Posted on 07/19/2005 1:03:41 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
It's Saturday evening, the end of a hot day, and a group of women and children have gathered at North Seattle's Meadowbrook Pool for their monthly swim.
Most of the pool staff has left, except for two female lifeguards, who on this day will be on duty for the next two hours.
The women and children — all Muslims — have been swimming in private once a month at Meadowbrook as part of a program organized by the North Seattle Family Center.
Because Islam requires Muslim women to fully cover themselves in public, swimming in pools or the ocean is largely off-limits for many.
But across the Puget Sound area, that's starting to change as public and private pools at times are sending home their male staff members, covering up their windows and allowing women of faith to swim alone and in private...
Access to these pools is not free; the groups, like all others that use these facilities, pay a rental fee....
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
We supplied our own lifeguards and instructors, but we were glad they asked! Nothing to tie your nose in a knot about.
oh. that makes it discrimination then. unless they are saying, as i saw in another post, that it was specifically for the purpose of baptism. then i might agree, because muslims renting a pool for modesty is not the same as a group renting it for a religious ceremony.
It isn't the same pool, but even if it were, there's no hypocrisy. Muslim women aren't performing religious rituals in the pool, they're just swimming. We can argue that religious groups should have access to public facilities, but Christians aren't being discriminated against in this instance. If there were an Islamic equivalent to baptism, it, too, would be prohibited.
Most people don't understand what Muslims want. You would think London was a wake-up call, even more so than 9/11. But in PC America, we just continue to be sitting ducks.
Not to nitpick, Tuaregs are Muslims, not as doctrinaire as other Arabs, for instance.
But your point is true; within Islam there are many variations, the SaudiArab doctrines are not written in stone, however much they may claim to represent true islam.
making people leave is bad but as the article says "It's Saturday evening, the end of a hot day". I think this means this is an after hours thing
I did a little reading about the Tuaregs when I was reading the life of Charles de Foucauld. I think what you want to say is they are Muslim, but they are not Arab. Their version of Islam is in some respects different from the much more numerous Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
Or they could go live in a Muslim country and do whatever the hell they want.
I bet the filters get clogged with lint, too. They should charge them extra.
Last I checked the Baptists and Boy Scouts weren't blowing up buses and trains.
That is your inference. In summer, many pools stay open late.
Anyway, as long as the pools of Miami and Vegas feature their eye popping attractions, who cares about Seattle.
I am taking on that responsibility in a very personal way.
>>there is no harm in modesty
Not around me, thank you very much.
If I want to go to my local public pool and jump in with my pants and shirt on, they won't let me do it. If I can't, why can these folks do it?
"Nothing to tie your nose in a knot about."
Is that possible? Ouch.
I disagree, wholeheartedly. This is islam we are talking about. A "religion" that desires to create a theocracy in America. The islamic republic of america.
How long before they want to excercise their "rights" and have all women cover so that muslim men aren't tempted or offended?
I think there's a place in the Seattle area that sounds the muslim call to prayer 5 times a day. Sounds like you're falling in line with them.
This is war, and they are the enemy, like it or not. So, if you think a more parochial approach to modesty is good, and you don't mind bowing 5 times a day to Mecca, then you could be well on your way to getting your wish.
'When a muslim woman is at home in bed with her husband and the other three wives, is that considered "in public"?'
lol, "Ted and Alice and Tania and Mabel"...at least, I THINK that's who they are...
The main difference between Orthodox Jewry and Islam is that Islam's women will be punished, beaten and/or KILLED if they break the rules.
There's a huge difference-IMO- between pious modesty women choose, and oppressive modesty that is enforced by violence.
as a courtesy to the public-at-large, do you think public pools might offer some private pool time to those of us who no longer look all that great in a swimsuit?
"Last one in's a rotten egg!"
heh heh heh, pretty good.
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