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Doesn't Bilal Shareef know that Muslims revere Christ as a prophet and Christians as "People of the Book"? Why doesn't this translate into his being able to set foot in a church for a non-religious event? The answer, of course, is because Islam regards Jesus as a Muslim prophet, whose words were twisted by his followers to create Christianity. A church has no legitimacy for Muslims: it is a gathering place of spiritual renegades. This article illustrates that this traditional view is unfortunately alive and well among some Muslims today.
By Tina Kelley for the New York Times, with thanks to all who sent this in:
NEWARK, March 7 — A Muslim student sued the Newark public schools on Wednesday, claiming that he was unable to attend his high school graduation last June because it was held in a church. The student, Bilal Shareef, 18, said it was against his beliefs to set foot in any building with symbols involving God.“The position I was put in was very, very uncomfortable,” said Mr. Shareef, who graduated from West Side High with a 4.0 grade-point average and is a student at Union County College in Cranford. He is seeking damages and an order to bar the use of churches for future graduations.
Ed Barocas, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the student’s lawyer, said that under the state’s Constitution, no person can be “compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his faith and judgment.”
“I think the New Jersey courts will recognize that the right to go to one’s graduation is essentially part of a student’s right to a public education,” he said. “The culmination of one’s school career is at graduation, and it is one of the most significant moments in a child’s life.”...
Mr. Barocas said that he complained about the church setting on behalf of another Muslim student in 2005, and that Mr. Lattiboudere said then that he would advise administrators against holding future events in churches and would “work with the church to remove or conceal religious symbols for the duration of the ceremony.” The suit says that the symbols were not covered. Mr. Lattiboudere said he believed some were.
Not all Muslim groups adhere to the prohibition against entering buildings with religious iconography. Louay Safi, the executive director of the Islamic Society of North America, which has 400 affiliated mosques, said “this is the first time I have heard of a student not wanting to just visit a church on that grounds.”
The imam of the Islamic Cultural Center in Newark, where Mr. Shareef worships, could not be reached for comment about its stance. Mr. Shareef said, “I can’t speak for all Muslims; I know some that don’t mind and some that do.”...
Ahmad Shareef, Bilal’s father, said he “would have been proud to see Bilal walk up to receive his diploma,” but was “even more proud that he stood up for our beliefs.”
Posted by Robert at March 9, 2007 5:15 PM
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What a piece of Muslims tripe, just down the street from me is one of the oldest Mosque in my City and it's a Church that was bought as religious property to be un-taxed land.
BTW, many Muslims in Canada that have faced deportation from a failed refugee claim or criminal record have no quams flocking to the evil Christian temples to hide in the basement and taunt the RCMP to enter and take them away to be deported.
These are the same yahoos demanding a prayer room in Public schools and private workplaces
to gloat over the psychological terrorism forcing businesses to bow down to Islam and Allah in foer of death threats or bombings.
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at March 9, 2007 5:38 PM
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.
I was raised a Methodist, a church is just a building. In my not so humble opinion, this also applies to a Mosque!
at March 9, 2007 5:43 PM
Mr. Shareef, who graduated from West Side High with a 4.0 grade-point average
It's always amazing to me how the smartest people can turn into complete raving idiots when it comes to religion. You can bet that if a Christian student refused to attend a graduation ceremony in a mosque he'd be labeled an "Islamophobe".
Oh, but of course the father is "even more proud that he stood up for our beliefs"--with "beliefs" clearly meaning "intolerance of non-Muslim faiths".
at March 9, 2007 5:56 PM
Utter bull***t , the remedy being as always IF THIS COUNTRY DOES NOT SUIT YOU , YOU ARE FREE TO LEAVE!
He is seeking damages and an order to bar the use of churches for future graduations.
Who the hell do these retards think they are ?
Yes , retards despite this>>>>>Mr. Shareef, who graduated from West Side High with a 4.0 grade-point average
at March 9, 2007 7:36 PM
Honestly, I don't have a problem with this story. Imagine if you were the last Polak in Dearborn Michigan and the public school decided to have their graduation in a mosque?
Posted by: Jimmy the Dhimmi at March 9, 2007 7:48 PM
He should sue for being in a Christian country, and get the whole country to burn Bibles, take crosses down, stop alcohol in shops and cover all women up why stop there.
The only problem is his religion. Christians invite all peoples in as taught in the Bible no matter who they are or believe, shame his Koran is the opposite and gives a Vampire personality to the cross, even by saying the cross should taken down that's where their ideas come from not his own thinking.
Imagine graduating in a Mosque does that mean you have to get bare footed? What a stink 1000 pupils would make with their shoes off. The more Muslims you have the more problems you have, not even Hindus make this much fuss if there is such a cultural gap maybe more so with less stress goes to show.
at March 9, 2007 8:36 PM
How disgusting is this. Such things should not even come into the consciousness.
