« Was It Syria That Attacked The U.S. Embassy In Damascus? | Main | Freedom Journal Iraq #547 »
December 21, 2006
Islamic Teacher Dismissed Over Failure To Shake Hands With Men
Take home message: No faith deserves special treatment under the eyes of the law - neither Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, or any other faith.The actual title in Expatica reads, "Islamic teacher sacked over hand shake," wihich on the surface seems a bit ridiculous. That is, on the surface - but is there more to it? You bet there is! And it appears that this issue, from the standpoint of the Muslim teacher, is more about ideological agenda than meets the eye - especially since the woman citied religious beliefs for her decision, despite the fact she had previously shaken hands with men."While Muslim demands to change our history and accommodate their religious sensitivities may seem relatively minor in and of themselves, implying no drastic alterations in existing American arrangements but rather only slight adjustments in our already expansive accommodation of social "diversity," cumulatively, however, by whittling away at the existing order, they would change the country's whole way of life ... (see below)
The Raw Story offers a bit more detail:
The unnamed teacher was suspended following the summer holidays after she returned to the school and made clear she would not shake hands with male colleagues. She had previously had no apparent difficulty in this regard.Daniel Pipes notes that the "immigrant" Muslim woman's decision came after a year on the job:Engbers said at the time that teachers should not promote particular political or religious views, noting that the college was a state-funded public school.
... the immigrant female Muslim teacher at Vader Rijn College in Utrecht, the Netherlands, has been fired for deciding, after a year on the job, that, for religious reasons, she could not shake hands with male colleagues. School director Bart Engbers explained his logic. "If she doesn't want to shake hands at home, fine. But everyone is welcome at this school. Discussion is great, but religious and political flag-waving must stay at home." Teachers, he said, have to set a good example. "We are preparing our boys and girls for the labour market. We all know how fragile the situation is for allochtone [non native Dutch] young people. Therefore it is good that they shake hands during a job interview. We believe that is important." Also, refusing to shake hands with men amounts to discrimination, he added.I don't know about you, but to me, Expatica's title appears to be over the top in doing what the media has been doing a lot of lately - portraying Muslims as victims instead of reporting the facts as they are - in this case an immigrant Muslim woman returns to the school from summer holidays and, for obvious idealogical reasons, and a clear agenda, refuses to follow the customs of her adopted country after doing so for a full year prior, in an attempt to gain special treatment for Muslims. This is not only an affront to the citizens of the country that has provided her freedoms that she certainly would not have in many Muslim countries, but also to the large number of Muslims who make an effort to assimilate into their adopted culture and society, and who are not enveloped in an agenda to gain special treatment for Islam.
As I've written in a previous post in which I quoted Daniel Pipes: "While Muslim demands to change our history and accommodate their religious sensitivities may seem relatively minor in and of themselves, implying no drastic alterations in existing American arrangements but rather only slight adjustments in our already expansive accommodation of social "diversity," cumulatively, however, by whittling away at the existing order, they would change the country's whole way of life--making Islam a major public presence, ensuring that both the workplace and the educational system accommodate its dictates and strictures, adapting family customs to its code of conduct, winning it a privileged position in American life, and finally imposing its system of law.
Hat tip - Harry Owens
Related: Europe's Burqa Wars
Cross posted from Hyscience
Posted by Richard at December 21, 2006 10:41 AM
