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Chicago Public Schools set up Muslim Prayer Rooms
Chicago Sun Times ^ | November 29, 2001 | Rosalind Rossi

Posted on 11/29/2001 5:45:06 PM PST by cookcounty

Muslim students hail prayer policy

November 29, 2001

BY ROSALIND ROSSI EDUCATION REPORTER

Chicago Public Schools were given an official green light Wednesday to set aside a vacant room for students to pray during school hours, a policy welcomed by Muslim students whose daily prayers overlap with school hours.

The "Policy on Accommodations for Student Religious Practices'' approved unanimously by Chicago School Board members is similar to one practiced in Los Angeles, but it goes further than one observed in New York City, where schools are barred from designating a room for student prayer.

Some Chicago schools, such as Von Steuben High, already set aside space for Muslim students to observe one of their five daily prayers, but other schools have been calling recently with questions about what is allowable, Chicago Board of Education attorneys said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: islam; muslimprayerrooms; publicschools
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To: Sabertooth
As I sit in my classroom, a moment of silence for this insanity.
81 posted on 11/30/2001 6:06:50 AM PST by 2Trievers
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To: cookcounty
Taliban schools... wonder if they use english??
82 posted on 11/30/2001 6:28:34 AM PST by mbb bill
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To: 2Trievers
As I sit in my classroom, a moment of silence for this insanity.

Being a little insensitive to the insane this morning?

No silence, under any circumstances.


83 posted on 11/30/2001 6:49:09 AM PST by Sabertooth
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To: SirChas
I keep clicking my heels together but still no Kansas.

Most excellent (and it applies at least to the last decade...)

84 posted on 11/30/2001 6:53:32 AM PST by truthkeeper
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To: ChemistCat
The next step is to permit Muslim students to proselytize, giving them space and access to copiers and a nice liberal paper allowance.

Wouldn't they need guns, bombs and swords?

85 posted on 11/30/2001 6:53:55 AM PST by B Knotts
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To: B Knotts
That's the step after that. During initial proselytizing in school, they will merely hand out leaflets. Afterwards, they will beat students who don't join, figuring that whomever isn't attracted to a Peaceful Islam will probably be glad to join a Terrifying one.

Oh, heck, I don't know why I'm saying these things. I don't believe them. It's not Islam doing these things, it's barbaric freaks who in America would be good for nothing but dope dealing and gang shootouts. And it's time everybody was allowed a chance to worship God in schools.

I'm going to go hold my left arm where I just got a flu shot and moan for awhile in private. Man this year's shot seems to REALLY HURT a LOT. Have they added broken glass to the mixture or something??????
86 posted on 11/30/2001 7:01:15 AM PST by ChemistCat
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To: Sabertooth
"No silence, under any circumstances."

If you saw how I have to peel the students off the ceiling after 45 minutes in my classroom, you'd know how holy a moment of silence can be.

87 posted on 11/30/2001 7:04:48 AM PST by 2Trievers
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To: cookcounty
God isn't allowed in schools unless he's an anti-American god.
88 posted on 11/30/2001 7:07:22 AM PST by Robert Lomax
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To: Darth Sidious
...OR, one more reason why I will rejoice when I write out the tuition check for my daughter's Christian school.

The muslim-coddling is making me ill.

89 posted on 11/30/2001 7:17:46 AM PST by BornOnTheFourth
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To: rwfromkansas
It isn't wrong BECAUSE a minority religion is being advanced. The whole purpose of the First Amendment's religion clauses was to protect minorities - the majority religion doesn't need that kind of protection. The point is that the govt (including the public schools) is not supposed to subsidize ANY religion (not even a bland homogenized kind) which includes giving it chapels, etc. (The business about army & prison chaplains is different, because that's for people pulled away - more or less involuntarily - from their homes and home-congregations and the govt has to provide a substitute).
90 posted on 11/30/2001 7:56:11 AM PST by DonQ
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To: Sabertooth
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

They keep Christians from praying and then allow this. GRrrrrrrrr

91 posted on 11/30/2001 10:50:01 AM PST by Snow Bunny
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To: MissMillie
It should also be noted that schools can and do allow students to form their own prayer groups and bible study groups and use school property to do so.

Not according to some schools - when a religious group took a school in Connecticut to court about equal access to school facilities after hours, the court ruled in the group's favor. The school administration responded by eliminating ALL access to the school after hours. I'm not a Christian, but there is a distinct anti-Christian bias in many school districts that you refuse to acknowledge.

92 posted on 11/30/2001 3:12:01 PM PST by dirtboy
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Comment #93 Removed by Moderator

To: Colonel_Flagg
bump
94 posted on 11/30/2001 9:41:08 PM PST by timestax
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To: cookcounty
Future suicide bombers learning their tade now in our public schools. Religion should stay out of school period. I understand why liberals dont object. Reason being they would not mind their children being a victim of a future suicide bombing by a Muslim. Can be the only reason why the ACLU has not already initiated court action.
95 posted on 11/30/2001 9:46:11 PM PST by richardthelionheart
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To: MissMillie
Are Christians required to pray in a certain manner at specific times during the day?
The policy of giving the muslims a room to pray is necessary in order to protect their right to free exercise

If the Muslims are required to pray in a certain manner, it doesn't sound like "free" exercise to me. It sounds like our government is abetting the enforcement of Muslim laws in our schools.

