Camden UNISON defends Muslim worker’s right to prayer time

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Camden UNISON bannerThe Town Hall last night (Wednesday) backed down on plans to deduct five minutes worth of pay every time one of its Muslim employees takes a quick break to pray. Children’s department chief Councillor Nash Ali said yesterday that he has asked for the deductions to be stopped after the council’s biggest union cried foul.

The move followed a dispute brought by Camden Unison, which claimed the worker concerned – in the play service – was effectively being penalised for his religious beliefs. Camden is adamant that the case was not rooted in any religious prejudice and that the tone of the union’s claims, published on its web site, had been “inflammatory”.

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New York: Sikh and Muslim transport workers win right to religious head coverings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sikh MTA workerMuslim and Sikh transit workers will be allowed to wear religious head coverings while on the job under a settlement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Wednesday. The agreement ended a winding legal case propelled by the Sept. 11 attacks.

The authority faced a series of lawsuits, including one from the United States Justice Department, in the years that followed the attack; the suits claimed that the authority was selectively enforcing policies on head coverings worn by Muslim and Sikh employees and that it had transferred workers to nonpublic positions if they refused to remove the coverings or attach the authority’s logos to them.

Under the new policy, any religious headgear will be permitted as long as it is blue, the color of the authority’s logo, said Adam Lisberg, the authority’s chief spokesman.

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Islam is a religion, and therefore protected by the Constitution

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shariah law is religious law, but because it is the law of a demonized religion associated with terrorism and anti-Americanism, Brandon can label it political, depriving it of First Amendment protections. I don’t assume this is a cynical ploy. Blinded by bigotry and their notions of “true” and “false” religions, Islamaphobes may be sincere in the counter-factual belief that Islam is purely political.

That belief is essential to the claim that Shariah law can’t be tolerated because it conflicts with the Constitution. Once you acknowledge that Islam is a religion and Shariah law is religious, its conflicts with secular law become arguments for, not against, religious liberty. Of course, Shariah law is inconsistent with the Constitution. So are the tenets of Catholicism, Judaism (especially orthodox Judaism), and most if not all other faiths….

Religious and secular laws often conflict; that’s precisely why we have a First Amendment. It provides a legal framework for ensuring that religion and government can “co-exist.” If religious law were categorically subordinate to the Constitution (as Joe Brandon imagines Shariah law should be), then the Catholic Church would be required to ordain women, Orthodox Jews would have to sit together in shul, and religious groups that oppose gay marriages would be required to perform them.

It’s not hard to imagine the uproar that would greet the slightest hint of official interest in violating such basic guarantees of religious liberty, especially if directed against majority or respectable, minority religious practices.

Wendy Kaminer demolishes the arguments of Joe Brandon, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Murfreesboro Islamic Center

The Atlantic, 30 May 2012

‘Exploitative’ EDL hijacks Sikh protest in Luton

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL and Sikhs
EDL leader Kevin Carroll pretends to be an ally of the Sikh community at last night’s protest – and (right) an EDL demonstrator shows the membership’s real attitude to Sikhs

A Sikh elder today shared his concern at attempts by the English Defence League to hijack a protest by the Luton Sikh community. The protest outside Luton Police Station last night was in response feelings of a lack of action by the police force.

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Bill protecting religious garb passes California Assembly

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A bill that would protect the rights of workers who wear religious-oriented clothing at work was overwhelmingly passed by the California Assembly on Tuesday, May 28. AB 1964 now goes to the State Senate, where its proponents hope it will pass before the Legislature adjourns at the end of August. Then it would go to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature.

The bill, dubbed the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012, essentially would not break new ground but would clarify the federal Fair Employment and Housing Act, said Rachel Linn, spokeswoman for Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, author of the measure.

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Judge’s ruling halts construction of Murfreesboro Islamic Center

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Not WelcomeA judge in Tennessee ruled Tuesday that the public wasn’t properly notified about a meeting where local officials approved the plan for a proposed mosque, meaning construction of the disputed project will be stopped.

The new facility for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was one of several Muslim projects in the U.S. that hit a swell of conservative opposition around the same time as the controversy over a plan to build a Muslim community center near New York’s ground zero.

Chancellor Robert Corlew noted that his ruling doesn’t stop the Rutherford County Planning Commission from reconsidering the issue and again approving the site plan in the booming city of about 100,000 people southeast of Nashville.

Saleh Sbenaty, a spokesman for leaders of the mosque, said the ruling was disappointing but his group remains committed to building the Islamic center. They have been worshipping for many years at a smaller site in the community.

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‘Anti-mosque activity’ in more than half of US states

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which were carried out by hijackers from Arab countries, animosity toward Muslims sometimes has taken the form of opposition to construction of mosques and other Islamic facilities. National debate erupted over plans for a community center that became known as the “Ground Zero mosque” in Lower Manhattan.

In the last five years, there has been “anti-mosque activity” in more than half the states, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Some mosques were vandalized – a $5,000 reward is being offered in a 2011 Wichita mosque arson case – and others were targets of efforts to deny zoning permits.

Mosque opponents often raise concerns about traffic and parking, but Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU’s freedom of religion program, says they can be “sham arguments” that mask anti-Muslim sentiment.

USA Today, 28 May 2012

British Freedom exposes ‘halal hegemony’ … in Croydon

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A British Freedom member has posted a report on the BF website about the Islamic takeover of Croydon (where the Muslim community comprises 5% of the population, compared with 66% who are Christian). He writes:

“In parts of Croydon things English and things Western have been visibly relegated. It’s all halal here, halal there and halal everywhere. If you wish to enjoy an animal that has been spared throat-slashing (after being stunned or not), and killed in a manner befitting our own culture then chances are you’ll have to search, and sometimes search hard. There are ‘Halal Meat Sold Here’ signs that inform the population of the ‘enrichment’ bequeathed to us via the odious triumvirate that is mass pandering, mass appeasing and mass immigration.”

(The BF editor helpfully adds a note pointing out that “in halal slaughter nowadays many animals are stunned before having their throats cut, which is arguably more humane. However this is not the main issue for most people, who are more concerned about unknowingly eating meat that has been sacrificed to Allah”.)

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