Islam in Germany: The Burqini Ruling Was the Right Call

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A German court ruled Wednesday that schools can require Muslim girls to participate in co-ed swimming classes. They were right to do so -- but not for the reasons many conservatives suggest.

In 2008, the German Islam Conference published an insightful study: Some 3.5 percent of Muslim schoolgirls in Germany don't participate in co-ed swimming classes on religious grounds, provided it is offered at their school. The absolute numbers are tiny.

Nevertheless, the nationwide significance attached to the question of whether Muslims should be allowed to opt out of school swimming is large. Germany's federal administrative court in Leipzig was tasked with clarifying this on Wednesday. The Helene-Lange-Gymnasium, a high school in Frankfurt, required a Muslim girl to take part in swimming class. She had the option, according to the logic of the Culture Ministry, to wear a full-body bathing suit known as a "burqini." Her parents filed a complaint. It was a case in which the educational mission of the state had come into conflict with religious freedom.

The court in Leipzig has now passed judgement: It is reasonable to require Muslim schoolgirls to swim together with boys, assuming she has the option of wearing a burqini.

They were right to do so. » | A Commentary by Dietmar Hipp and Maximilian Popp | Thursday, September 12, 2013

Segregation Alert! Muslim-Only Swimming Sessions for Men in North London Pool!
DAILY MAIL: A father and his five-year-old son were turned away from their local swimming pool because they were the wrong religion.

David Toube, 39, and his son Harry were told that the Sunday morning session was reserved for Muslim men only.

Hackney Council, which runs the Clissold Leisure Centre in Stoke Newington, north London, claimed staff there had made a mistake.

However, the Muslim-only session was advertised on its website.

Mr Toube, a corporate lawyer, described his experiences on a blog.

"I arrived at the pool to discover that they were holding what staff described to me as "Muslim men only swimming"," he wrote.

"I asked whether my son and I could go as we were both male. I was told that the session was for Muslims only and that we could not be admitted. I asked what would happen if I turned up and insisted I was Muslim.

"The manager suggested that they might ask the Muslims swimming if they minded my son and I swimming with them. If they didn't object, we might be allowed in."

A few days later, Mr Toube, who lives with his wife, 38-year-old barrister Samantha, and their two sons in Stoke Newington, North London, spoke to another leisure centre employee.

"He gave me an identical story. His explanation was that it was a requirement of the Muslim religion that Muslims could not swim with non-Muslims." Public Pool Bars Father and Son from its 'Muslim-Only' Swimming Session >>> By Colin Fernandez and Nick McDermott | April 17, 2008

Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Harvard Sells Its Soul for Petrodollars; Shari'ah Comes to Harvard
BOSTON HERALD: What can a 19-year-old guy in jogging shorts do at Harvard that a rich Saudi sheik who sponsors terrorism can’t?

Get banned from the building.

Six times a week, Harvard kicks all the guys out of the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center at the request of the Harvard Islamic Society. This is to accommodate those female Muslim students whose faith won’t let them work out in front of men.

In the old days, Harvard would have laughed if some Catholic or evangelical mother urged “girls-only” campus workouts in the name of modesty. Today, Harvard happily implements Sharia swim times in the name of Mohammed.

At Harvard, that’s called progress.

When I asked Harvard spokesman Bob Mitchell about this new Sharia-friendly policy, he denied that they were banning anyone.

“No, no,” he told me, “we’re permitting women to work out in an environment that accommodates their religion.”

By banning all men from the facility, right?

“It’s not ‘banning,’ ” he insisted. “We’re allowing, we’re accommodating people.”

The Harvard story, broken by the intrepid staff at Boston University’s Daily Free Press, is sadly par for the liberal campus course. U-Cal Berkeley is working on a joint program with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, which practices religious and sexual discrimination. The Archbishop (and arch-liberal) of Canterbury has called for Britain to accommodate Sharia law. An exercise in discrimination at Harvard >>> By Michael Graham

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)