‘Dangerous’ for feds to get involved in Muslim’s hajj lawsuit

Legal expert: ‘Dangerous’ for feds to get involved in Muslim’s hajj lawsuit « Creeping Sharia

December 17, 2010

A legal expert says it’s a “dangerous” precedent for the federal government to sue a suburban Chicago school district for denying a Muslim middle-school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, tells OneNewsNow the government’s action is unprecedented. “This is an absolute bully club being used by the federal government in this lawsuit against the school to literally force this school to go out of their way to make unreasonable accommodations for a Mecca pilgrimage,” he says.

The attorney argues this is a “dangerous path for the government to plow” because it blazes a trail for similar requests.

“…Once you then say that you can take a three-week pilgrimage to Mecca, then there really is no stopping — you can take five sections of the workday out to go pray; you can have a certain kind of ritual washing built into the school or to the workplace to be able to do your ritual cleansing,” he suggests. “It just literally opens up Pandora’s Box — and the federal laws were not designed for that kind of accommodation.”

Staver says while his group advocates for religious freedom, this particular case “literally distorts religious freedom.” Liberty Counsel, he adds, would be willing to help defend this school district.