Headscarves in Catholic schools

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 03, 2003

Courtesy of Fox News, we have a transcript of this on-target commentary from news anchor David Asman:

The Council on American Islamic Relations, known as CAIR, is an organization determined to stamp out prejudice against Muslims in America. Anti-Muslim bias is a nasty side effect of the war on terror that often goes unrecognized by non-Muslims. So when CAIR came to the defense of a 17-year-old Muslim girl in Cleveland, who isn't allowed to wear her traditional headscarf to school, the news media took note.

On the face of it, the school's policy seems prejudicial, except for one thing: The school in question is a private, Catholic school with a strict dress code. Uniforms play a key role in the school's handbook, which states: "No hats, no bandannas or head wraps are permitted."

But despite the explicit instructions, and despite the fact that the school established a special prayer space for its Muslim students, CAIR continues to charge the school with prejudice. This left one educator to ask, "Would CAIR come to the defense of a Christian student barred from talking about Jesus in a Muslim school?"

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

Read more

Next post »

« Previous post

Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.