In what may be a perfect example of a hard case making for bad law, the Department of Justice, according to the Associated Press, is suing a suburban Chicago school district for not letting a Muslim middle school teacher make a pilgrimage to Mecca for Hajj.
Bring out the ethnic and religious swords.
The offense, according to DOJ, was that the Berkeley, Illinois, school district violated teacher Safoorah Khan's civil rights by not granting her ?unpaid leave?for?nineteen days?to make the trip.
According to Alex Eichler in the Atlantic, every Muslim is required to make the Mecca trip once in their lifetime and Khan's request for leave had been denied twice. She resigned because of the denials. The DOJ's suit says that the school district ?compelled Khan to choose between her job and her religious beliefs.?
It is an interesting case and perhaps will put us back in touch with the first amendment, which says that ?Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof?.?
Is a school district not granting leave to a teacher to go to Mecca a prohibition on the free exercise of religion? ?What if a district had us go to school on December 25? Christians to the barricades! And Easter?? Isn't Halloween derived from an ancient pagan ritual?
God knows!
?Peter Meyer, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