And it sounds especially coercive to less devout Muslim students who do NOT want to participate in the prayers. Perhaps some of them were hoping to have real religious freedom in the US and now the other Muslim students will be keeping them in line, religiously speaking, because they will be able to report back to parents or Imams.

Do we really want to help an Imam enforce religious rules on students in our schools?

The Muslims really need to open their own schools to exercise their rights, like other religious groups in America do. The less devout Muslim students in the public schools should NOT feel intimidated by those that more strictly adhere to their faith.

96 posted on 12/07/2001 4:31:44 PM PST by syriacus
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To: syriacus
If the Muslims are required to pray in a certain manner, it doesn't sound like "free" exercise to me. It sounds like our government is abetting the enforcement of Muslim laws in our schools.

Are you THAT unclear on what the phrase "free exercise" means in the context of the constitution? It means that you are free to practice your religion without governmental interference. If you have chosen to practice the Muslim faith, the government is not going to protect you from the tenets of the Muslim religion. It will, however, tell you that you don't have to be a Muslim. And it sounds especially coercive to less devout Muslim students who do NOT want to participate in the prayers. Perhaps some of them were hoping to have real religious freedom in the US and now the other Muslim students will be keeping them in line, religiously speaking, because they will be able to report back to parents or Imams.

It is no more coercive than offering a library. The fact that a school has a room full of books does not mean it is coercing students to go into that room and read those books. Entering the room is completely voluntary. If you don't want to go, don't. And if you don't go, who's going to know whether or not you're a muslim not following the rules. No one is taking attendance.

Do we really want to help an Imam enforce religious rules on students in our schools?

Again, it's not about enforcement. It's about opportunity. Without this room, those Muslim students who want to practice their religion do not have the opportunity to do so without disrupting the school day. The same is not true of the Christian religion.

The Muslims really need to open their own schools to exercise their rights, like other religious groups in America do. The less devout Muslim students in the public schools should NOT feel intimidated by those that more strictly adhere to their faith.

Many of do open their own schools, but that doesn't mean that the students should be exempt from attending public school. If a catholic student wants to go to private school, s/he is entitled to. S/he is also entitled to pray as long as s/he initiated it him/herself, doesn't not expect to hold an audience or use a public address system, and does not disrupt class.

This policy of allowing Muslim students a room to pray gives the Muslim student the same rights as that Catholic student and again, there is no ENFORCEMENT. No one takes attendence, no one keeps track. And if you don't want to go, no one notices.

97 posted on 02/07/2002 10:41:27 AM PST by MissMillie
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To: MissMillie
This policy of allowing Muslim students a room to pray gives the Muslim student the same rights as that Catholic student and again, there is no ENFORCEMENT. No one takes attendence, no one keeps track. And if you don't want to go, no one notices.


It is so ironic that schools didn't provide prayer rooms to children who wanted to freely express their faith through prayer, but the same schools provide prayer rooms to children who may be pressured into praying at certain times.

We are told that the reason Muslim children need prayer rooms is that they are OBLIGATED to pray at certain times. We are also told that they are merely being given the opportunity to pray and if they were (like children of other faiths) NOT obliged to pray at certain times, they would not need the prayer rooms (i.e., they would not be given the opportunity to pray). Boy, is this confusing!!

In effect, the schools are "giving the opportunity" to those that are obligated to pray, even though the schools did not give the same opportunity to the children who, of their own free will wanted to exercise their faith freely, by praying. In other words, the religion that controls its adherents the most throughout the day, gets the help of the schools.

In practice, the Muslim children will notice whether or not a particular child went to the prayer room to pray. Also, there's a good possibility that Muslim students will be questioned by their parents or other significant adults (Imams?), to see if they have been going into the prayer room at the required times, during the school day. I think there is a good chance that Muslim students will be asked if their Muslim classmates are using the prayer room at all the right times, too.

If one of the Muslim children is asked whether a non-obedient friend is praying, will the child lie in order to protect his friend's right to freedom of religious expression? I'm fairly certain the child will have noticed if his friend doesn't pray at the appointed time in the appointed room.

It seems there has been a shift away from the old "separation of Church and state" argument and toward allowing free exercise of religion in schools. The Bill of rights is being fine tuned, and the Muslims are helping in this respect.


It is no more coercive than offering a library. The fact that a school has a room full of books does not mean it is coercing students to go into that room and read those books.

Since school libraries are not coercive, I wonder why this is news: LA Schools remove Korans with Anti-Semitic notes.

Some 300 translations of the Koran, donated to Los Angeles schools by a local Muslim foundation to promote religious understanding after Sept. 11, have been removed because of an accompanying anti-Semitic commentary, school board officials said on Thursday. The book, "The Meaning of the Holy Koran," is a 1934 translation of the Muslim holy text, which includes footnotes dating from that era which describe Jews variously as "arrogant" "illiterate" and "men without faith."

98 posted on 02/07/2002 4:35:32 PM PST by syriacus
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To: cookcounty
I hope someone is keeping an eye on people who enter the public school prayer rooms and on objects those people leave behind.

We know young Muslims are willing to kill and are willing to risk their own lives to do that.

99 posted on 10/12/2002 7:18:30 AM PDT by syriacus
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To: cookcounty

The pilgrims that came to this country are rolling over in there graves, everything they fought for, left there homes for, traveled months for, lost family members for, the love of The One True GOD has been slapped in there face. Those "school officials" just gave into the bully.


100 posted on 12/08/2004 9:09:50 PM PST by americansaddened (americansaddened)
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