The New York Times and USA Today recently published articles regarding Muslim students at colleges and universities. Both articles are framed from the point of view that Muslim students are benefiting from “religious accommodation” or “special treatment.” The most prevalent issue seems to be the installation of foot-washing basins in university restrooms.
Having worked at an institution that consists of a large population of Muslim students (University of Illinois at Chicago) I can attest to the importance of foot-washing basins. Trying to wash your feet in a regular sink is an exercise in balance, dexterity and luck.
What is fascinating to me is that all of these discussions, articles, etc. fail to adequately address the issue of Christian privilege. Fortunately, I was able to find a terrific article regarding Christian privilege (pdf) that addresses the built-in invisibility of this issue in higher education in the US.
Here is a quote from “Understanding Christian Privilege – Managing the Tensions of Spiritual Plurality“:
“Christian privilege shortchanges the learning of Christians if they are not asked to critically examine the beliefs that are so thoroughly represented in formal and informal aspects of campus life.”
I think the article hit on the hypocrisy of this in the case of the Christmas music from the food cart while installing footwashing baths. We now have holiday trees rather than Christmas trees and “winter break” instead of “Christmas holidays.” The ACLU seems to annually sue over a Christmas tree or nativity scene on public property. But when we spend public funds to support Muslims, little is said. That is a double standard. Just more political correctness toward Muslims. I am not suggesting that we attempt to prevent their practice of their faith. It is a free country and they are free to practice. However, that does not mean that we have to take extraordinary measures to accomdate them when basic American traditions surrounding a holiday like Christmas provoke uproar and handwringing from the PC crowd.
Yes, the oppression of Christians in the US has been largely undocumented due to the fact that it is does not exist.
Did you even read the article on Christian privilege?
“basic American traditions”…don’t you mean “basic Christian American traditions”? Because I think that basic American traditions would include lots of religious traditions from multiple faiths.
Also, please read this post regarding political correctness.
Yes, Eric, I began reading the article and it quickly became apparent that is a blueprint for academia’s effort to dismantle and remove the evidence of Christianity from society. I have long known that this was going on in this country but this document gave me a concrete piece of evidence to demonstrate its existence.
As for there being Christian traditions in America, I don’t think that is big news to anyone. I seem to recall that the Pilgrims came to America in search of religious freedom. Many of the Founding Fathers practiced Christian faith (I understand that some were Deists rather than Christians but not all). That is hundreds of years of history that include Christian as a core of America’s past. And that is a core that I do not see the need to dismantle. What do you think would happen if I went to Saudia Arabia and start demanding all kind of accommodations for my Christian faith? I seem to recall Christian missionaries/workers being held captive in MIddle Eastern countries. America does not do this. America gives Muslims the right to practice their faith. However, that does not mean that we have to dismantle our history, our culture because we are afraid to step on the sensibilities of our Muslim residents and citizens.
Don’t worry your side is winning. All the time Christian aspects of our society are stripped away as I outlined in my previous response. I heard Neal Boortz talk about this very issue on his show today. He is right. It is time to discard the political correctness and stand up for our heritage and culture. This does not prevent others from practicing their faith but if they come to America, they should respect our history and our culture just as I suspect they would demand that theirs be respected were we to go to their countries.
Wow. What side am I on? and I didn’t realize that this was about “winning”.
and seriously, do you really believe that this is about “dismantling” and removing Christian from society?
I feel that there is a lot of fear (among members of dominant groups) that is associated with creating space for people who are in non-dominant groups. Creating that space is difficult as it means allowing for power to be allocated among all people and not just those in the dominant paradigm.
You tell me which side you are on. You are the one who posted what seems to be a blueprint of dismantling Christian aspects in academia. Seems to me you support the content of the document. And yes, I believe this is going on because we see anecdotal evidence all the time and this document is pretty blatant about it (at least the first half is given that I have not finished it).
As for creating space, I might not have a problem with it, if we did not have to have “holiday trees” and if playing a Christmas song on a college campus did not result in the ACLU tripping over itself in its headlong rush to get to the courthouse to file a lawsuit.
BTW, the link to the post regarding political correctness did not work.
LOL. I thought you had placed me on some sort of side since you had said “Don’t worry your side is winning.”
Translation: I have no problem creating space as long as I don’t have to create space.
I’m not sure how installing foot-washing basins in the interest of protecting students’ physical safety has any effect on Christianity. Are they ripping out the Christians-only drinking fountains to install them?
While I do recognize that the founders of the US were Christian/Deist, if we are going to invoke the principle of Legitimizing Current Inequities Based On The History Of This Nation, I think it’s important to point out the inherent hypocrisy in claiming to be a “melting pot” of various cultural groups when the reality is that the nonwhite/nonChristian cultures are forced to leave out of the pot any aspects of their cultures that aren’t nonwhite/nonChristian.
The article on Christian privilege is great! (All of it.) I wouldn’t have known to recognize most of the things non-Christian students recognize as contributing to their marginalization. Guess why? **dramatic pause for emphasis** I was raised Christian!
(Just in case anyone asks, I am on the “side” of creating educational institutions which validate the experiences of all their members – Christians, Muslims, athiests, lesbians, parents, and so on – and which do not perpetuate systematic privilege and oppression.)
Michelle – Great comment! I especially liked this part:
PS: Here’s the link to the article on Political Correctness since the first one did not work: http://www.kaichang.net/2006/11/the_sloppy_prop.html
This particular point is about the hypocrisy of installing these basins. Please correlate installing devices in government facilities, using taxpayer money, to facilitate the practice of a particular religion (they can argue that it can be used to fill mop buckets by janitors or what not, but they were installed for a primary reason). At the same time, the utterance of Christmas or a Christmas carol sometimes results in a lawsuit or a prohibition of such on these college campuses?
Why are the cultural aspects of all groups worth protecting except those of Americans, especially Christian Americans? The very document you praise is all about removing a very important aspect of our culture? Why do these have to be removed but yet everyone other culture should not be expected to assimilate into the culture of the country to which they have come (for those who have moved to America)?
I have no problem with people wanting to maintain their own culture. However, do not come to my house, even if I have allowed you to move as a resident, and start trying to tell me that I cannot have many cultural that are important to me because they might not agree with your viewpoint or sensibilities.
Eric, the link is still coming up with “Problem loading page.”