Duke University to Begin Weekly Muslim Call to Prayer on Campus
This should go over well.
According to the Duke Chronicle:
Duke’s bylaws state that the University’s aims are to “assert a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ” and specify that of the 36 elected members of the Board of Trustees—Duke’s governing body—24 must be elected by two of North Carolina’s Methodist Conferences.
Yet here’s the new policy as reported by Lisa Suhay of the Christian Science Monitor.
Duke University draws fire as it announces weekly Muslim call to prayer
As of Friday, residents of Durham, N.C., near the Duke University Chapel bell tower will now hear the tones of a male Muslim Students Association member chanting the Muslim “adhan” or “call to prayer” at 1 p.m. each week.
“On campus among students and faculty the response has been overwhelmingly positive,“ says Duke spokesman Keith Lawrence in a phone interview.
“Those responding from the outside, particularly on social media like Twitter, have been mixed with some negativity that has begun to feed off of itself,” Mr. Lawrence adds.
The chant, which announces the start of the group’s jummah prayer service, which takes place in the chapel basement each Friday at 1 p.m., lasts about three minutes and will be moderately amplified, according to a Duke University press release.
Imam Adeel Zeb, Muslim chaplain at Duke says in a phone interview that the addition of the chant was in the works months prior to the militant Islamist attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and are in no way in response or politically motivated.
Muslim students at Duke are supported by the university through the Office of Student Affairs’ Muslim Life department, which hosts religious services, community service projects, and interfaith events. The Center for Muslim Life provides on-campus social and spiritual meeting spaces for students as well as opportunities for counseling and advising.
“This is not about politics,” Mr. Zeb says. “This is part of Duke’s mission to promote religious diversity on campus.”
Duke University draws fire as it announces weekly Muslim call to prayer (The Christian Science Monitor)
Comments
If Duke will announce the call to prayer on Fridays for Muslims, and I’m fine with that, then they should also rings the bells in the Duke Chapel carrillon to announce the Angelus. All in the name of diversity, you know.