Is exclusivity the key for prayer rooms?

Submitted by Bob Pence (United States), Mar 15, 2005 at 16:44

While I heartily agree that aspirations to dominate must fail for the good of Muslims and non-Muslims, I am confused about your objection to prayer rooms. With many schools overcrowded and using temporary classrooms, space is certainly at a premium; but finding an empty classroom during a lunch period should be no great hardship. Would you object to this if no exclusivity were imposed? In McGill's case, the exclusivity formerly was a product of the lease. But it would seem not too out of place for such a large school to set aside a space somewhere on campus as a meditation or prayer room, again with no right to exclusivity for any particular religious group.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

My opposition to the use of empty classrooms is premised on the assumption that other religions are not allowed to use such rooms for religious purposes. If they are in fact allowed to do so, then I drop my opposition to Muslims doing so.

This issue was, by the way, a major issue in Canada, and why Mark Harding was out protesting.

DP