Minn. college under fire over tax-funded Muslim foot baths
Jim Brown
OneNewsNow.com
April 19, 2007


A former Department of Justice official says a Minnesota college is rolling out the welcome mat for Muslim religious expression while demonstrating hostility toward the mildest forms of Christian religious expression.

Columnist Katherine Kersten of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis reports that the Minneapolis Community and Technical College "is making plans to use taxpayer funds to install facilities for ritual foot-washing" since many Muslim students have been using restroom sinks to wash their feet before prayer. However, Kersten says the same school that is going out of its way to accommodate Muslim students has in the past banned various religious practices related to Christmas, including Christmas music.

Bill Otis, director of legal affairs at the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) and a former special counsel to President George H.W. Bush, says if the school is going to respect the rituals of one religion, it should at least be tolerating Christmas music.

"I just don't understand the difference in treatment -- and I think it says something about people who pretend to be just 'enforcing' the constitutional separation between church and state," says Otis. "It certainly looks to me like whether this separation is to be taken seriously depends on what religion we're talking about -- and that's wrong."

The ACRU spokesman says he finds it "terribly inconsistent and wrong-headed" to permit Muslims to use the school facilities for their religious rituals while at the same time prohibiting Christians to use those same facilities for such things as prayer.

"If we're going to have one, let's have the other; if we can't both, then have neither," he states. "But it's wrong to have one and not the other."

Otis contends the Constitution does draw a line between church and state, but "the line is one of neutrality, not hostility."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/04/minn_ ... er_fire_ov

I support this. Christmas music, to use the example given, can bother people of other faiths. Installing the footbaths, keeps Muslims from offending or inconveniencing others.

There was a guy on my floor in college who prayed five times a day. We used to get so pissed off at the mess he made washing his feet. It would have been great if the school had given him a place to wash his feet without fucking up the whole bathroom.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/04/minn_ ... er_fire_ov

I support this. Christmas music, to use the example given, can bother people of other faiths. Installing the footbaths, keeps Muslims from offending or inconveniencing others.

There was a guy on my floor in college who prayed five times a day. We used to get so pissed off at the mess he made washing his feet. It would have been great if the school had given him a place to wash his feet without fucking up the whole bathroom.

Is it that hard to wash one's feet without tearing the place apart?

I used to not think so, but if 500 Muslim students at Minn. Comm. College are experiencing this problem, then I guess so.

To me, this is comparable to the college adding more water fountains because there are more people that drink water.

Why is this an issue? How is this infringing on anyone's rights?

Perhaps because tax payer money is being used to purchase something based purely on a religious need?

You could argue that it is not purely a religious need. Some of those people might just like to have clean feet.