ThysdrusRoman Coliseum of El-Jem

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Location: Tunis, Tunisia, Tunisia

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Respecting One's God

Reading Subzeroblue's post on respecting or not respecting one's belief in God, I came across this story where
Fitness USA, a gym chain, is investigating an alleged civil rights violation
involving a local Muslim woman who says her afternoon prayer was interrupted by
a fellow patron, and that her complaint to management about the situation was
rejected.
Fitness US management told the woman that she has to respect her (patron), but that the patron does not have to respect her God. The aforementioned woman, is an American citizen . She was born in Jordan, of Palestinian descent. She arrived in Detroit 17 years ago.
Imad Hamad, regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said that
"It's OK for a Christian fellow or a Jewish fellow to pray, and it would be
regarded highly and respected. When it comes to a person of Muslim faith,
especially if a woman is wearing the head cover or a man with a typical clergy
outfit, yeah, it is becoming like something that is offensive to people and
making them nervous."
Recently and in the same vain of events, six Muslim clerics were removed from a U.S. Airways flight, an incident that set off a nationwide uproar.
In view of these two incidents, the following questions do impose themselves: Do you think muslim americans citizens, especially from Arab descent, are victims of ethnic, religious or racial discrimination? Aren't they entitled to the same Constitutional rights? Is there limits to religious freedom? How much intolerance is in all that? and finally if I respect your God, aren't you supposed to respect mine??

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4 Comments:

Blogger Zizou From Djerba said...

I really don't know much about constitution but I personally think that this women should not be allowed to pray during working hours. She can do her prays when she is out of office and this is accepted in Islam.

3:51 PM  
Blogger Hannibal said...

Zizou: have you read the article?

10:23 PM  
Blogger zizou from Djerba said...

euuh ! No !
Sorry !

1:09 AM  
Blogger Monsieur Untel said...

Toute cette histoire est ridicule. Car l'Islam permet à ses adeptes de rassembler leurs prières pour les assurer en fin de journée si jamais leurs contraintes (professionnelles...) ne leur permettent pas de faire autrement.

Bien sûr que vu le contexte actuel, propice à tous les malentendus, tout le monde est à cran et bcp de musulmans se réfugient de plus en plus dans une conception conservatrice de leur religion pour réagir à l'incompréhension surtout quand elle vient de personnes qui ne connaissent pas forcément leur culture.

Cela dit, ils devraient à mon avis avoir une autre attitude et privilégier l'ouverture et la flexibilité qui sont encouragées par une lecture progressiste de leur religion. objectivement, cette lecture existe mais elle est étouffée par les conservateurs qui n'ont aucun intérêt à ce qu'elle prévale. pis encore, ces derniers iront jusqu'à instrumentaliser de telles situations pour légitimer leur existence.

2:30 AM  

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