U.S. to defend Muslim girl wearing scarf in school

CNN Washington Bureau ^ | 03/30/04 | Terry Frieden

[coffeebreak]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department announced Tuesday the government's civil rights lawyers have jumped into a legal case to support a Muslim girl's right to wear a head scarf in a public school.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Alex Acosta said government lawyers would support 11-year-old Nashala Hearn, a sixth-grade student who has sued the Muskogee, Oklahoma, Public School District for ordering her to remove her head scarf, or hijab, because it violated the dress code of the Benjamin Franklin Science Academy, which she attended.

The girl continued to wear her hijab to school and was subsequently suspended twice for doing so. The family appealed the suspensions, which were upheld by a district administrative hearing committee.

Her parents filed suit against the Muskogee School District last October.

On Tuesday the federal government filed a motion in a federal court in Muskogee to intervene in support of Nashala's position.

[coffeebreak]

I agree that the girl should be allowed to wear a religious symbol in school, BUT WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT WHEN THIS ISSUE INVOLVES CHRISTIANS!?!

[Crazieman]

Because Christianity is evil and hateful, didn't you get the DNC memo?

[Dogbert41]

crap I am so sick of this pro-anti-Christian stuff. The head scarf of these muslims ought to be viewed the same way we view swastikas or female mutilation. If they want to wear that crap, do it back in their own damned country.

[spunkets]

"and I deamand the government"

Art thou a god?

[E Rocc]

crap I am so sick of this pro-anti-Protestant stuff. The crosses of these Catholics ought to be viewed the same way we view pentagrams or female mutilation. If they want to wear that crap, do it back in their own damned country.

-The KKK, circa 1910.

[yonif]

Nashala Hearn says she thinks it's unfair that other students can wear crosses but she can't wear her hijab.

Is it religious clothing or simply a cultural one pertaining to the way Muslims dress in a part of the world....I think it is the latter.

[Robert_Paulson2]

assimilate or get out.

[Starve The Beast]

Yet another argument for vouchers, and for privatizing our educational system. The one-size-fits-all school system can't possibly accommodate everybody, but many small voucher schools certainly could. Everybody would win except the trial lawyers and the ACLU.

[coffeebreak]

A few of you need a refresher course:

Here's what the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Like I said before; the girl's religious freedoms should be protected, but ALL religious freedoms should be protected equally, not just Muslims in an election year.

[Fedora]

The premise of equating that with the KKK's anti-Catholicism is an equation of differences between Christian denominations with differences between Christianity and fundamentalist Islam. I don't buy that equation. The Constitution in its historical context was designed to protect both Protestantism and Catholicism, but it was never designed to protect Islam. The original intent of the First Amendment has been distorted over the past century by anti-Christian groups such as the ACLU, and pro-Islamic legal arguments such as the one under discussion here are premised on that distortion.

[ARCADIA]

Not to be catty ... but this little girl is woof-woof ... she needs a head scarf

[Michael.SF.]

Assimilate or get out

Damned straight!

And after we get the Ha-jib wearers, Let's get the AMISH!!

I am sick and tired of their damned slow rollin buggies!!

Young Amish Girl

[Lijahsbubbe]

Meanwhile, on another thread, school officials in an Indiana town ban the color pink for the remainder of the school year, for fear it is associated with gang colors.....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1108180/posts

[tkathy]

They are awful, divisive, not religious, but rather political. Religious garb does not belong in schools.

[afz400]

"ALL religious freedoms should be protected equally."
Yeah, but what qualifies as a religion - what if I want my kid to be able to go to school naked because I say it's my religion? I think in all honesty the framers of the Constitution had Christians in mind when they wrote about freedom of religion.

[Revolting cat!]

Maybe, just maybe, we oughta all consider moving to, ugh, France, for this one silly reason! Hey, you Atkins lovers, they've got 236 varieties of cheese there. The French will, in this particular case, defend their unique culture, we, on the other hand, will rise to defend an abstract principle. In the end, Francophobia notwithstanding, the Frogs will win, I suspect, because it's all about the underlying culture and not about abstract principles!

[Weimdog]

I think it is interesting to note that the hijab is political not religious according to many Muslim scholars.

...the not-oft repeated truth is that many Muslim scholars do not think the head scarf is mandatory in the first place. Sticking strictly to the Qur'anic text and the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammed), the Qur'anic verse most frequently pointed to tells women to pull a covering over their bosom, since women in 7th century Arabia were known to have worn outfits that exposed their chests. The second doctrine most frequently used to justify hijab is a saying in which the Prophet Muhammed is said to have said that women were to cover all parts of their bodies except for their faces and hands. The isnad, however, or chain of transmission by which most hadith is evaluated ( a methodology for analyzing hadith that is itself man made) is in fact weak for this hadtih, meaning that this saying can not be traced directly back to the mouth of the Prophet. A third justification for mandatory hijab argues that the preponderance of scholars have come to the conclusion that hijab is fard, or required. However, what is radical about Islam, and what makes a certain notion of Islam a truly revolutionary one is precisely the fact that there is no authoritative clergy structure built into the faith.

http://www.counterpunch.org/eltantawi02162004.html

[spunkets]

Watch yer step buddy, or some dark night that clip-clop, clip-clop's goning to be interrupted by a BOOM before the clip, clop, clip-clop fades away into the night.