A religious liberty group claims that a school district in the Seattle area has urged teachers to bless Muslim students in Arabic during the month of Ramadan and give them preferential treatment.
The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) alleges that the Dieringer School District is following a script written by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Teachers are reportedly urged to make accommodations for Muslims fasting during Ramadan and to defer tests scheduled for upcoming Islamic holidays.
A CAIR official states: “Pluralism in America means recognizing the wide variety of holidays celebrated by students of different faiths and backgrounds, including by saying ‘Merry Christmas,’ ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ ‘Happy Diwali,’ or ‘Ramadan Mubarak.’”
The FCDF’s executive director disagrees: “A school district would never order teachers to ‘welcome’ Catholic students during Easter with ‘He is risen, alleluia!’ Singling out Muslim students for special treatment is blatantly unconstitutional.”
Are we “taking religious freedom too far”?
We can expect the debate over religious freedom in America to escalate in the coming years.
An op-ed in the New York Times claims that “we are taking religious freedom too far.” The writer alleges that “conservative Christians are forever trying to inject their personal religious beliefs into the public sphere.” As an example, she points to a baker in Tennessee who declined to bake a wedding cake for two brides.
In her view, “It’s illegal for a store owner to discriminate against customers because they happen to belong to a group against which the shopkeeper harbors a personal prejudice.” She then moves to the example usually cited in such arguments: “It’s illegal for a racist to open a restaurant that serves only white people.”
In her opinion, “Prejudice cloaked in the robes of religious faith should follow the same precedent.”…
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