Muslim Issue Hits National News
Amanda Pellegrino, Tower Staff
October 28, 2011
Filed under News
What is being called a “Holy War” by Sean Hannity of Fox News, the dispute surrounding illegal discrimination against Muslim students has been covered by several news venues, both national and local this week.
Not only was it covered by an article and a seven minute debate on Fox News, the issue was also featured in the Washington Post and on KETK, a division of NBC.
According to the Washington Post, George Washington University Professor John Banzhaf filed these charges against the University based on an article written in the Post last year where a Catholic University student discussed praying in a room with a crucifix and a life-size painting of Jesus, even though Banzhaf “had not received any complaints from Muslim students.” The FOX News and Commentary article by Todd Starnes entitled “Do Crosses at Catholic University Violate ‘Human Rights’ of Muslims?” however, claims that “Banzhaf said some Muslim students were particularly offended because they had to meditate in the school’s chapels.”
The issue of discrimination has not been raised by Muslim students at CUA, but by Banzhaf. Though Banzhaf reported to the Washington Post that no Muslim students had complained to him about the issue, he reported the opposite to FOX News.
The case has been controversial in the media. News officials are defending the University in these charges even though, “We have not yet received any legal filing from the Office of Human Rights referring to Mr. Banzhaf’s allegations,” said Victor Nakas, Associate Vice President of Public Affairs. “No students have registered complaints about the exercise of their religions on our campus,” said Victor Nakas to FOX News.
Media outlets, however, are reporting that Muslim students have filed complaints.
“The Muslims who are upset here applied to go to school at Catholic University. Not the University of Tehran at Washington D.C. What did they think they were going to find? Why can’t they be happy to be here and use the space afforded?” said Neal Barton, KETK News Director, on Neal Barton’s Point of View.
“If kids are that uncomfortable, go to another school. If you don’t like a picture of Jesus and a crucifix in a Catholic school, don’t go to the school. No one is forcing you to go to the school. But don’t put the school in a position to change who they are to accommodate a faith they don’t even agree with,” said Sean Hannity on FOX News.
What media outlets, as well as students, need to keep in mind is that these charges are being filed by Banzhaf and may not correctly represent the feelings and opinions of the Muslim students on campus.
“The community here is very respectful of other religions and I feel free to openly practice it,” said Wiaam Al Salmi, a Muslim student at CUA.
“At Catholic universities, people would be not just understanding, but appreciative of somebody else’s faith differences,” said President John H. Garvey in an interview with NPR last December. “And so there’s a kind of invitation or welcome that you don’t feel in the ordinary kind of environment.
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Wow thanks CUA for allowing Muslim bashing for 7 days before revealing the TRUTH that not one Muslim student filed any type of complaint regarding CUA! The story reported in the media was absurd on its face I never had a problem praying while on campus and the law school funded our Muslim student chapter like any other student group.
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icefalcon Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 9:43 am
@MuslimCUAstudent, why are you blaming an institution that, as you say, has never presented a problem to practicing Muslims? THEY’RE Musilm bashing? Your Muslim law school chapter couldn’t have issued a press release disowning Banzhaf?
The only reason this story gained any momentum at all is because there is a precedent that was set at MANY Catholic schools of doing so much Muslim “outreach” that Catholic values were compromised. Covering Catholic iconography is offensive to Catholics, yet we’re constantly admonished that we should handle the Qur’an with great reverence.
Yet no Muslim spoke up.
“Evil reigns when good men do nothing.”
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John M Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
@MuslimCUAstudent, Are you talking about the Arab American club? Since when did that become a “Muslim” club? There are also Arab Christians–if they haven’t already been murdered by Muslims or forced to flee their countries.
The Muslims at CUA are extremists just by definition of being Muslims. They want to exterminate all Jews and destroy Israel.
Does MuslimCUAStudent denounce Hamas and Hezbollah? I doubt it. Does he believe in the right for Israel to exist?
CUA seems to bend over backwards to make these modern Nazis comfortable at CUA, yet doesn’t care at all about how Jewish students feel.
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I think that those Muslims just don’t like Christianity. I agree with Sean Hannity’s comment that this is a Holy War. What were they thinking by going to a Christian campus. Of course there would be crosses. I understand that there is freedom of religion in this country, but if you don’t like the crosses pray outside or go somewhere else. Don’t expect the rest of the Christian community to cater to your needs.
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“….the dispute surrounding illegal discrimination against Muslim students…” (the opening sentence of this story)
This is libelous to CUA. The dispute is not SURROUNDING illegal discrimination, which implies discrimination has already occurred–the dispute is about whether or not anything illegal was done. (It seems obvious that no such discrimination has taken place.)
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Liutas Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
@icefalcon, yes, my thought exactly when I read that first sentence – rather than even implying, it STATES that ‘illegal discrimination’ is what this is about. That is libelous and needs to be called out!
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OK, we’ll remove our Crosses, for Muslims. Now for something much more difficult…the right of Christians to worship in Islamic Countries…Oh, sorry, that is forbidden, because only Muslims have rights! Only Mosques can be built in Islamic Countries! Churches are totally forbidden! Christians have no rights under Islam! Christians have come to understand Islam only too well, the most ignorant, barbaric, and intolerant religion in existence.
