the message board for Dubai English speaking community
shafique wrote:
1. School hall is used for Friday prayers. (How is this different from it being used for Ballet, or Choir practice?)
2. Girls are behind boys (again normal)
3. Girls who are menstruating attend the service, but don't take part in physical prayer (i.e. sit them out).
I understand that some girls can choose to sit out P.E. if they are having periods. Aren't these girls (in PE classes) as 'stigmatised' 'isolated' 'humiliated' as the Muslim girls sitting out the formal prayers?
They just happen to be sitting at the back during the formal prayers, because otherwise they would be in the middle of people praying. During the sermon, they are sitting within the congregation.
Therefore they are just like girls who are sitting out when a netball match is going on (for example). If not, how are they different?
Storm in a teacup. Again?
Cheers,
Shafique
shafique wrote:herve - you seem upset by people praying. Why is that?
It is interesting that once an Islamophobic argument has been exposed as unusually weak, the response is a hysterical rant. I wonder why that is?
The article was actually about girls sitting at the back during the formal prayers (and not the loon spin eh tried to put on it). How is that different from girls sitting out gym class? Aren't they just as 'isolated' etc? Should girls be forced to do gym when they are having periods??
Cheers,
Shafique
Isn’t it odd how stories about Muslim school prayers now being conducted at Valley Park Middle School in Don Mills are all about religion making its way into public schools? I don’t discuss religion, ever. Feminism is my credo, and my eye was instantly drawn to the fact that girls are placed in the back, behind the boys, separated by benches used as shields.
Bethsmum wrote:What world does Shafique live in where girls sit out of PE lessons during their periods?
Strangely enough girls and women can function quite normally during their periods, it is not an illness.
Thank God most of us have moved into the 21st centuary.
1. School hall is used for Friday prayers. (How is this different from it being used for Ballet, or Choir practice?)
2. Girls are behind boys (again normal)
3. Girls who are menstruating attend the service, but don't take part in physical prayer (i.e. sit them out).
I understand that some girls can choose to sit out P.E. if they are having periods. Aren't these girls (in PE classes) as 'stigmatised' 'isolated' 'humiliated' as the Muslim girls sitting out the formal prayers?
herve wrote:You are wrong Al Shafique, a public school is NOT a place to practise any faith, in our world there is separation of State and Church.
shafique wrote:The article was actually about girls sitting at the back during the formal prayers (and not the loon spin eh tried to put on it). How is that different from girls sitting out gym class? Aren't they just as 'isolated' etc? Should girls be forced to do gym when they are having periods??
Cheers,
Shafique
shafique wrote:^BM - so you'd not allow girls to sit out PE lessons if they have their period?
Perhaps the schools my eldest daughter attended in the UK, Dubai and here in Mauritius are unusually lenient??
Do you think they are singling out 'shy girls' and should insist they should all take part in PE??
Cheers,
Shafique
shafique wrote:2. Girls are behind boys (again normal)
Flying Dutchman wrote:I have only been to Canada twice, but didn't get the impression this is normal in Canada. At least not in the public area.
shafique wrote:Mountains and Molehills.
Let's see what the fuss is about.
1. School hall is used for Friday prayers. (How is this different from it being used for Ballet, or Choir practice?)
2. Girls are behind boys (again normal)
3. Girls who are menstruating attend the service, but don't take part in physical prayer (i.e. sit them out).
I understand that some girls can choose to sit out P.E. if they are having periods. Aren't these girls (in PE classes) as 'stigmatised' 'isolated' 'humiliated' as the Muslim girls sitting out the formal prayers?
They just happen to be sitting at the back during the formal prayers, because otherwise they would be in the middle of people praying. During the sermon, they are sitting within the congregation.
Therefore they are just like girls who are sitting out when a netball match is going on (for example). If not, how are they different?
Storm in a teacup. Again?
Cheers,
Shafique
shafique wrote:I agree that Ballet is not the same as a Friday sermon and collective prayer - but in the respect that both are held for those who wish to attend, I do think they are the same in this respect.
Cheers,
Shafique
shafique wrote: Now - whether school should allow religious freedom in allowing children to pray on Fridays or completely ban any religious activity during school time is another matter. To give Muslims this facility is a positive sign in my eyes - but I understand the opposing argument that others hold. On this, we'll have to agree to disagree.
Cheers,
Shafique
shafique wrote::D the clue was in the words 'in this respect'
(You see, I'm helping herve out with his English comprehension)
At worst, it is organized prayer by stealth, as recognized by the Supreme Court in its decision in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) in which the Court struck down Alabama's moment of silence law.
...appeals to no one but the radical religious right. Should it actually pass, a constitutional amendment on school prayer would mark the first time in our nation's history that the original Bill of Rights would be amended -- a striking departure from traditional American values that would set a dangerous precedent.
Religion and Ontario’s supposedly secular public school system have become uncomfortable bedfellows. While one provincial law tells schools to accommodate students’ religious practices, other laws and the courts have long prodded this school system to become a faith-free zone that, in particular, excludes Lord’s Prayer recitations and Bible readings. As a result, confusion reigns and anguished cries of inequality are increasingly being heard.
Consider that a Toronto school proudly turns its cafeteria into a mosque every Friday afternoon and welcomes a local imam to lead several hundred Muslim students in prayer — while all the other students are barred from the area.
shafique wrote:I'd like to see some evidence that they are more stigmatised by this than if they were sitting in the classroom not doing gym (for example). They could also just leave as the prayers start- but I guess it is normal for them to wait for the short prayers to finish and leave with their classmates?
Bora Bora wrote:
These Muslim students, who are probably the minority in the school, are getting a free education at the taxpayers expense.