Some public schools and universities are granting Muslim requests for prayer times, prayer rooms and ritual foot baths, prompting a debate on whether Islam is being given preferential treatment over other religions.
The University of Michigan at Dearborn is planning to build foot baths for Muslim students who wash their feet before prayer. An elementary school in San Diego created an extra recess period for Muslim pupils to pray.
At George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Muslim students using a “meditation space” laid out Muslim prayer rugs and separated men and women in accordance with their Islamic beliefs.
Critics see a double standard and an organized attempt to push public conformance with Islamic law.
“What (school officials) are doing … is to give Muslim students religious benefits that they do not give any other religion right now,” says Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel at the Thomas More Law Center, an advocacy group for Christians.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-25-muslim-special-treatment-from-schools_N.htm
An Anaheim, California, public high school is facing a day in federal court after refusing to allow a Christian Bible club to meet after school.
The Esperanza High School official responsible for after-school groups told the students that their group was being denied permission to meet because their topic was not related to the school curriculum. Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) in Sacramento, is not buying that excuse.
“The school district refused to allow a Christian Bible club from being able to meet on campus [in] the same [way] as other non-curriculum related clubs,” he contends. “No student and no club should be treated like second-class citizens simply because they aspire to study the Bible and believe in Christianity.”
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=205650
I see nothing wrong with moving team practice to a time when “most of the team” can practice. That is the entire basis of this article.
Now, what you are also mentioning is where you and I are in lock-step agreement. Sorry, my taxdollars no more will pay for a foot-bath than it will go to fund a Jewish, Christian or Wiccan religous article. When you are talking about my taxdollars - then we have agreement.
But, the coach is trapped. Either not practice and lose his job (his win/loss record impacts his employment) or practice at night to accomodate “most of the team” and face ridicule from the public.
Again, our local high schools have practice on Saturdays as well as the school week. There is no practice on Sundays, out of respect for the predominant Christian faith. The coaches know that if they hold practice on Sunday, there will be a revolt and he’ll have a majority of the team not allowed to show up.
This ‘concession’ is only logical.