Skip to comments.
Rock Bridge accommodates Muslim students: "It sounds like we set up a mosque in our (public) school"
Columbia, Missouri Daily Tribune ^
| Thursday, October 25, 2001
| CORY de VERA
Posted on 10/25/2001 12:41:04 PM PDT by rface
Muslim students at Rock Bridge High School (Columbia, Missouri area)
removed a hand-lettered sign identifying
a room as the "Muslim Student Prayer Room"
after a school employee contacted the Tribune questioning the
constitutionality of setting up what looked like a mosque.
According to the employee, who asked not to be named, inside the room there was also a sign asking visitors to "remove shoes when entering the mosque."
"The sign is not a good idea," Principal Bruce Brotzman said Tuesday. "It sounds like we set up a mosque in our school or" if it were "for Christians, a sanctuary. We are not going to do that. But to make space available to accommodate kids, that is something ... we want to do."
Practicing Muslims pray five times a day during specified windows of time. At least one of those times falls during the school day. Brotzman said that each year, students look for space for the daytime prayer. This year he offered them a small basement room after an elementary schools gifted-education program moved out. The room has no window and is not identified with a room number.
"The most important thing is to find a place that is clean and quiet," said senior Rehab El-Buri. Last year students used the Performing Arts Center but would periodically find it occupied by a class or locked. She estimated about 30 students use the room from time to time, though on days when they have cars they might drive to the mosque downtown instead.
Rehab said Muslim students werent upset to see the signs go down. They were posted by a student whose family immigrated here two months ago and who is suffering from culture shock, she said.
"I know they didnt open this room just for Muslim students. We may have the greatest need, but this is by no means a mosque," Rehab said. "I think the room should be open to Christians or Buddhists who want to pray."
Steve Benen, spokesman for the Washington-based group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the question of how far schools must go to accommodate daytime prayer by students has not been settled legally.
"The policy most schools take is one of accommodation, which seems to work for everyone involved," he said. "The caveat is that it must not be disruptive.
Rooms being set aside for exclusively religious use, that would be legally problematic."
Earlier this year, Americans United wrote letters of opposition to a Kentucky high school that allowed an outside person to renovate a classroom into a chapel, complete with pews carved with crosses, a pulpit and a copy of the Lords Prayer posted. The school set up the room for students who wanted to come voluntarily.
After communication with Americans United, the Kentucky school converted its chapel into a different school use.
Brotzman said Assistant Principal Kathy Ritter has explained to Muslim students that the room is not exclusively "theirs."
Brotzman said Christian students havent asked to use a school room during the day, though requests to use space before and after school arent uncommon. A flier posted on school bulletin boards advertised a meeting yesterday of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the school commons. The meeting was to include songs and worship.
Rehab said her years at Rock Bridge have been the best of her life in terms of helping her feel comfortable expressing who she is. In middle school, she was "too much of a conformist" to break away to pray during the day. In junior high she gained confidence, but administrators didnt help students find a room to use.
"When new Muslim families come to Columbia, I always recommend their kids go to Rock Bridge because they have been so overwhelmingly cooperative with us and so understanding," she said.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 ... 301-309 next last
To: rface
I think this smacks all those Christians in the face who have been trying to find a way to pray as Christians in public school. The word says that we will be hated, it is apparently becoming more 'in-our-faces' every day.
To: rface
this has the potential, btw, of being a
huge story.
dep
22
posted on
10/25/2001 1:07:36 PM PDT
by
dep
To: rface
This year he offered them a small basement room after an elementary school?s gifted-education program moved out.... "When new Muslim families come to Columbia, I always recommend their kids go to Rock Bridge because they have been so overwhelmingly cooperative with us and so understanding," she said. Anyone else see a connection?
To: Hillary's Lovely Legs
The USA is sowing to the wind ,and we will be reaping the whirlwind. I am in shock to see the USA going down the tubes with so many ignorant people at the helm. Islam is not just another religion, and it is here to destroy us. It really makes me sick, for I have no other country to go to. My ancestors have fought and died for this nation to be free for generations. Islam stands for oppression and hatred of all who are not Muslims.
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) - Some 200 worshippers listened raptly as the imam at al-Quds mosque delivered a fiery 45-minute sermon on the sins of the infidels and the arrogance of the West. ``God, we implore You to destroy the United States of America,'' shouted the imam in a sermon Friday. Not a soul flinched. The congregation recited in unison, ``Amen.''
24
posted on
10/25/2001 1:10:21 PM PDT
by
tessalu
To: Yellow Rose of Texas
They did the same thing last year at a school in New York, gave them the gym or auditorium, as I recall.
Did a search but couldn't find it, however it is here in the archives somewhere...
25
posted on
10/25/2001 1:10:39 PM PDT
by
AnnaZ
To: dep
I don't know how old you are, but Columbia has had a large, real mosque right off campus since at least the late 80s. I knew quite a few Moslems when I attended college there and as a rule, all of them reviled the leaders of their countries for their authoritarianism. I don't think Columbia has gone down the tubes at all.
26
posted on
10/25/2001 1:12:26 PM PDT
by
motexva
To: rface
Ya think?? How dare they talk about seperation of church and state and then pull this for aliens, and this is not the only school providing a place for muslims to pray.
Christians have tolerated themselves right out the door of their own country.
To: Cool Guy
Thanks, as always, for the ping, CG!
xo
28
posted on
10/25/2001 1:13:39 PM PDT
by
AnnaZ
To: Yellow Rose of Texas
No flags, no prayers, no Pledge, no Proud to be American, but Muslims can pray in school! We are a nation of understanding and compassion. No wonder we are hated around the world!Does anyone know if US high schools have the old-style United States version of ROTC?
I can see, from the article, that we have the non-US version.
29
posted on
10/25/2001 1:14:28 PM PDT
by
syriacus
To: LibertarianLiz
If the Christians want a room I'm sure they would be given one, if you could demonstrate that praying at certain times of day is part of that religion. I didn't think it was. The constitutional law on this matter is fairly well established.
30
posted on
10/25/2001 1:14:28 PM PDT
by
motexva
To: Cool Guy
Someone set up us the mosque!
Move 'ZIG'!
To: motexva
i stopped living in columbia in 1976; before that i was program director of kfmz and a reporter for the tribune. i read the tribune nearly daily even now -- and before this story had concluded that the place had become a great place to put a lake.
dep
32
posted on
10/25/2001 1:16:41 PM PDT
by
dep
To: tessalu
It was also at Hamburg University that Mohammed Atta requested the use of a room for prayer, and got it (after being initially refused). He then proceeded to use it as a lure for potential terrorists from among Muslim university students. His efforts paid off.
To: dep
I thought prayer was not allowed in school!
34
posted on
10/25/2001 1:19:39 PM PDT
by
Khepera
To: rface
So??? You CAN Pray in a Public School IF you are Muslim.....
(If You are a Christian or a Jew....
You get kicked out however.)
I Wonder just how long it took to come up with this brilliant little idea?
To: rface
Where is the ACLU on this one?
36
posted on
10/25/2001 1:22:04 PM PDT
by
6ppc
To: dep
The ACLU is still trying to overturn laws that allow a "moment of silence" in schools because a kid might pray during that moment. But the ACLU doesn't seem to care that a mosque is in a school.
37
posted on
10/25/2001 1:22:16 PM PDT
by
07055
To: dep
Well, it's infested with leftists, but if you think we should put a lake in any city or town that has a mosque in this country we'd have a lot of waterfront property available . . .
38
posted on
10/25/2001 1:22:41 PM PDT
by
motexva
To: rface
To: AnnaZ
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 ... 301-309 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson