Posted on 02/19/2010 9:04:44 PM PST by JoeProBono
Social services groups in one of the largest U.S. Muslim communities now have started offering home-delivered meals made according to Islamic law. The Halal Meals on Wheels program _ the first in the country to work with a national halal food distributor _ comes after years of efforts by nonprofit agencies serving Detroit-area senior citizens and Muslim- and Arab-Americans....
(Excerpt) Read more at etaiwannews.com ...
And yet you're calling for the banning of a call to prayer...
It’s not akin to aural bell sounds! It’s human speech broadcast over loudspeakers throughout a municipality.
With your logic, every religious denomination (or any group/organiztion) would be permitted and entitled to place permanent public address loudspeakers in the city to broadcast various protestant, Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist, Sikh, etc. prayers, sermons, chants (ALL SPOKEN WORDS-not bells) on a daily basis.
It would be a fever-pitch cacaphony of competing loudspeakers of who could outdo the other. It would be a matter of disturbing the peace. By the city permitting the SPOKEN WORDS of prayer call, it’s a de-facto promotion and endorsement of religion, no longer a First Amendment matter.
I’m fine with prayer calls of HUMAN SPEECH confined to their realm / Mosque - never said I was against that.
I would rather see KFC franchises also going Kosher so you would have a choice in how you would like your chicken. I bet most Christians would enjoy Kosher chicken better.
If the calls to prayer are of the same (approximate) duration and decibel level as the bells, it's not "fever-pitch cacaphony".
It would be “fever-pitch cacaphony,” per your logic of allowing anyone and every religious denomination a loudspeaker to proselytize because it’s protected by the First Amendment. ...and a de-facto promotion of religion by the municipality by way of SPOKEN WORDS through the loudspeakers.
Every club, church, civic organization, etc. would be permitted and entitled to have a loudspeaker and blare it throughout the day. Good times.
Did you miss the part where I predicated my approval upon the duration of the calls being the same as that of the bells?
But they could all be simultaneous or in unison. Duration, equal or not, does not negate the fact that one is HUMAN SPEECH, the other, a blend of SEVEN MUSICAL NOTES.
And if one religious practice disctates a longer duration, what if others seek parity in time by broadcasting even more prayer / proselytizong over their respective loudspeakers?
It’s just not that hard to discern between bells and human speech. Bells just do not equal human speech.
There's no need to yell.
I understand that they're not identical, and yet they both manage to fit into the category of "religious expression".
I suspect your argument might have something to do with your view of Islam in general; I base this on your descriptions of the calls to prayer in this thread: "caterwauling / screaming", "screaching out spoken words", "wailing / caterwauling diatribe", etc. If I'm mistaken, I apologize in advance for the mischaracterization.
Enough for now, have to get to bed; I have to get up for work in 7 hours!
Ugh! One of my Top Ten reasons I love to be home is that I don't have to hear that sound.
Animal sacrifice fits into the realm of “religious expression” too. BTW, have you ever heard the prayer calls five times a day? I think to say they saound like caterwauling is a kind characterization.
I’m starting the tax-exempt Church of the SDWS (Steely Dan Worship Society). We will broadcast, via loudspeaker across the municiplaities, routine play of the following tracks, to praise the inimitable Donald Fagen:
1. Babylon Sisters
2. Hey Nineteen
3. Black Cow
4. Gaucho
It’s an abysmal sound of the worst order.
It’s slowly entrenching itself into American cities, too.
Church bells chime the Westminister tone on the hour, it is a clock and nothing more.
And it's perfectly legal in the United States under some circumstances.
BTW, have you ever heard the prayer calls five times a day? I think to say they saound like caterwauling is a kind characterization.
Never have; there aren't a lot of mosques in the mountains west of Denver...
Im starting the tax-exempt Church of the SDWS (Steely Dan Worship Society). We will broadcast, via loudspeaker across the municiplaities, routine play of the following tracks, to praise the inimitable Donald Fagen:
1. Babylon Sisters
2. Hey Nineteen
3. Black Cow
4. Gaucho
I see your SDWS and raise you the HWS (Heart Worship Society), praising Ann and Nancy Wilson with following:
1. Magic Man
2. Dreamboat Annie
3. Crazy on You
4. Barracuda
We are a bit nondenominational at times, and will play Pat Benatar as well...
"As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion
The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation." - Treaty of Tripoli (1797), approved of unanimously by the U.S. Senate under George Washingtons presidency, signed into law the next year by President John Adams.
Well, I suppose it's easier to say that than to actually address my point.
BTW, what's wrong with being an atheist? Are you offended by people who don't share your faith?
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.