Collegiate Times

It seems that the author picked the wrong religion to call privileged in this country. I am not even sure if the author lives in today's world. Try to pretend to be a Muslim for one day and see how privileged you are? Do you call allowing Muslims students to practice their religion in public schools a privilege? I have not heard that before. I thought it was supposed to be their constitutional right. First of all, there is a minute number of public schools have a "specified" area/room that Muslims can use for their daily prayers. You know how long a Muslim needs to use that area for? 5-10mn twice during daylight. No furniture is needed but simple carpet. Any kind of room will do. It could be a gym, a classroom, a meeting room, a basement or any existing facility and it does not have to be dedicated to Muslims the whole time or to Muslims only. The foot-washing sinks case is a health safety issue. Some Muslims choose to wash their feet along with their arms and face 5 times a day before they pray. Existing public sinks are not made for that. The same way we accommodate people with disability in our public restrooms, we need to protect our American citizens from falling while trying to wash their feet in these sinks. I guess you will tell all Muslim students not to wash their feet and therefore not pray as a solution. I hope that's not how the author thinks. Finally, while I don't promote any kind of hate speech towards any race or religion, I do ask the author to also see the proportion of hate crimes committed against American Muslims that the state, people, and the media put the blind eye on with respect to the incident the author mentioned about the Lebanese boy and Jewish girl. YES... "No religion should be awarded privileges and immunity in public schools". But Islam is not that privileged religion.

Amine, by the standards liberals and the ACLU apply to Christians practicing their religion in public schools, yes, Muslims are privileged. Christians are punished for having Bible studies or prayers during their lunch hour. References to Christian beliefs in assignments are sanctioned. School children who draw pictures with crosses or other Christian symbols see their artwork tossed out instead of displayed with the work of their classmates. And spare me the public health argument. It's public money spent on support of a specific religion, which is condemned if done for Christians. Personally, I see the entire premise of separation of church and state as flawed. The First Amendment clearly outlines freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. There are countless references to religion in the foundation of this country. Publicly funded schools should be working to accommodate the religious beliefs of all students, not stifling them. So you're right, it IS your right to practice your religion, even in school, but it is a right we have allowed the government to infringe. Good for Muslims that the liberals are allowing you to practice. Too bad they can't see the hypocrisy in accommodating Muslim practices while banning Christian ones.

And by the way Allison, it's not overcompensation liberals are engaged in, it's self-flagellation. The "privileged class" in America is obviously responsible for all the world's ills, and we must right these wrongs for the poor, oppressed souls who can't stand up for themselves. Ban NCAA teams from using Indian mascots, regardless of whether anyone is offended. Those poor, helpless First Americans are too oppressed to understand that they're being made fun of. -- Do liberals REALLY think American Indians are that stupid and helpless? Now THAT'S a racist stereotype, if you ask me. But I forget, liberals cannot be racist by definition.

Mike, your example about the indians is so telling. I'm not sure if you've read Dinesh D'Souza's book "Letters to a Young Conservative," but he discusses just that. Dartmouth's mascott had been an Indian until it was deemed offensive. Dinesh sent letters to a hundred Indian tribes asking if it was offensive. They all said no, and when they school didn't listen, Dinesh's group hired a plane to fly over the football stadium with the slogan, "Go Dartmouth Indians!" Some administrators can be so stubborn, even when faced with the facts.

Alli Aldrich, you are so ridiculous.

Great column Allison. Keep up the great work! There is definitely a bias against Christians. Can we say, double standard.

Alli, I'm not sure if you've read Martin Gilbert's The Second World War: A Complete History. In it, you'll find that he discusses just this sort of issue. Apparently, Poland had outlawed National Socialism, deeming it oppressive. Well, Hitler sent envoy's to Poland asking them if they wanted to submit to Nazi rule, and when they didn't listen to his reasoning (which was no doubt articulate and open-minded, as yours is), his group sent legions of bombers and tanks to lay waste to the Polish countryside. Some countries can be so stubborn, even when faced with certain destruction.

Great column! Well written, way to finally discuss and bring to light the bias Christian's face everyday.

My dad teaches at a public school system and the school calendars have Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanza, etc all prominently marked on the official school system calendars. December 25th, however, is marked by "Winter Break." Christmas isn't mentioned. Neither is Easter, which always falls during "Spring Break," which is curious because the so-called Spring Break always seems, I'm sure completely independently and absolutely by pure coincidence, to shift with Easter. The only time I go near a church is if I happen to drive near one, but going so far out of the way to pretend Christianity doesn't exist or didn't play a part in the nation's founding is a little absurd. Strike that. A lot absurd.

Yet you failed to mention all the ways Muslims are oppressed everyday in America. Tisk, tisk, tisk, just another one sided article from an evangelical conservationist.

Just how are Muslims oppressed? Inconvenienced, sure. Discriminated against, sure. Oppression has a very distinct definition, and it certainly does not apply to Muslims in America. We all face mistreatment and unfairness at times. It's not fair that male school teachers are required to leave their doors open at all times (they might be child molesters) while women teachers have no such restriction. It's not fair that women are subjected to unrealistic standards of beauty. It's not fair that the color of your skin influences how people react to you. But you know what? That's life. We all face it. How you respond makes all the difference.

I do not see where half of the authors are coming from. They act as if only the Muslim Americans are oppressed, not only in their daily life but with their religion. Amine states that she only needs a room for prayer nothing else, well with my faith I don't even need that, but I can promise that the moment that I kneel before my desk, I would be asked to get up and if I refused would be sent to the principles office. Also, I would like to know since when a church has not been allowed to put up a nativity scene in front of a park because it infringed on someones religion, yes it happened in Florida. All of this freedom of religion yet, many are not allowed to practice or even celebrate their religion.