Hat tip Campus Reform
"a symbolic gesture of religious tolerance,”
Not so symbolic if you are a Christian who is used to sitting in chairs or a pew when worshiping. The University of Chicago has removed the pews of its 88-year-old Bond Chapel to make it more convenient for Muslim students to use for prayers. (Muslims do not sit in chairs while praying unless they are old and/or infirm. They stand, kneel, and sit on the floor.)
http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4787
It appears that the chapel has been open to all faiths since its construction in addition to being used for special events.
http://divinity.uchicago.edu/students/bond.shtml
Not clear is how this would affect attendance or use of the chapel by Christians or Jews.
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12 comments:
I suppose that both Christians and Jews are no longer welcomed in that chapel.
How long will it be before it becomes a mosque?
What the hell is wrong with U of Chicago and academia in general? Gary, you live among them, what gives? Are they completely clueless of what is going on or are they ignorant about the history of this country?
Miggie,
Both.
Ideally, one would have benches that fold out from the wall, and are retractable.
But I don't recall any prohibition on Christians standing to pray, nor Jews either.
Siarlys,
Howz about they put a minaret on top of the chapel? Nobody should mind.
Gary,
I don't know if I told you before that I usually ask baristas, baggers in supermarkets, and average kids I come across, "Which came first, World War II or Korea?" Then I ask for the date of the American Civil war, give or take 100 years.
I have yet to find a young genius who can answer these two brain busters. To be fair, I have found some UCI students who can answer both questions, but a disappointing few.
The educational system has been in the hands of liberals for 50 or 60 years! They teach what they want to teach and indoctrinate according to their beliefs. The professors are the sons and daughters of the hippies of the Sixties.
As it is with most of the cities that have been in the grip of Democrats for the most part for the same last 50 or 60 years, they are in terminal decline.
Faced with the success of the Conservative Governors in reducing debt and reviving economies in their states, it would seem that most people would compare and contrast the difference in results.
It took NY some years to get over the damage by mayors Lindsay and Dinkens... I just hope that some day we can recover from the damage my this "progressive" administration (riddled with self-serving scandals). I can see the possibility of a turnaround in politics but academia doesn't seem to have a way out.
How about they turn the place into an arcade and tell everybody to go pray at home or their local church/synagogue/mosque/temple?
Jakes,
How about they use it as originally intended 88 years ago. As I understand it, it was built with funds from the family it is named after.
That's the problem when you have something like that on public property. You either play according to the Constitution or you don't.
I believe the U of Chicago is a private university. Am I wrong?
I assumed it was public - I concede your point then.
If its a private institution, why do you care what they choose to do on their private property?
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