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San Jose Mercury News – April 2, 2004 Muslim student in California pushed off campus to pray BY LISA FERNANDEZ Praising Allah at the Roosevelt Park community center, near Santa Clara and 19th streets in downtown San Jose, came a week after about 50 Muslim students were evicted from a sixth-period classroom they used for prayers. School officials said they recently discovered that the practice violated separation of church and state, although Muslim students had been allowed to pray on campus for many years. The issue at San Jose High emerged as the U.S. Supreme Court wrestles with a case in which a Sacramento father asked to declare unconstitutional the phrase, "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. And in France, officials have banned students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other religious apparel in public schools. Muslims aren't the only religious group with these challenges. Mormons in Utah built seminaries near public schools so students can pray close by. Last week, Principal Betsy Doss told the president of the Muslim Student Association that prayers during class must stop on school property, so the students checked out the community center prayer site. Muslims are commanded to pray five times a day, which can be done individually. On Fridays, the Koran mandates that Muslims pray together as a community - called juma'a, which means "gathering" in Arabic. The First Amendment says public schools may not discriminate against private religious expression. But it also says school must not endorse - or appear to endorse - any particular religion. Federal courts have further ruled that schools may accommodate a student's private expression of religion during free time, not class time. "By giving them a place to pray during class time, that would be promoting it," district spokeswoman Karen Fuqua said. "We want to be respectful, but we can't legally give them a piece of school property to pray."Fuqua's interpretation of the law is correct, according to Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center in Virginia. "They do have a right to pray," Haynes said. "But you can't turn schools into a mosque." Still, the abrupt change was hard to take, especially for many Muslims, who have experienced a backlash in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In Fremont, where there are also a large number of Muslims, Mission San Jose High School Principal Stuart Kew said juma'a has not been an issue. But he added that during Ramadan this year, he and a social studies teacher allowed Muslim students to use their offices to pray during lunch. Palo Alto High School student activities director Joann Vaars said the Muslim students on campus have never requested a space on school property to pray during the school day. The San Jose High issue came to light because of Kids for Christ after-school programs at some of the district's elementary schools. A parent noticed the Christian groups reading Bible stories on campus and complained. It turned out the Christian groups were legally OK, Fuqua said: They are run by private centers after school hours. In the wake of that, all the district's schools were asked to review their religious policies, and that's when it came to light that San Jose High was violating the law. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8346776.htm |