Verbosities

Power Line: Doing that wudu that they do so well

The Detroit News reports from Dearborn on the University of Michigan's plan to spend $25,000 for the installation of footbaths on campus: "Muslims won't fund footbaths." The article reports that "Muslim leaders in metro Detroit have decided not to raise private money to pay for two footbaths" on campus. For them, it clearly seems less to be about religious observance than about the submission of public authorities to their observance. If you've followed our series on wudu you know, to paraphrase Creedence Clearwater Revival, that there's a bad dhimmitude rising.

The Detroit News also reports that the ACLU finds nothing constitutionally objectionable in public support for the footbaths. Just in case you were wondering, Detroit ACLU director Kary Moss explains:

"We view it as an attempt to deal with a problem, not an attempt to make it easier for Muslims to pray," said Moss, who likened the plan to paying for added police during religious events with huge turnouts.

"There's no intent to promote religion."

The unholy alliance between the radical left and radical Islam continues unabated.

Two things worth mentioning... First of all, the ACLU Director quoted above is correct. Here's why:


Muslims won't fund footbaths

The University of Michigan-Dearborn's plan to spend $25,000 on the footbaths was criticized on conservative blogs and radio shows this month. Critics said using public money for the project would violate the First Amendment, which says governments can't favor or subsidize religions.

Muslims are required to wash body parts, including feet, up to five times daily before prayers.

University officials say the floor-level wash basins are needed because some students at the 8,600-student campus wash their feet in the sinks.

[snip]

Kary Moss, director of the Detroit branch of the ACLU, said its review concluded the plan is a "reasonable accommodation" to resolve "safety and cleanliness issues" that arose when Muslims used public sinks for foot cleaning before prayers, which often spilled water on bathroom floors.

"We view it as an attempt to deal with a problem, not an attempt to make it easier for Muslims to pray," said Moss, who likened the plan to paying for added police during religious events with huge turnouts.

"There's no intent to promote religion."

It is illegal to prevent prayer in a public space if it doesn't threaten public safety. Since the prayer itself cannot be prevented, alleviating the safety issues raised when Muslim students wash their feet in sinks is actually more beneficial to non-Muslim students. The slip-and-fall potential is lessened, and the university's possibility of liability is reduced.

One other thing that this Power Line blogger fails to mention as well. The demographics* of Dearborn, MI are not the demographics of Sioux City, Iowa or even New York, NY. Dearborn's population is nearly a full third Arab-American, which puts Dearborn as the most densely populated Arabic community outside of the Middle East.

This isn't about one guy praying to the detriment of five thousand Christians. There is a huge Arab-American population in Dearborn, and as such, the accommodations to Muslims in this specific community are going to look totally out of whack with what seems reasonable in Des Moines or Missoula.

If you believe that our constitution protects your right to worship publicly in any reasonable way you choose, then there is no reason to deny Muslims in Dearborn, many of whom are third- and fourth-generation Americans, the right to worship publicly in the reasonable way they choose. This isn't about the ACLU picking Muslims over Christians, it's about a community that requires accommodation having the numbers to support the implementation of that accommodation. One guy in Topeka in need of a wudu? Just wash up in the sink. Hundreds and hundreds in Dearborn, MI? We can solve this problem without resorting to xenophobic anti-Islamic panic, right?

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