The school board is creating both an impermissible entanglement with religion and an implicit endorsement of it by donating the use of their cafeteria to particular imams. Not all students go to see the same mosque, btw. Only some subset of even the Muslim students would benefit from this. This definitely would not fly under US case law.

Not to mention the absurd fundamentalism that would lead people to cut class instead of going to a later service. There are Muslim organizations in Canada that oppose the school board's decision.

The permissible version of this would be to just designate an area (not the whole cafeteria if it would interfere with other students) for individuals of any religion or no religion to go and pray or goof off, and not bring in religious leaders from the outside.

@SDGundamX

The point of contention is that it is the public school that set up this accommodation for one particular religion, which does violate separation of church and state. Mind you, I agree that the religious people protesting are doing so mostly out of envy, but the point remains. To paraphrase you: "If Hindis or Christians or Muslims want to have a prayer services or atheists have meetings, they are free too also", but it should not be done by the school itself.

edit: after reading more on the subject, including the articles you linked, I have somewhat changed my mind (thus the title/description changes). I still think it is a matter of separation of church and state (and am still against it), but I understand better why the TDSB would decide to do this, considering that it was the best solution they could find to keep muslim children from plain old skipping school. What's really sad (and somewhat worrying) is that these kids - and apparently the mosque's imam(s) - consider prayer more important than education. Oh well, that's religion for you. That, and the whole sexist thing.

@bareboards2

You've obviously never personally experienced the negative effects of the police or religion.

Please explain how religion helped the survival rate of early humans.

I'm sure alcoholics feel just as comforted by a cold beer, that doesn't means it's good for them.

Science promotes investigation, collaboration, dissension, evalution and revisions in order to better understand life.

Religion promotes collaboration - churches & mosques are full of strong, healthy supportive relationships - the only drawback is..

..the obedience, subjugation, compartmentalization, ignorance towards certain things, and adherence to things without evidence to support them that goes with it.

Science provides all the benefits of religion while empowering the individual to discover more.

My tiny town here in south Georgia just voted out a mosque, the Judge was worried over the possible violence due to the small nature of the town (only 2 red lights on mainstreet)

this was about 6 months ago, but the building permit was pulled and they had to stop construction. What added insult to injury a group of indians hurridly petitioned to buy the build permit for the same area and has now built a gas station on the land the muslims had cleared.

That is one nice looking mosque.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

Thought crimes, coming to a dictatorship near you!

Oh, don't worry, only the proletariat will be charged with anything. This is all just to keep them afraid anyhow. Shhhh, don't tell.

Reality has spoken: http://videosift.com/video/Mosque-Reports-Extremist-To-FBI-Turns-Out-To-Be-FBI-Plant

In reply to this comment by RadHazG:
no matter what reality may dictate as to the possibility of this actually happening, this is still an awesome clip

1) There were Muslim victims at the trade center... why would a mosque be any different than a church?
2) It's not even at ground zero.

Blind un-self-aware racism.

>> ^quantumushroom:

I feel the same way about mosques.


I the same about any religious building. Pieces of shit take up valuable space and are more useful for something to better the community as a whole.

I can't believe that CNN kid acted so dumbfounded at Ventura's statement. Ventura isn't exactly the first person to declare that religion sucks or that the muslims should be allowed to build the mosque.

I'm surprised he didn't pull a Keanu and go "whoa!"

Tags for this video have been changed from 'whoopi goldberg, jo behar, the view, bill oreilly, interview, walk off stage, mosque' to 'whoopi goldberg, joy behar, the view, bill oreilly, interview, walk off stage, mosque' - edited by Issykitty

@bobknight33, if the Tea Party is concerned about the Constitution, what does it say about holding people without trials? What does it say about performing searches and seizures without warrants? What does it say about compelling people to incriminate themselves?

Which is to say, where are all the Tea Party people who're joining the left in calling for federal trials for everyone held at Guantanamo?

For that matter, who's defending the 1st amendment rights of the Muslims building the Park51 center (aka "the Ground Zero Mosque")? Don't they have the right to practice whatever religion they choose, especially on their own property?

I didn't get the impression he was trying to say "He voted for Obama". It was more like, "This is the kind of guy that typifys Obama supporters"... And he's pretty much right. Bob the Kook believes a whole lot of total crap, and that's the mindset of a lot of Obama supporters.

When I see rabid Obama apologists in the news and media I see a lot of kooks. Kooks who think money just appears from "Obama's stash"... The kKooks at the OneNation rally... Biden, Pelosi, et al... Union kooks... Global Warming kooks... Anti-war kooks... Pro-WTC Mosque kooks... Kooks who think Obama is going to give them free doctors and kitchens... Reparations kooks. Anti Isreal kooks. And now this guy. Go down the line and the people who stick by Obama tend to be a parade of life's losers, conspiracy theorists, communists, anarchists, thugs, and goons who believe all the baloney Obama is slinging.

Not seeing how this is Limbaugh lying. He's showing one kook out of millions of kooks and saying, "Here are the people that support Obama. Take a good long steamy LOOK at 'em...!" And you have to say after hearing the call that, yeah, if you had to classify the guy then the only bin he fits in is "left wing Obama democrat" right with all the other kooks.

Thanks, in hindsight, I don't like my tone. I would rather live in a world of little conflict and shouting...and there I go shouting and reacting in anger. O well, only human I guess.

In reply to this comment by enoch:
In reply to this comment by GeeSussFreeK:
Our president that embargo japan and tried to get us more involved in WW2 was "liberal"...not "conservative". There are so many over generalizations and factual errors here it is embarrassing. And trying to compare the actions of nations to the actions of religions is a farce. Historically speaking, war mongering is the start of more wars than pacifism. Rome was always attacking barbarian tribes preeminently so they wouldn't become a problem later...only for them to become a major problem later because of all the blood spilled. It later slaughtered hundreds of thousands of "Christian", only to later become a Christian nation...that then slaughtered other religions.

Violence begets violence, not the other way around. Sure, being passive sometimes enables some jerk off to get some footing and make his mark. But that is far better than everyone being a violent jerk off. A war every now and again against the embedded strongman, imo, is much better than constant war. Moreover, this is all just conjecture on the way nations work...religions are a different, far more fragmented. Off the top of my head I can name 30 different Christian denominations. I only know 2 main Muslim ones, but I am sure they have just as much deviation as Christians on the different Fatwas they hold to.

Edit: Also, what the fuck is his point? Violence is the answer? While sometimes it is the only option left on the table, it certainly isn't an answer, when the cause your trying to cure IS VIOLENCE (YOU FREAKING MORON). While there are situations were mutual threats of violence keep violence at bay (cold war), it still FREAKING SUCKS TO LIVE IN THE FREAKING COLD WAR (YOU FREAKING MORON). The REAL brave person does what MLK does and lay down in the street and let them kick you, or do what Jesus did and let the Crucify you. If you want the world to change, then you have to change yourself first. This guy prescribes the sickness to fight the sickness (you freaking moron).

right on brother