Monday, May 11, 2015

Catholic University Investigated for Offending Muslims By Having Too Many Crosses



Catholic University Investigated for Offending Muslims By Having Too Many Crosses

by John Hayward 11 May 2015
“Complaint says crosses at Catholic school offensive, prevent Muslim prayers,” reads the headline at BeliefNet.

It’s one of those headlines that sounds like a bad joke, but it isn’t. It’s not exactly a serious complaint, either, and it isn’t coming from actual Muslim students in any event. “Baffled Catholic University officials say they have never received a complaint from any of the schools Muslim students,” writes BeliefNet.

In fact, the university expressed its bafflement in a full-length statement: “Catholic University’s faithfulness to our Catholic tradition has also made us a welcome home to students of other religions. No students have registered complaints about the exercise of their religions on our campus. We understand that a professor unaffiliated with Catholic University has made public allegations claiming that we are discriminating against our students on religious grounds, but we have not seen any legal filing – and will respond to them if we do.”

The sixty-page complaint was filed with the Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights by a one-man nuisance-lawsuit factory, George Washington University Law School Professor John Banzhaf. Muslim students are but pawns in Banzhaf’s game against Catholics. Taken to its logical conclusion, his lawfare would wipe out mosques and Islamic learning centers as well. The rules of engagement in the Establishment’s War on Religion have a funny way of changing to accommodate Islam, however, so perhaps those hypothetical logical conclusions will never be reached.

Banzhaf’s complaint alleges that the large amount of Catholic imagery draping the halls of Catholic University creates an “offensive” environment in which Muslims are intimidated out of proper reverence for their own religion.

He further alleges the university “does not provide space – as other universities do – for the many daily prayers Muslim students must make, forcing them instead to find temporarily empty classrooms where they are often surrounded by Catholic symbols which are incongruous to their religion.”

Not only that, but Muslim students forced to make do with Catholic University’s chapels find their souls crushed by the oppressive spectacle of “the cathedral that looms over the entire campus – the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.” Banzhaf insists the Muslim students must be provided with facilities where they can conduct their five-times-daily prayers without having to look at anything Catholic, especially that immaculate-conception Death Star of Catholic piety.

Todd Starnes of Fox News has Banzhaf admitting “it may not be illegal” for Catholic University to forego special Catholicism-free rooms for Muslim students, “but it suggests they are acting improperly, and probably with malice.”

He explained that since Muslims must pray five times a day, it’s a tremendous burden for them 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.”

It’s hard to keep a straight face while reading all that, but rest assured the rusty gears and chains of the bureaucracy began clanking as soon as Banzhaf’s thick complaint was dumped into the hopper of the anti-discrimination machine. “A spokesperson for the human rights office said they are investigating Banzhaf’s complaint — and the inquiry could take as long as six months,” writes BeliefNet.

“I don’t know what the attorney wants them to do – if he wants them to actually move the Basilica or if the Muslim students can find someplace where they don’t have to look at it,” an incredulous Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society told Fox News. “One wouldn’t expect a Jewish institution to be responsible for providing liturgical opportunities for other faiths and I wouldn’t expect a Catholic institution to do that.”

“This attorney is really turning civil rights on its head,” Reilly continued. “He’s using the law for his own discrimination against the Catholic institution and essentially saying Catholic University cannot operate according to Catholic principles.”

The perverse incentive created by this complaint, if it’s successful – or even investigated with enough vigor to impose a significant burden upon Catholic University – is that showing any tolerance or generosity toward other faiths is dangerous for a religious institution. Banzhaf hits Catholic University for refusing to allow a Muslim student group when it permits a Jewish student association, for example.

His assertions about the special needs of Muslim students – assertions that don’t presently seem to be supported by any actual Muslim students – would make them dramatically more difficult to accommodate than, say, Jewish students who are serenely undisturbed by crosses and portraits of Popes… but allowing the easily hosted Jewish students into the university means the ostensibly more difficult Muslims must be allowed as well, or the cry of “discrimination” will ring through the halls.

If this six-month “human rights investigation” picks up steam, the easy way out for Catholic University will be to the create zero-pope crucifix-free “safe rooms” Banzhaf demands. If the university submits, it won’t be the last demand it would be forced to meet. Not by a long shot.

