NJ's OTHER Religious Discrimination Problem

by: Thurman Hart

Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 01:35:34 PM EDT

If you've paid attention, you know that there's a internecine war brewing over in Kearny. If you haven't been paying attention, check out some excellent writing by my non-relative Steve Hart (there are others, too, but a Hart has to support a Hart or the blogosphere will implode).

Now we have some news that Newark is miffed that it can't be known as the center of small-minded bigotry. My friend Chuck Currie, over at Street Prophets, tells us of the West Side High saga.

The Star-Ledger has the breakdown:

Thurman Hart :: NJ's OTHER Religious Discrimination Problem

A high school graduation ceremony held last year in a Newark church has sparked a lawsuit over religious freedom.
A senior who was graduating from West Side High School in Newark says he could not attend the ceremony because his Muslim faith prohibited him from entering a building with religious icons, such a pictures of God or the cross, according to a lawsuit filed against the Newark Public Schools by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Uh - why is the high school holding graduation ceremonies in any house of worship? Is there no city venue that can hold a class full of proud graduates and their even-prouder parents? Why give Catholics an option, but not other faithful people?

Though past graduations had been held at secular locations, the size of West Side's graduating class made it difficult for officials to find a site large enough to hold the school's 250 students, staff members as well as family and friends,

Hogwash. Why can't the City of Newark fully support its high school graduates (Lord knows enough kids don't make it) and honor them with a full-fledged graduation? There isn't a basketball court or football field? There isn't a standing arrangement? After all, it took twelve full years of school for these kids to get this far!

This year the district was able to reserve Newark Symphony Hall for the ceremony

So I guess we only honor people's faith during odd numbered years or something?

The real problem is that by forcing Muslim students to make a court case out of this, Newark officials are singling them out to become targets of hatred. I won't link to these sources, but you can find them in a search engine if you like:

A commenter at Dhimmi Watch:

This is Islamic BS at it's highest. Using a church for non-religious functions bothers only the Islamists. I gather that Catholics and Jews had no problem.
Being "compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his faith and judgment" was written to outlaw compulsary religious services. This little 18 year old brat is a jihadist in the making.

Eye on the World:

THIS LITTLE MUSLIM PRICK IS SUING OVER A GRADUATION CEREMONY IN CHURCH BECAUSE IT WAS AGAINST HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS???

The Gathering Storm:

This is just another attempt that has been growing quickly over the last several years of a cultural jihad using litigation jihad to assert Muslim values on a community.

Blogs for Bush:

what we've got here is a Moslem simply refusing to enter a Christian building, and that would be a disturbing commentary on how Moslems view Christians in America

Narcissistic Views on News:

No one is forced to go to their graduation to graduate nor is it a right. It is a choice, I think the term of "reasonable accommodation" needs to be fought over how far any society should bend to the will in this case of one malcontent.

Enough! Ya Basta! Get it through your pea-brain that the purpose of separation of church and state is to prevent exactly this kind of idiocy. The answer is neither to banish faith from the public arena nor to trod lightly on the rights of the minority to observe their faith. The answer is to respectfully allow both church and state to have their independent functions. I mean, we wouldn't even consider asking West Side High to honor a group who just made their First Communion - why the hell are we going to a church for a school function?