Daniel Streich (born in

Bulle Bulle (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Gruyère (district), Gruyère in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (canton), Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly inde ...

Canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg, is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French spoken by more than two thirds of the citizens and German by a little more than a quarter. Both are official languages in th ...

) is a Swiss military instructor, community council member and a former member of

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

. A

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

who converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and then to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, Streich left the Swiss People's Party over the campaign for the national ban on the construction of new minarets.

Biography

Streich was a founding member and president of the

Gruyères Gruyères (; ; Fribourgeois: ''Grevire''; ) is a town in the district of Gruyère (district), Gruyère in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. The medieval town is an important tourist location in the ...

section of the party from 2003 to 2007. He converted to Islam from Catholicism in 2005. He explained that Islam offered him "logical answers to important life questions". He then resigned from his presidency in June 2007 citing his discomfort with certain "extremist" positions of the party, especially the campaign to ban nationwide the construction of new minarets. While Streich in 2007 stated that he had "many Muslim friends" he did not make public his personal conversion to Islam until early November 2009, when he left the Swiss People's Party in protest against their campaign for the impending referendum of 29 November 2009. He then participated in setting up the Conservative Democratic Party cantonal section. Streich's case was reported by the Swiss daily newspaper

20 Minuten ''20 Minuten'' (; "20 Minutes") is a free daily newspaper in Switzerland. History and profile Cofounded by Sacha Wigdorovits, who also became a significant shareholder, ''20 Minuten'' was first published in 1999 by 20 Minuten Schweiz AG. The di ...

on 23 November, during the week preceding the referendum and the story was picked up by the tabloid newspaper

Blick ''Blick'' (View) is a Swiss German-language daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. Based in Zurich, it is the largest newspaper in Switzerland with a print circulation of around 28 ...

on the following day. Streich's story first appeared in English in '' Tikkun Daily'' on 4 December 2009, as part of the international coverage on the referendum outcome. An embellished version of the story appeared on the website of Pakistani newspaper ''The Nation'' on 30 January 2010. It depicted Streich as a major Swiss politician who had been actively involved in anti-Muslim propaganda, had suddenly seen the error of his "evil ways" and then converted to Islam. The report even made Streich "the first man who had launched a drive for imposition of ban on mosques minarets", claiming that "Streich's conversion to Islam has created furore in Swiss politics, besides causing a tremor for those who supported ban on construction of mosques minarets" and that he "is ashamed of his doings now and desires to construct the most beautiful mosque of Europe in Switzerland", while Streich in fact never had campaigned against mosques or Islam, and also never revealed any intention of building a mosque.

Biography

References

See also