{"id":1064,"date":"2011-10-27T09:55:47","date_gmt":"2011-10-27T16:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/?p=1064"},"modified":"2011-10-27T09:56:54","modified_gmt":"2011-10-27T16:56:54","slug":"muslims-say-crosses-at-catholic-university-offensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/muslims-say-crosses-at-catholic-university-offensive\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslims Say Crosses at Catholic University Offensive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Muslims say crosses at Catholic University Violate \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Human Rights\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/h1>\n

From Todd Stone Fox News Radio<\/a>
\nThe Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights confirmed that it is investigating allegations that Catholic University violated the human rights of Muslim students by not allowing them to form a Muslim student group and by not providing them rooms without Christian symbols for their daily prayers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The investigation alleges that Muslim students \u00e2\u20ac\u0153must perform their prayers surrounded by symbols of Catholicism \u00e2\u20ac\u201c e.g., a wooden crucifix, paintings of Jesus, pictures of priests and theologians which many Muslim students find inappropriate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Office of Human Rights told Fox News they had received a 60-page complaint against the private university. The investigation, they said, could take as long a six months.<\/p>\n

The complaint was filed by John Banzhaf, an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School. Banzhaf has been involved in previous litigation against the school involving the same-sex residence halls. He also alleged in his complaint involving Muslim students that women at the university were being discriminated against. You can read more on those allegations by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Banzhaf said some Muslim students were particularly offended because they had to meditate in the school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chapels \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and at the cathedral that looms over the entire campus \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be too difficult somewhere on the campus for the university to set aside a small room where Muslims can pray without having to stare up and be looked down upon by a cross of Jesus,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told Fox News.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Catholic University released a statement to Fox News indicating they had not seen any legal filings \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but would respond once they do.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our faithfulness to our Catholic tradition has also made us a welcome home to students of other religions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Victor Nakas, associate vice president for public affairs. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No students have registered complaints about the exercise of their religions on our campus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In a 2010 interview with National Public Radio, university president John Garvey acknowledged that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t set aside prayer rooms for Muslim students.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We make classrooms available, or our chapels are places where they can pray,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told NPR. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t offer Halal meat, although there are always meals that conform to Halal regulations, that allow students to do what they want.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Banzhaf said that it is technically not illegal for Catholic University to refuse to provide rooms devoid of religious icons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It may not be illegal, but it suggests they are acting improperly and probably with malice,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They do have to pray five times a day, they have to look around for empty classrooms and to be sitting there trying to do Muslim prayers with a big cross looking down or a picture of Jesus or a picture of the Pope is not very conductive to their religion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As for the creation of a Muslim student group, Banzhaf said the university has an association of Jewish students \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so why not a Muslim group?<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think they are entitled as a matter of law to be able to form a Muslim student association and to have the same privileges as associations,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think that most of them would much prefer to have a place to pray \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that they are not surrounded by various Catholic symbols \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a place that is more conductive to their religious beliefs than being surrounded by pictures of Popes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Garvey, in his 2010 interview with NPR, addressed that issue.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not something that we view as an activity that we want to sponsor because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a Catholic institution rather than Muslim,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Patrick Reilly, the president of the Cardinal Newman Society, an organization that promotes Catholic identity among Catholic schools, seemed stunned by the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the attorney wants them to do \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if he wants them to actually move the Basilica or if the Muslim students can find someplace where they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to look at it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told Fox News.<\/p>\n

Catholic University, he said, is a Catholic institution.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect a Jewish institution to be responsible for providing liturgical opportunities for other faiths and I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect a Catholic institution to do that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This attorney is really turning civil rights on its head,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s using the law for his own discrimination against the Catholic institution and essentially saying Catholic University cannot operate according to Catholic principles.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Read coverage from Catholic University\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s student newspaper by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Muslims say crosses at Catholic University Violate \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Human Rights\u00e2\u20ac\u009d From Todd Stone Fox News Radio The Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights confirmed that it is investigating allegations that Catholic University violated the human rights…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[1482,1481,430,1480,1484,1483],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}