If they don’t like our cultures and traditions, they are free to have their own in their own despotic countries. After our ancestors and beliefs have painstakingly and triumphantly built up our cultures and traditions up, why should we give them over to the non-citizens to decide? They didn’t build our countries! No, they built their own, and we know how they are like.
Why are they in our country if they are so absolutely against Christ? A great politician once said:
"Why do naive cultural relativists decide that they don't dare say that the islamitic culture is worse than our own, that the western culture based upon Christian Jewish and humanistic values is still the political agenda."
If Christians offend you, the West is the wrong place for you! If you are against the goodness taught by Christianity, the West is the wrong place for you!
at March 9, 2007 9:25 PM
Damages? On what grounds? This young man chose to boycott his graduation. He was not barred. He chose not to attend. Any damages are clearly a result of his own choice to boycott graduation. There is no case for damages, and his attorney must know that.
But a lawsuit seeking damages is a way to pressure the cash-strapped school system into further distancing itself from our culture's religious foundations. A lawsuit is a way to pressure this high school into moving graduation, today, and cancelling Christmas holidays, tomorrow. A lawsuit is a way for this young man to fulfill his religious commitment to jihad without resorting to violence. Let us hope that he is defeated in his struggle and that future employers remember his name and his actions.
Posted by: teachingmyown at March 9, 2007 9:30 PM
Now they will use our ridiculous multicultural laws against us. We truly are our own worst enemies.
It is time to choose sides. Do we have a backbone left to fight this garbage or will we appease?
Maybe now people will stop harping about the crusades being caused by the evil Christians!
Posted by: genevieve at March 9, 2007 10:05 PM
If he is offended at Christianity and our western cultures, send him back to Afghanistan or Iran...
Posted by: The Resistance at March 9, 2007 10:34 PM
I dont want to go go your event, so I'll sue you.
I disapprove of the building you're holding the event in, I refuse to go, but its your fault.
I bang my head on the wall, and the wall is to blame.
The mohammedan victim mentality is so deeply ingrained that this moral midget is undoubtedly certain that he's right.
The worst thing is that there is such a smooth tight fit between mohammedan victim-ideals and the modern multi-culti victim culture and its legal machinery.
========
And this is something that doesn't get written about anywhere near enough.
The flip side of the mohammedan death cult -- kill the infidels and all that -- is the mohammedan cult of victimhood.
It's not a subtle point or clever insight I'm asserting here. You only have to pay light passing attention to the news to see the pattern.
And dare I say it, have you ever thought about what they call praying? Putting your head on the floor and sticking your rear end in the air!
Um ... how can I put this ... has nobody else ever questioned the significance of this posture?
The flip side of all that extroverted blood-thirstiness is an inwardly directed compulsion to humiliate, torment, deny, mutilate, and even kill oneself and the people one supposedly loves.
How could any human live in an atmosphere like that and not walk around with a sense of having been victimized ?!?!?!?!?!
==============
And their ideology is set up in such a way as to make it virtually impossible for them to notice what is going on.
==============
And the multi-cultis just gobble it all up. They love the stuff.
They have no clue as to what is going on, but these are people they can relate to. These people are Victims.
Hard to say who's sicker.
Posted by: joeblough at March 10, 2007 12:58 AM
Funny that they can't step foot in churches, but filthy infidels (potential converts) are welcome to visit their temples of hate any old time for taqiyya and propaganda. I thought we all worshipped the same god, so what's the problem with entering a church?
I'm so damned sick and tired of muslims suing American taxpayers because their feelings are hurt, or they were victimized, or they were subjected to bias and discrimination. People who consistently sue their own country are not fit to be citizens. And why is it only muslims that do this? There are literally dozens of disparate ethnic/religious groups in America that manage to accept our way of doing things. Only muslims have incessant grievances. Why is this glaring farce ignored by practically everyone, especially the MSM and our obtuse politicians?!
I wish Nancy Pelosi would name one positive contribution muslims have made to our society because I'll just be damned if I can think of a single one. Muslims do not belong in Western countries and I am utterly convinced that they will eventually be expelled en masse. What a glorious day that will be.
Posted by: Susanp at March 10, 2007 1:00 AM
Hmm..graduating from the Newark public school system with a 4.0 average may mean little indeed. I doubt if the schools in crime-and-drug-ravaged Newark offer much, education-wise, sad to say. Grade inflation, if not hyperinflation, is likely. Just demonstrate that you can write a complete sentence (subordinate clauses are optional, for extra credit) and you are at the top of your class.
Posted by: commonsense at March 10, 2007 1:02 AM
On a lighter note, vampires are also supposed to have a hard time with churches.
==========
And apropos of nothing, was Danny Kaye Christian or mohammedan?
Anybody know?
Posted by: joeblough at March 10, 2007 3:12 AM
I have no problem with this one. It should not have been held in a church, period. As to Danny Kay is was Jewish.
Posted by: eneri at March 10, 2007 8:36 AM
Sorry I am so late adding my comments.
ala-sux said: "These are the same yahoos demanding a prayer room in Public schools and private workplaces to gloat over the psychological terrorism forcing businesses to bow down to Islam and Allah in fore of death threats or bombings."
