The Maldives: the world's least religiously free places

Muslim and Maldivian

Excerpts:

... the constitution also states that "a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives," and "No law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted in the Maldives." That strips 3,000 non-Muslims of their citizenship. They will be allowed to remain in the country and to work, but all rights afforded citizens -- speech, movement, even habeas corpus -- can be curtailed. Freedoms enjoyed by Shiite Muslims may also be at risk, given that the government enforces a strict version of Sunni Islam.

...

The Maldives may be not be a big country, but the example it sets for other Muslim-majority nations matters. Richard Boucher, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, said recently that the Maldives has "a tradition of being a moderate country" that's "open to the world." Restricting religious freedom doesn't square with that.

Comment: Religious freedom and Islam are not compatible philosophies!

Professor Wichman's email

Professor Indrek Wichman email to Muslim students

Excerpt:

The story begins at Michigan State University with a mechanical engineering professor named Indrek Wichman. Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student's Association. The e-mail was in response to the students' protest of the Danish cartoons that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. The group had complained the cartoons were "hate speech." Enter Professor Wichman.

In his e-mail, he said the following:

Dear Moslem Association:

As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intend to protest your protest. I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey ), burnings of Christian churches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt , the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavian girls and women (called "whores" in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland, and the rioting and looting in Paris, France. This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many of my colleagues. I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Muslims to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile "protests." If you do not like the values of the West - see the 1st Amendment - you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans.

Cordially, I. S. Wichman

Professor of Mechanical Engineering


Comment: Sent to me by Pastor Dennis G. Link above is to Snopes.com.

Kerfuffle over the 'Mosque' at Normandale

Comments: This interests me on several levels: My Son attends Normandale, it is a local story, it deals with religious tolerance and religious liberty, I sensed perhaps a Christian overreaction, and the ACLU is involved. This post documents what I see of the kerfuffle (I like this word!).


Katherine Kersten: Normandale's 'meditation room' is home to a single faith

Excerpt:

Last week, I visited a Muslim place of worship. A schedule for Islam's five daily prayers was posted at the entrance, near a sign requesting that shoes be removed. Inside, a barrier divided men's and women's prayer space, an arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca, and literature urged women to cover their faces.

Sound like a mosque?

The place I'm describing is the "meditation room" at Normandale Community College, a 9,200-student public institution in Bloomington.

Until recently, the room was the school's only usable racquetball court. College administrators converted the court into a meditation room when construction forced closure of the previous meditation room.



Worldnetdaily: BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS - 'Mosque' uncovered on college campus


Terry Hagedorn thread: 'Mosque' Uncovered on College Campus

Minnsota Sun Sailor: Normandale intended meditation space for all faiths, college president says


Minnesota ACLU: ACLU-MN inquires into Normandale Community College Meditation Room

Quote:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota announced today that it is investigating Normandale Community College's meditation room after receiving complaints of improper use. The ACLU-MN is concerned that way the prayer room is currently structured may violate the establishment clause, which states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

The ACLU-MN sent a letter yesterday to Normandale Community College asking for more information about how exactly the prayer room is used, and explaining what the current laws say about reasonable accommodation. ACLU-MN does not oppose allowing students a space to pray but the school must allow students of all denominations equal access to space. In the letter to Normandale Community College we urge that if the allegations are indeed true that Normandale must take immediate action to remedy the problem.

"The wisdom of our founding fathers on the entanglement of religion and government is as important today as it was 200 years ago," said Charles Samuelson, executive director of the ACLU Minnesota.

Comment: A kefuffle indeed! ... life goes on! Best not to overreact! (The ACLU has sometimes been criticized by Christians: eg. when school prayer was ruled unconstitutional by the Supremed Court (The ACLU represented Engle in Engle v Vitale (1962))