US Sues School Over Denial Of Muslim Pilgrimage

You can't make it that simple - Supreme Court jurisprudence on the Establishment Clause & the Free Exercise Clause is a mess, so no one knows what qualifies.

 

This is such a slam dunk. That's why the Feds took it up. Scalia would refuse to even hear this one.

 

If she wants to go so bad then quit her job and go. I think asking off for three weeks during the middle of school is probably excessive.

 

That's apparently exactly what she did.

No idea why the Justice Department is literally making a federal case of it.

 

I think it's the part about 'chose between your religion and your job' that doesn't bode well for the defense.

 

AQB might not be too far off:

http://www.koco.com/print/26162860/detail.html

 

I didn't realize Congress was preventing her from taking three weeks off from work to go on a pilgrimage.

Look, I sympathize with this woman. I do. But she's not entitled to anything in this situation.

Should they have given her the time off, especially since it's unpaid? Absolutely. But are they required to? No.

As was stated here, she could go later in her life. She chose to go right now and that's admirable but in the same way that my employers don't have to hold my job if I ask for three weeks off that I'm not entitled to in order to go on a vacation to Hawaii, they don't have to hold her job so she can fulfill her religious obligations.

No one made her choose between her job and her religion. She made that choice on her own.

 

Loosen your belt and get off your high horse, YF. I was referring to the persecution complex some Christians here in the U.S. seem to feel when they're not allowed to shove "Merry Christmas" down everyone's throats and have to make room for the other holidays and religious traditions celebrated at this time of year. I've had a couple of personal run-ins with some of those folks in the past week. Frankly, they don't represent their religion very well.

Are Christians persecuted around the world for their beliefs? Yes. But that's not what I was referring to.

And Christians have done their share of persecuting others over the centuries, too.

Have fun playing with your straw man.

 

How did you get into "run-ins" with those folks? Do you express displeasure when they wish you a Merry Christmas or did they begin some other way?

And yet you mocked the whole notion, not just AQB's example.

Really? We're going to go the moral equivalency route? To dismiss the atrocities committed in the name of Islam by referring to Christian atrocities that happened 500 years ago (and were committed on both sides) is ridiculous.

When will you hold Muslims to the standards of the 21st century? Why do you not hold them accountable for their actions by only holding them to 16th century standards?

Keep pretending this woman was prosecuted and that Christians are always in the wrong.

In your effort to be non-judgmental, you have developed a serious case of anti-Christian bias. It's a shame and I hope you can overcome it at some point. It's not healthy & does not reflect well upon the person you want to be or believe you are.

 

Again, without learning about what they did in similar situations, this is just a wheel spinning thread. The NPR article doesn't shed any light.

 

They should allow the leave. Sort of odd for the teacher to do this so soon in their teaching career.

It pisses school administrators off, though, to see teachers take time off like this during the year is the teacher can help it at all. This sort of skirts the line.

 

That's funny, especially on SportsJournalists.com. How many football games and bowl games and playoff games have kept us from our families for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, etc? How many times has Easter coincided with the NCAA tournament and the Masters? Athletic event on a holiday, we work. I know it depends on the relationship an employee has with a boss, but this kind of stuff needs to be worked out in that context. If you don't like your employer's policy on vacations/holidays, get a new job.