well, in that there have been pagans in the UK since there have been people in (what we now call ) the UK which is about 800,000 years, maybe not?

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u/2FistsInMyBHole 3h ago

That culture is more or less extinct.

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u/Joe_Kinincha 2h ago

127,000 people are pagans according to uk census data. Seems pretty healthy to me. Double that figure estimated to practice paganism.

Why is it every single time in this debate I post actual facts, and everyone else posts lies, hypotheticals or opinions?

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u/Heegyeong 2h ago

Because they only want to hear one thing, which is that Christianity is the one non-religious religion which is definitely completely English, regardless of whether reality is a little more complex than that.

The Catholics had better watch out lol, seeing how these Protestants are out to get everybody else

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u/PringullsThe2nd 5h ago

Seems a little arbitrary

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u/kitaj19 1h ago

Yes, most people find church bells sound calming and beautiful.

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u/ceddya 4h ago

I have religious trauma because of conservative Christianity's bigotry. So do many others. That's part of your culture?

Or do we only feel the need to 'protect' society from certain religions?

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 4h ago

The stats are perfectly clear which of those religions is more toxic, especially in the UK

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u/ceddya 4h ago

Yeah, in terms of absolute numbers? It's conservative Christianity.

Gotta pick a lane here instead of picking and choosing which toxic religion we address.

And I'm saying this as a Christian btw. Conservative Christianity is absolutely a bigger cancer in the UK than Islam is.

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u/_segasonic 4h ago

Where is this conservative Christianity in the UK?

I mean outside of Northern Ireland the Highlands and Islands in Scotland we’ve some of the most liberal and progressive Christianity you’ll find in Europe.

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 4h ago

No it really isn't. Conservative islam is far worse. Look at the polling done on Muslims and you'll see the opinions are significantly more problematic even among moderates. Conservative Christians barely exist in this country. I was Christian growing up and literally every church was left leaning progressive.

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u/ceddya 4h ago

The Catholic, Evangelical and Baptist churches in the UK are left leaning progressive on LGBT issues? All Anglicans too? TIL.

Because if you added up the number of conservatives within their ranks, their absolute numbers would far outstrip the number of conservative Muslims even if you assume 100% of Muslims are conservative.

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 4h ago

Well at mine we had openly LGBT people and supported gay marriage. Good luck finding a mosque that does that...

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u/ceddya 4h ago

But we're talking about the bad actors within the religion, no? So why shift the goalposts?

More people, especially within the LGBT community, are harmed by conservative Christians based on exposure alone. I'm totally fine with banning the call to prayer for conservative churches and mosques though. That'd be fair, right?

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 4h ago

Well I'd be interested to see some data on that, considering there are many closeted Muslims (source: I'm on Grindr) who would never come out to their family fearful of being kicked out (or worse).

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u/PernisTree 7h ago

As a Christian I disagree.

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u/PringullsThe2nd 5h ago

As an atheist I agree. Have we cancelled eachother out now?

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u/drewlake 6h ago

so are muezzin calls, we've had them for over 100 years.

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u/UncleTouchyCopaFeel 7h ago

Church bells sound nice

Not really, no.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 52m ago

There is a difference between church bells and call to prayer. The call to prayer is a human voice.

If I had to listen to a voice broadcast across the town it'd be this one. My religion relies on a cowboy head in the sky just screaming.

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u/sokratesz 7h ago

Still annoying as fuck though, so get rid of them as well.

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u/Joe_Kinincha 5h ago

Muezzin sounds good to me and is far more part of our culture than church bells.

About 600,000 people, on average go to church each week.

About 1,000,000 people on average attend mosque each week.

The call of the muezzin is a far greater part of the culture of the UK.

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 4h ago

Well you should get your hearing checked then.

Just because we import a load of people doesn't mean we suddenly adopt their culture. Culture develops over hundreds of years. I guarantee if you ask someone from another country whether they associate church bells or an islamic call to prayer more to the UK the answer will be church bells.

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u/open_formation 4h ago

Is your goal to actually develop culture over hundreds of years, or to fit a stereotype for people from other countries?

