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  • 2016-04-05 (xsd:date)
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  • Are U.S. Schools Buying Prayer Rugs for Muslim Students? (en)
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  • On 29 March 2016 the web site US Herald published an article reporting that Muslim students in St. Cloud, Minnesota were receiving accommodations (namely, prayer rugs) at taxpayer expense deemed impermissible for pupils of other religions: US Herald included a source link at the bottom of the page. That led to a 23 March 2016 PBS Newshour article, which made absolutely no mention of prayer rugs bought at taxpayer expense and contradicted the claim that Muslim students receive accommodations that are denied students of other faiths. In keeping with federal laws regarding religious accommodation, St. Cloud's middle and high schools maintain rooms for prayer (and other purposes) that are open to students of all religions, and the school cafeteria offers pork-free lunch options but has not removed pork from their menu: PBS Newshour also mentioned a 2011 complaint brought by the Council for American-Islamic Relations: PBS Newshour included a letter from the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights [PDF], which addressed a claim filed by CAIR in 2010 against St. Cloud Area School District #742 alleging discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. The words prayer, rugs, prayer rugs, Muslim, faith, or worship appeared nowhere in that document, nor did the letter pertain to the practice of religion among St. Cloud's Somali students: Ultimately, US Herald's brief article managed to include multiple inaccuracies and outright untruths. Not only were Muslim students not supplied with prayer rugs at taxpayer expense, but the source article only briefly mentioned prayer rooms, and then made it clear that they were available to students of all faiths. The 2011 complaint brought against the St. Cloud district by the Council on American-Islamic Relations had nothing to do with prayer or prayer rugs. The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights investigated CAIR's complaint of harassment based on race, color, or national origin (not faith), and found evidence for its existence from 2008 to 2011. In response to the investigation, the district agreed to ensure all future allegations of harassment were promptly addressed, and no portion of the complaint had anything to do with Islam or prayer rugs. Finally, even if there was truth to the claim (and there was not) the purported accommodations were described as occurring at one school, not all (or even many) of them. (en)
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