INQUISITION NEWS: 'Dangerous' for feds to get involved in Muslim's lawsuit

'Dangerous' for feds to get involved in Muslim's lawsuit

Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow

A legal expert says it's a "dangerous" precedent for the federal government to sue a suburban Chicago school district for denying a Muslim middle-school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

According to an Associated Press report, the U.S. Department of Justice accuses the school district in Berkeley, Illinois, of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to reasonably accommodate Safoorah Khan's religious practices. According to Islamic teaching, every adult Muslim is supposed to make at least one pilgrimage -- the "Hajj" -- to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in their lifetime if they are physically and financially able to do so. Khan had requested almost three weeks of unpaid leave.

Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, tells OneNewsNow the government's action is unprecedented. "This is an absolute bully club being used by the federal government in this lawsuit against the school to literally force this school to go out of their way to make unreasonable accommodations for a Mecca pilgrimage," he says.

The attorney argues this is a "dangerous path for the government to plow" because it blazes a trail for similar requests.

"...Once you then say that you can take a three-week pilgrimage to Mecca, then there really is no stopping -- you can take five sections of the workday out to go pray; you can have a certain kind of ritual washing built into the school or to the workplace to be able to do your ritual cleansing," he suggests. "It just literally opens up Pandora's Box -- and the federal laws were not designed for that kind of accommodation."

The AP report says Khan began teaching for Berkeley School District 87 in 2007 -- and in 2008 requested the unpaid leave for the pilgrimage. The district argued her request was unrelated to her professional duties and was not set forth in the contract between the district and the teachers union. After the district twice denied her request, Khan resigned.

Staver says while his group advocates for religious freedom, this particular case "literally distorts religious freedom." Liberty Counsel, he adds, would be willing to help defend this school district.