Right on! Only on a deeper level, this is spiritual warfare and it is more evidence that Islam is one of Satan's greatest masterpieces. Satan's goal is to remove all free proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere because the truth of the gospel is the only thing that can set the captives free. Muslims are slaves to Satan and he is using Islam to keep them that way, while he seeks to seal the fate of the rest of the world as well!
at March 10, 2007 8:45 AM
genevieve said:
"Now they will use our ridiculous multicultural laws against us. We truly are our own worst enemies. It is time to choose sides. Do we have a backbone left to fight this garbage or will we appease? Maybe now people will stop harping about the crusades being caused by the evil Christians!"
The problem is that the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see. The atheists, who are also against Islam, see Christianity as a larger threat because Christians are in the majority. Many in the unbelieving world think that Muslims today are like Christians used to be, and they think that the Kingdom of God that Christians seek is equal to if not worse than the threat of Islam. The Western Scientific World View and political correctness are creating more and more sympathizers with Islam because they all share the same goal of bringing down the Judeo-Christian World View.
at March 10, 2007 9:30 AM
Two to one his family was handing out sweets on Sept 11. Let them all go home or force them to return at their expense. I am just so tired of the these nutballs..
Posted by: lonewolf at March 10, 2007 11:33 AM
"I was raised a Methodist, a church is just a building. In my not so humble opinion, this also applies to a Mosque!"
...Muslims do not share such an opinion....The Muslims have practiced ethnic cleansing of all other religions for so long now, it has become one of their primary directives...Everything Non Muslim, even churches of other religions,no matter what it is or how it is being used, is a direct affront to Islam and is so vile, a Muslim cannot be associated in any way with it...Is like you would be asking them to sip a vial of cyanide...
...I say..if attending your graduation ceremonie held in a church upsets you so much....by all means go to your graduation, you earned it,,but stand outside the church and let everyone know you are smart enough to graduate , but your 7th century retarded mind forbids you from sharing such an accomplishment with other human beings...
ban muslim immigration..
Posted by: exsgtbrown at March 10, 2007 11:47 AM
The West has done so well in keeping its own people from wanting to migrate to Islamic countries because Westerners know that they have all they need where they are in democracy.
Yet Muslims just flock across all Western cultures to live because we have settled and have lived better lives. Westerners today won't flock in their millions to Islamic countries unless it's a holiday to but never to live unless they are criminals to escape the law. I don't get it they come here to live a better life? And yet Islamic countries under Islam can not provide them happyness and fulfillment due to their lack of creative expression that could benefit them for jobs and country development. So they have to leave unless they have been told to migrate for the sake of some hidden secret invation which I doubt, but then again world domination is eventually their true agenda anyway once the percentage of Muslims grow into a host country.
Posted by: jesusisthelamb at March 10, 2007 3:53 PM
"Ahmad Shareef, Bilals father, said he would have been proud to see Bilal walk up to receive his diploma, but was even more proud that he stood up for our beliefs."
Gee how "tolerant" how "peaceful"...
not.
Posted by: Report at March 10, 2007 4:54 PM
what? being in the presence of a church will shrivel him up like count dracula? what? are muslims vampires? this farce is getting more ridiculous by the week.
next we'll be told that non-muslims are banned from mecca.
Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at March 10, 2007 11:45 PM
Will the Moslem graduate use his diploma to gain entry on to the Advanced Motoring Course at an AAA-affiliated college, so that he may follow in the footsteps of his fellows and become a Cab driver at a metropolitan airport?
There he could refuse to carry Infidels, Guide Dogs, Women, Alcohol and even Passengers, and thus practice his religion of peace and neighborliness in all its Quranic fullness.
We could then appreciate the service provided by yet another saintly Islamist.
And adopt the non PC policy of MUSLIM REPATRIATION.
at March 11, 2007 8:13 PM
jobs for college educated Muslims:
1) reluctant cab driver
2) airport nuisance
3) ignorant guest speaker
4) internet cafe inspector equipped with bomb device
5) CAIR consultant
6) rabble rouser
7) sudden Jihad motorist
8) religious police officer
9) land mine locator
10) bullet attractor
11) isolated faith healer
12) judge, jury, and executioner of Non Muslims
13) lifeguard at a burka beach
14) Islamic messenger to Lahore, Pakistan
15) professional rude person
16) arrogant gas station attendent
17) role model for sexual perverts on Americas Most Wanted
18) founder of yet unnamed Islamic terrorist group.
19) truck driver who only needs to learn how to drive forward
20) pilot who has no need for landing instruction.
21) tug boat crewmember who only needs to get close to big ships.
22) TSA member or luggage handler at major airport.
23) Railroad worker who only wants hazmat jobs
24) military soldier who only wants duty in Islamic countries.
25) US congressman.
...and many others
at March 12, 2007 12:58 PM
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