Try Ablutions of the Brain

Has anyone given a second thought to the reports in the press about installing foot baths in U. S. university wash rooms? It might not seem so noteworthy except that it has become very controversial. Some non-Muslims claim that Muslims are getting preferential treatment.

But the foot baths are being installed because it came to the attention of university administrators, possibly by way of janitors, that puddles of water were appearing on the floors of the toilets, some sinks were coming loose from the wall, and finally, a student was injured by falling down while washing her feet in a sink.

Now there were several courses the university could have taken. One was the common sense one of advising the Muslim Council or whichever responsible party they chose, that the situation with slippery wet floors was dangerous to all students, and that sinks were damaged. In order to prevent these conditions from continuing, and in light of the religious needs of Muslim students, that if the Muslim authorities agreed, the university would install foot baths for them and send the bill to the aforementioned authorities.

Of course if it were handled that way the university's claim that the foot baths could be used by anyone might not no longer be valid (if it ever was) because the Muslim students might object that since the installation was paid for by their religious leaders, then infidels have no right to stick their feet in them.

The university, concerned about litigation perhaps, decided to have their lawyers rule on the question of the foot baths with the result that they decided it was constitutional to install them. Non-Muslims who are agitated about the baths might consider whether their feelings have any relation to the treatment of minorities in the days of their parents or grandparents. Those were times when the entire population more or less followed Christian days of rest, holidays, etc., although concessions were made, for example, for orthodox Jews in NYC to keep their businesses open on Sunday (when that was illegal) as they could not work on Saturday.

But times change. It would be better if they change regarding religion with the least interference, negatively or positively, in religious practices. I suppose it is too late to bill the Muslims for the plumbing. Besides they never even asked for it.

Keep the Xmas trees in the parks in December, along with any and all religious symbols. But don't make us pay for plumbing that we don't all use.



http://iht.com/articles/2007/08/07/america/muslims.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/education/07muslim.html?pagewanted=2

WHERE AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE NOT FREE TO SPEAK


When I posted here on 10/13/2006 about the student protests (which turned into a riot) at Columbia University, during which speakers from the Minuteman Project were prevented from speaking, I did not realize that this was just the tip of the iceberg of campus hypocracy in this country. I am just beginning to grasp how widespread the suppression of dissenting voices is in the classroom and on campus. http://www.columbiaunbecoming.com/
provides the text of a film documenting abuse of students at CU by professors who are permitted to teach only one point of view and to silence anyone questioning their opinion. Yet they continue to go on teaching.

As a further example of suppression of open debate, in my first blog here I wondered why American Muslims do not often speak up against Islamist terrorism and against punitive and restrictive practices in some Muslim countries. I assumed that they were afraid of reprisals by those terrorists. I was wrong. It seems that they are, at least some of the time, prevented by other American Muslims!

Nonie Darwish, raised as a Muslim, was prevented from speaking at Brown University of her rejection of human rights abuses by radical Islamists, because Muslim students found her to be too controversial. She also got no support from a Jewish student organization which preferred to show its allegiance to Muslim students. A woman's organization also opposed her coming to speak on campus because Ms Darwish did not criticize Israel for not protecting Palestinian women from their husbands. (It does seem difficult, though not impossible, to prevent spousal abuse just about everywhere!) Just where is the logic in this as Ms Darwish wants to speak for Muslim women everywhere?

I must admit that I still wish that liberal Muslim leaders and individuals would say something more in public or in the press if they truly deplore such acts as, in just one example, fathers and brothers in Jordan murdering a daughter or sister who has been raped because she has "disgraced" the family.

And I also strongly urge those politicians and journalists who have expressed concern at erosion of free speech and other civil rights brought about by the current administration, to also use their clout and access to the media to bring to light the situation in higher education. When university faculty and students do not understand open debate, freedom of speech, and do not realize how horrendous disruptive protests are in an academic environment, then higher education itself is a victim.


Please check out these links:

Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror (Hardcover) by Nonie Darwish
http://www.anchorrising.com/barnacles/003603.html
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21369