Posted on 02/13/2008 4:42:27 AM PST by fweingart
There's an uproar in the U.K. over recent comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury that, given the country's growing and restive Muslim population, it is "unavoidable" that certain aspects of Islamic law would, at some point, have to be accepted in Britain.
What many Americans do not realize is that there's a concerted effort by some in the American Muslim community to move slowly in a similar direction right here in the United States.
While this effort is not necessarily about Sharia law, it is an attempt by some Muslim Americans to force the rest of us to enable their cultural and religious practices in the public sphere. Instead, they should be assimilating and abiding by general U.S. norms.
One of the front lines of this fight: footbaths.
Growing numbers of Muslims living in the United States are seeking to wash their feet in the sinks of public rest rooms. The foot-washing is part of wudu, the ritual ablutions a Muslim performs before the five prayer sessions he or she observes every day at intervals from morning till night. The ablutions can take several minutes and involve repeated washing or rinsing of the hands, mouth, nostrils, face, arms, forehead, hair, ears and, finally, the feet.
There is nothing wrong with a devout Muslim seeing it as his religious duty to wash his feet. I take no issue with the practice whatsoever.
But I do not accept the notion that large, primarily secular institutions - or society as a whole - should invest time and money building facilities expressly to make it easy for people to perform the ritual.
Yet that is precisely what is happening. Not surprisingly, it is universities - bastions of open-ended tolerance - that are on the leading edge of the trend. Last year, it was reported that the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where more than 10% of students are Muslim, announced it would install $25,000 foot-washing stations in a number of rest rooms.
In contemplating this, the school was following in the footsteps of other institutions including Stanford University, the University of Houston, Boston University, St. Cloud State University and the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Indeed, right here in New York, NYU is considering installing footbaths in the Islamic section of its planned interfaith center.
Somehow, the American Civil Liberties Union - normally given to howls of execration at the mere thought of a creche in any semipublic place at Christmastime - is not challenging any of this. Why? Because, it says, it's not a matter of religion but of "cleanliness and safety." Foot-washing in regular sinks can be a messy business. It can also be off-putting for non-Muslims who must use the sinks and rest rooms for ordinary purposes.
But the question of whether footbaths improve cleanliness and safety is beside the point. What is at issue is the extent of public accommodation of religion. And furthermore, while the Council on American-Islamic Relations is specifically recommending that Muslims perform their ablutions in rest room sinks, it turns out that elaborate foot-washing at every prayer time isn't even required under Muslim law.
Indeed, a perusal of Islamic Web sites reveals some flexibility regarding the washing - for example, simply wiping over the sock is sufficient, rather than soaking the bare foot.
But this seems not to matter to those who want to thrust Islamic practices into the public sphere or to the politically correct officials who refuse to draw the line.
Foot-washing done in public places, whether in sinks or footbaths, sets Muslims apart from larger society. Rather than facilitating that, we should ask members of the American Muslim community to adapt their behavior to the country in which they live.
The product shown in Post 29 would be a lot more convenient. ;-)
Also a good place to dispose of used paper products.
Would make the world a better place.
I will simply make the assumption that these called footbaths are merely urinals for both the vertically challenged and overly endowed..
Are you in a parallel universe, tortdog? Of course they ‘insist.’ Why do you think everyone is kowtowing to them? They’re afraid not to. PC insanity at work.
Cultural jihad bump
Cindy Sheehan loves the Islamics and she’s running for office
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1969993/posts
Trust me.
5.56mm
I haven’t seen anything of the sort reported in the United States. Please share.
I haven’t seen anything of the sort reported in the United States. Please share.
Now that was funny.
It’s been awhile, eh?
A sheehadist among jihadists..She can stay there!
Vor lady asked a fair question, care to answer it?
It depends on whether or not there's a Koran handy for them to wipe with.
Here’s one of dozens: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55488 Kansas City airport
>Why do you think Jesus practiced the muslimÂ’s style of washing? He lived a long time before Mohammed and Isaac and Ishmael separated their ways a long time before Israel, IsaacÂ’s son started the Israelis.
I don’t claim that it was the exact form or for the same exact reasons. What I do know is that the practice of washing one’s feet had long been established in the region, and that Christ himself practiced it.
I argue against dispersions of the faith of others because we are not ourselves accustomed to it. I call it religious bigotry to mock that which othere do in faithful worship to their god. I also find it odd that a Chtistian would mock an act that follows what Christ himself engaged in (the washing of feet). And in fact Christ commanded that we shake the dust off our feet when a person rejected Christ’s gospel.
It is odd to me how many “good” people find it humorous to mock the faith of others. That, to me, is not what Christ would do.
You misrepresent Islam, as not all teach that any more than all Christians interpret the Bible the same way. If we did, there would be one Christian church, as opposed to the variety we now have.
What is the problem with a religious group making a request for an accommodation of religious beliefs? Do we only accommodate Christians?
I have no doubt that some outspoken Muslims have demanded accommodation. I just have not seen it reported. Maybe the other dozen articles you were thinking can vouch for that.
I wasn’t mocking. I was asking a question. As I understand it from history, washing feet was a hospitality thing. Jesus did it with his disciples as a lesson in humility. I DO resent having my tax dollars supporting someone else’s worship practices.
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