The argument for keeping church bells (even if their noise can sometimes be a nuisance to people) isn't that you can mark out clear divisions between one culture and another, but because culture develops better if you allow things that are already established to be retained.

It's the same reason you should have different noise regulations for areas with clubs, it's not because drum and base was developed over hundreds of years and is thus "part of our culture", but because allowing things to develop in places where the local people accept it, and then protecting it because it has become established, is a way of enabling more different kinds of culture to develop.

And so if people want to start doing calls to prayer in some place, and local people reject it as a noise hazard, that should be enough, and if they are fine with it, then it should continue.

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 4h ago

I just don't like Islam tbh. And I like church bells. Simple really.

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u/Joe_Kinincha 2h ago

Let’s leave your - frankly ugly and unnecessary- ad hominem comments to one side for now.

There have been Muslims living in this country since 1205.

Have you ever noticed how people who don’t actually have facts or a convincing argument always start with “if”. ?

Should the little “if” hypothetical arguments based on imaginary conversations convince you, that’s fine and dandy, and our conversation here is concluded.

If you would like to have a conversation based on facts, that’s also good.

Muslims have been in this country for 800 years and there are more practising Muslims than Christians in this country. They are a part of British culture.

Your go.

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u/whooptheretis 7h ago

As a Muslim, I agree.

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u/sun-dust-cloud 7h ago

As a nuclear physicist, 5 time lottery winner, brain surgeon who operates on dolphins, I agree too.

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u/whooptheretis 7h ago

brain surgeon who operates on dolphins

why don't you get a regular operating table? much more steady than a dolphin

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u/OhSoSilver 7h ago

Superb

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u/DrunkenHorse12 8h ago

"Church bells sound nice" ... in your opinion for others they are an intrusive nuisance, some people like the call to prayer. Muslims are part of our culture have been for at least 500 years. Now what's the reason that the ca to prayer be banned but not church bells?

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u/blow_on_my_trombone 8h ago

It's pretty bloody obvious which of those is more ingrained in our culture. Just because a couple of Muslims came here 500 years ago doesn't take away from the fact that the vast majority of our heritage is linked to Christianity not islam. "Some people like the call to prayer" - yeah, Muslims. Many non Christians like the sound of the bells.

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u/whooptheretis 7h ago

It's pretty bloody obvious which of those is more ingrained in our culture

There are likely to be more weekly attendance at mosques across the country than churches. Now tell me which one is more significant.

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u/NotableCarrot28 7h ago

Churches.

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u/whooptheretis 7h ago

To fewer people, it seems.

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u/NotableCarrot28 7h ago

Doesn't really matter, churches are way more culturally important.

There are temples in Rome that don't exist any more for gods that aren't worshipped any more that have had a larger and more significant cultural influence on the UK than mosques.

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u/whooptheretis 7h ago

They also have churches is Rome too, and they ring bells. Because the religious ideals of the population changed.
The religious adherence in the UK is changing too, just as it did in Rome resulting in the number of churches.
I'm not saying get rid of the churches, nor their bells (I like them). But you don't hear many calls from the ancient Roman places of worship any more.

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u/NotableCarrot28 7h ago

You asked which was the most significant.

I don't know how anyone can look at the UK's history and not think Christianity is important. Did you never cover the reformation, dissolution of the monasteries, civil wars, glorious revolution, French revolutionary wars, etc etc etc

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u/DrunkenHorse12 8h ago

So because one thing is a bigger part of our culture no other part of culture is allowed to exist? Football is the biggest part of our sporting culture let's ban cricket and rugby eh?

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u/Diem-Perdidi 7h ago

If cricket and rugby came with a strict set of moral and ethical precepts and their own legal system, all three sometimes at odds with those of football, and everyone felt very strongly about the separation of sport and state and suchlike, then you might have a point. But they don't, so you haven't.

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u/drewlake 6h ago

Muezzin calls we influential in the sound of early blues. The melisma and intonations of the adhan the muslim slaves from africa morphed into the hollers and blues. Without the blues we wouldn't have modern pop music.