This is all part of the effort to create a legal and super-legal regulatory environment in which maintaining faith-based institutions is nearly impossible… or, at least, so difficult that these institutions will be forever subdued beneath the heel of the almighty State. Just wait until churches lose their tax-exempt status for refusing to comply with Big Government decrees about same-sex marriage, and you’ll see how that works. It won’t just be religious institutions that suffer, either. The demands of sacred “non-discrimination” are growing so heavy that nearly every society and business venture requires the indulgence of government mandarins to get off the ground. We all live in the shadow of regulatory guillotines that could drop at any moment.

As Patrick Reilly noted, it’s difficult to imagine non-Christian institutions coming under attack for taking their religion too seriously. Are Muslims confident that will always be the case? The tactical alliance between the Left and Islamist extremism might end with either of them turning on the other. If the complaint against Catholic University succeeds, one day we might see non-Muslims waging lawfare against Islamic foundations by complaining they’re too Islamic, with those imposing minarets towering overhead, and calls to prayer echoing through the halls five times a day.

Catholic University
Francis E. George was a trustee at the Catholic University of America, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a cardinal for the Roman Catholic Church.

Note: papal knighthood is an honor conferred by pope for the Roman Catholic Church.
John J. Studzinski is a papal knighthood knight, a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a director at the Human Rights Watch.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the Human Rights Watch, the Catholic Relief Services, and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights Watch, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Gara LaMarche was the VP & director of U.S. programs for the Open Society Foundations, an associate director for the Human Rights Watch, and a director at the White House Project.
Daisy Khan was a director at the White House Project, is a developer for Park51, and an executive director for the American Society for Muslim Advancement.
Park51
Park51 (originally named Cordoba House) was a planned 13-story Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan. The majority of the center was set aside for the general public to promote interfaith dialogue. Plans for the center included a Muslim prayer space which, due to its location two blocks from the World Trade Center site,[6][7] has controversially been referred to as the "Ground Zero mosque", though numerous commentators disputed that characterization.[8][9] As of August 2014, the owner proposes to build a three-story museum instead of the original 13-story center.
American Society for Muslim Advancement is a sister organization for the Cordoba Initiative, and a sponsor for the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow.
Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation was a funder for the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Alwaleed bin Talal is the founder of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, and the benefactor for the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
Madeleine K. Albright is a professor at Georgetown University, and an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Anthony Lake is a professor at Georgetown University, and was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Chuck Hagel was a professor at Georgetown University, the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and is the Defense secretary for the Barack Obama administration.
James L. Jones Jr. was a men's basketball team forward at Georgetown University, a national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
John J. Studzinski is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a director at the Human Rights Watch, and a papal knighthood knight.
papal knighthood is an honor conferred by pope for the Roman Catholic Church.
Francis E. George was a cardinal for the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a trustee at the Catholic University of America.
Anthony A. Williams is a trustee at the Catholic University of America, and was a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Kenneth Canterbury is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and the president of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Martin O'Malley was a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Baltimore (MD) mayor, and is the Maryland state government governor.
Ex-Mayor Martin O'Malley Heckled During Baltimore Riot Tour (Past Research on the Homeland Security Advisory Council)
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
William J. Bratton is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the commissioner for the New York City Police Department, was the police commissioner for Boston (MA), a superintendent for the Boston Metropolitan Police, and the chief for the Los Angeles (CA) Police Department.
Elliott B. Broidy was a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and a commissioner for the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System.
Lee H. Hamilton is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Nemir A. Kirdar is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was a director at Georgetown University.
Alwaleed bin Talal is the benefactor for the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, the founder of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, the Saudi Arabia prince, and Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud’s nephew.
Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation was a funder for the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Friends of Saudi Arabia was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Abdulaziz bin Abdullah is a co-founder for the Friends of Saudi Arabia, the deputy minister of foreign affairs for Saudi Arabia, and Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud’s son.
Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud was Abdulaziz bin Abdullah’s father, Alwaleed bin Talal’s uncle, and the king of Saudi Arabia.
Alwaleed bin Talal is Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud’s nephew, the benefactor for the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, the founder of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, and the Saudi Arabia prince.
Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation was a funder for the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.



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