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Rocky Lore Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
@Tom, Don’t forget about how “tolerant” Islam is when it comes to Jews.
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Give the muslims an inch and they will take your arm, no more giving in, Period !
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Muslim women students from Saudi Arabia attend CUA because their parents feel safe with them living in same sex dorms that many other schools do not have. Their tuition is paid by their government. The payment of full tuition without loans or scholarships is money in the pocket of the university. Considering these issues, I expect to see CUA cave like good Dhimmi”s to the Islamic request, just like Catholic hospitals in Europe have willing taken down religious symbols in hospital rooms when Muslims have complained of being offended.
If I were a CUA student, I would start a movement for all students to wear clothing expressing their love for Jesus and the Church. Perhaps a sweat shirt with a big red Crusader cross would look nice for the fall.
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I’m a student at CUA. President Garvey has already caved by claiming in an email sent out to all students that Muslim students did not contact the guy suing the university. But the lawyer claims they did. So who is lying?
The Muslim students are at CUA to pressure the Catholic Church to cave and submit to Islam. Garvey gave an inch by allowing for an Arab-American club. Are any of the Muslim students American? They seem to mostly be Saudi. It was a front for a Muslim Student Association.
How much bribe money has CUA received from Saudi Arabia? We know this type of funding does not come with no strings attached. There is now an Islamic World Studies program and an Arabic program. There were no Muslim students just a few years ago; now there are over a hundred, a percentage in which they start pushing for other students and the administration to submit.
Is the administration going to hold fast that no prayer rooms for Muslims should be built on Catholic property? I doubt it.
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Keepyourpower Reply:
October 29th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
@John M, The lawyer is lying…what do you expect? He put out a survey in your school, in September, asking for Muslim students to come forward and complain and join a lawsuit.
NOT ONE MUSLIM STUDENT JOINED HIM!
He is a liar. IF you had listened to his very loud conversation with a man, with a opposite view, on the Sean Hannity Radio show this past Friday, you would have heard the lies.
Hannity had to cut him off, and state what kind of person that Professor really is!
I, in no way, like Islam, but do not persecute the students for what a litigious leftist law professor did! That so called professor is just out to stir trouble and make a name for himself. It is quite evident! You MUST know how progressives think! Don’t you?
But don’t worry..the man who spoke to him with an opposing view, has gone before the Supreme Court many times. He knows his stuff. He will win! He even sited cases that showed this liar, that he did not have a leg to stand on!
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This is a campaign fought in the press to win public opinion in favor of granting a beachhead on the campus from which to wipe out Catholic Faith. Please don’t be duped. History, both recent and ancient, is our teacher here…
http://apriestlife.blogspot.com/2011/10/cua-vp-of-public-affairs-we-have-not.html
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I’ve been around the cyber world in less than 24 hours since I read this story on Huffington Post. I’ve sent personal emails to Neal Barton, who was kind enough to respond even though we agree to disagree. I’d like to thank the writer, Amanda Pellegrino, for her accurate reporting. A wildfire of bashing has sprung up from a few seeds of misinformation. There are websites that unabashedly say that is was Muslim CUA students that brought upon the lawsuit. I went after the most blatant ones, except for Jihadwatch. There is no righting that vessel, facts be darned. Muslims probably attend a Catholic university because they share the same values and ideals. There is nothing wrong with making Salat in a room with a Crucifx. I’m a product of an interfaith marriage and I keep the Quran and Bible side by side on my shelf. Hannity wants nothing more that line his pockets with the dollars of the ignorant. His so-called debates are ridiculous and his moderation is tantamount to watching Jerry Springer. Do you think, in fairness, he will bring this issue up on Monday, with corrections? No, he’ll move on to the next thing to help him sell another book. Don’t forget to buy your food insurance and whatever else his sponsors will make him plug.
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PookieCaru Reply:
October 30th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
@Omar, We are not worried about the one in a million muslims that are “tolerant”, we are worried about the true believers who wish to control and subjegate Christians and Jews.
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Omar Reply:
October 31st, 2011 at 1:48 pm
@PookieCaru, There are more than one in a million that are tolerant, but you treat us all as monoliths, as if we all want to enslave anyone who does not “believe”. That is total end product of horse feed.
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BTW:
from a blog -
Key facts about the above that might not have been adequately covered:
…In fact, not a single Muslim student at Catholic University has signed on to Professor Banzhaf’s complaint and he admitted…that he lodged the complaint against Catholic with the D.C. Office of Human Rights as a concerned individual, not on behalf of any student or group of students….
The professor bringing the legal complaint against Catholic University of America is John F. Banzhaf III of George Washington University. Banzhaf is known for the following:
In short, Banzhaf is an attorney who runs personal responsibility out of the courtroom, instead blaming McDonald’s for obesity and cigarette companies for smokers’ lung cancer.
Too bad that the American justice system doesn’t impose severe penalties upon attorneys who instigate frivolous legal actions.
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I’m just a regular guy, not a lawyer or anything, but I was always under the impression that there was a concept in law called “standing,” that is, in order to file a legal action, a person has to demonstrate that they were harmed or affected. If no CUA students complained to this lawyer dude, then what is his legal standing?
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