Posted on 02/13/2008 4:42:27 AM PST by fweingart
There's an uproar in the U.K. over recent comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury that, given the country's growing and restive Muslim population, it is "unavoidable" that certain aspects of Islamic law would, at some point, have to be accepted in Britain.
What many Americans do not realize is that there's a concerted effort by some in the American Muslim community to move slowly in a similar direction right here in the United States.
While this effort is not necessarily about Sharia law, it is an attempt by some Muslim Americans to force the rest of us to enable their cultural and religious practices in the public sphere. Instead, they should be assimilating and abiding by general U.S. norms.
One of the front lines of this fight: footbaths.
Growing numbers of Muslims living in the United States are seeking to wash their feet in the sinks of public rest rooms. The foot-washing is part of wudu, the ritual ablutions a Muslim performs before the five prayer sessions he or she observes every day at intervals from morning till night. The ablutions can take several minutes and involve repeated washing or rinsing of the hands, mouth, nostrils, face, arms, forehead, hair, ears and, finally, the feet.
There is nothing wrong with a devout Muslim seeing it as his religious duty to wash his feet. I take no issue with the practice whatsoever.
But I do not accept the notion that large, primarily secular institutions - or society as a whole - should invest time and money building facilities expressly to make it easy for people to perform the ritual.
Yet that is precisely what is happening. Not surprisingly, it is universities - bastions of open-ended tolerance - that are on the leading edge of the trend. Last year, it was reported that the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where more than 10% of students are Muslim, announced it would install $25,000 foot-washing stations in a number of rest rooms.
In contemplating this, the school was following in the footsteps of other institutions including Stanford University, the University of Houston, Boston University, St. Cloud State University and the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Indeed, right here in New York, NYU is considering installing footbaths in the Islamic section of its planned interfaith center.
Somehow, the American Civil Liberties Union - normally given to howls of execration at the mere thought of a creche in any semipublic place at Christmastime - is not challenging any of this. Why? Because, it says, it's not a matter of religion but of "cleanliness and safety." Foot-washing in regular sinks can be a messy business. It can also be off-putting for non-Muslims who must use the sinks and rest rooms for ordinary purposes.
But the question of whether footbaths improve cleanliness and safety is beside the point. What is at issue is the extent of public accommodation of religion. And furthermore, while the Council on American-Islamic Relations is specifically recommending that Muslims perform their ablutions in rest room sinks, it turns out that elaborate foot-washing at every prayer time isn't even required under Muslim law.
Indeed, a perusal of Islamic Web sites reveals some flexibility regarding the washing - for example, simply wiping over the sock is sufficient, rather than soaking the bare foot.
But this seems not to matter to those who want to thrust Islamic practices into the public sphere or to the politically correct officials who refuse to draw the line.
Foot-washing done in public places, whether in sinks or footbaths, sets Muslims apart from larger society. Rather than facilitating that, we should ask members of the American Muslim community to adapt their behavior to the country in which they live.
>The ACLU is rabidly and fanatically anti-Christian. They are well known and consistant bigots
So is someone who is anti-[insert religion here] a bigot? Many on this forum don’t think so.
Just hang a strip of bacon over each faucet handle...problem solved!
I don't disagree with you. They are. What I said was, their charter, or constitution--whatever they use to state their purpose, does not say "we're an anti-Christian organization."
That would be too polarizing.
Instead, they are covertly anti-Christian, under the guise they are protecting "rights" of Americans.
There, fixed.
Yes, you are exactly right. The ACLU has always lied about their true intentions lest they be exposed before their sickness had infected enough of the population.
If a person is honest and open about their opposition to my faith or any faith I do not find that to be bigotry.
The ACLU are a group of hypocrites whose deepest hatred and fanaticism is against conservative Christianity. If they would have been honest and open about their true goals and methods they would have been rejected as anti American. Instead they have done nothing but lie and deceive since their beginning and should be investigated for fraud and perjury. They are partisan racketeers with definite hardcore political goals, posing as political neutrals with tax exempt status.
The problem with that position is that the opposite side does likewise. Then, each side claims the other is LYING, e.g., Bush LYING on WMDs.
The flaw is that often one side fails to understand that the other side might actually believe their points, or not see the connection that we do. That reason might be the proximity to the issue.
I’ve become more respectful of those who vehemently disagree with me by considering that they truly believe what they espouse, or that they truly fail to see the flaw in the logical reasoning.
And of course sometimes I make mistakes. I just hope that I am humble and honest enough to recognize it when someone points it out.
Anywho...just spilling.
Ya know, we’ve had Muslims in this country for decades. What the heck have they been doing all this time? (Sure never was spoken of as a problem before.)
I will surely use the muzzie footbath a a urinal, if I come across one. And the next time I pas that way, I’ll bring some bacon to dump in the mix.I just wish I could think of something more disrespectful, though.
Dog poop maybe? I've heard that Muslims consider dogs even more "unclean" than pigs (so what would be the most "unclean" thing about dogs?). Just a thought...
The answer to your question is probably yes...
However,
Christians travel all over the world and provide food, clothing, and medical services to the people of third world nations solely for the opportunity to tell them "the Gospel" (also translated "the Good News"). Those who do not wish to listen to or accept this "Good News" are free to reject it. Sometimes Christians remain there helping when it is clear that the indigenious peoples of that region are not likely to accept "the Word" being offered.
Muslims, on the other hand, also go through out the world and prosletize but they also, upon reaching a majority of a regional population, begin killing all who do not accept their word that "There is only one god and Mohammad is his prophet".
In this case, it's not so much bigotry as human nature to respond to such vicious and vile behavior. In this nation, we accept other religions; I have no problem with the Jewish Faith, or Buddhist Faith, or Hindu Faith but I do have a problem with Islam - a Faith that openly preaches Hate and Discontent in the United States and around the world (and calls Israel the "Little Satan" and the United States the "Big Satan" and declares that both must be eliminated from the face of the earth).
I'm not going quietly and if that makes me a 'bigot' then perhaps I ought to investigate where I can have some buttons and bumper stickers made up.
-do they not bathe at home? (shudder)
That’s right. We’re like the proverbial frog in the pan of warm water. When it’s boiling, he doesn’t even notice it. of course then he’s DEAD.
Christians don’t insist on having a footbath where they work or play or go to school. THAT is the difference.
A pigs head???
I think these foot baths will soon be clogged with bacon fat.
Muslims must present non-Muslims with the three choices of the Koran - Sura 9:29: conversion, submission with second-class status under Islamic rule, or death.
Since I don't like any of those choices, it's my death or the Muslim's.
That is a gross generalization of Islam. And it ignores that many Christian churches go into countries and proselyte when the law prohibits them from doing so. And those same Christians lie in order to get around the law.
Christ like?
>Christians don’t insist on having a footbath where they work or play or go to school. THAT is the difference.
I didn’t see that Muslims have “insisted” on foot baths.
I don’t know, maybe for the same reasons we give in to the other 1% of the population. Homos.
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