CAIR: MINN. MUSLIMS OPPOSE BILL BANNING HIJAB ON DRIVER’S PHOTOS - TOPActivists to meet with legislators at state capitol on March 10
(ST. PAUL, MN, 3/03/09) - The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) said today that a proposed bill banning head coverings in driver’s license photographs would infringe on the First Amendment rights of Muslims who wear a religiously-mandated head scarf, or hijab, and of Minnesotans of other faiths who wear religious attire.
Citing “public safety” concerns for the ban, the bill accommodates those who wear a head covering for medical reasons but fails to provide an accommodation for those who wear it for the constitutionally-protected right to practice their religion.
[In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand the ruling of an earlier court that two New Jersey Muslim police officers had the right to wear beards for religious reasons. The ruling held that, since there was a medical exemption for officers who had a skin condition, a religious exemption must be granted as well.]
SEE: Bill to Ban Driver’s License Headgear Proposed (Star Tribune)SEE ALSO: Bill Would Ban Hijab On Driver's License Photos
CAIR-MN challenged the safety assertion by the bill’s sponsor, saying instead that current Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and State Department passport rules allow religious head coverings to be worn in photographs and while passing through airline security.
A similar bill has been introduced in Oklahoma following a successful campaign by CAIR’s chapter in that state to allow Islamic head scarves in driver’s license photographs.
SEE ALSO: Muslim Woman Takes Driver's Photo with Head Scarf (Video)SEE ALSO: Religious Freedom Under Attack in Oklahoma
“This proposed legislation has a clear disparate impact on people of faith and cannot pass a First Amendment test,” said CAIR-MN Civil Rights Director Taneeza Islam. “Muslims will not be the only people in Minnesota affected by this legislation. Individuals from the Sikh, Jewish, Catholic and other religious communities who wear head coverings will also have their religious rights negatively impacted.”
She questioned whether the proposed bill would permit law enforcement officers in the field to force the removal of religious head coverings.
Ms. Islam said Muslims from across Minnesota will gather on March 10 for the annual “Muslim Day on the Hill” to discuss the bill and other issues of concern to the Muslim community with legislators. The event will include a rally at 10 a.m. in the Rotunda of the State Capitol, followed by individual meetings with elected officials. The event is co-sponsored by CAIR-MN, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS-MN) and the Islamic Center of Minnesota (ICM).
CAIR-MN will contact Rep. Steve Gottwalt, who introduced the legislation, to request a meeting to discuss the bill and the negative impact it will have on the constitutional rights of all Minnesota faith communities.
According to a 2004 CAIR review, most states, with the exception of Georgia, Kentucky and New Hampshire, have addressed religious accommodation concerns. Five states - Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, and Maine - recognize some religious practices, while the other 42 states have adopted more inclusive approaches to religious accommodation policies.SEE: Religious Accommodation in Driver’s License Photographs
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR-MN Communications Director Jessica Zikri, 612-226-3289, E-Mail: jzikri@cair.com; CAIR-MN Civil Rights Director Taneeza Islam, Esq., 651-587-4712, E-Mail: tislam@cair.com; CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi, 405-248-5853, E-Mail: rhashmi@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202 488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
SEE ALSO:
OKLAHOMA MUSLIMS ASKED TO CHALLENGE ANTI-HIJAB LEGISLATION - TOP
(Oklahoma City, OK, 3/3/09) - The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) today called on Oklahomans concerned with constitutionally-protected religious freedoms to contact their state representatives about a bill that bans religious headwear in driver’s license and other identification card photos. The bill, HB 1645, passed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives on Monday. An Oklahoma Senate subcommittee is expected to take up the bill next week.The proposed amendment states: “The photograph or image shall clearly identify the licensee or cardholder and shall depict a full front unobstructed view of the entire head and shoulders of the licensee or cardholder. Hats, head scarves, head garments…that cover or partially cover the head or shoulders are strictly prohibited and shall not be worn by the licensee or cardholder when being photographed for a license or identification card.”CAIR-OK believes the amendment proposed by Rep. Rex Duncan (R-Sand Springs) was introduced in reaction to CAIR-Oklahoma’s successful resolution of a dispute over a Muslim woman’s right to wear hijab in her driver’s license photo.
SEE: Muslim Woman Takes Driver's Photo with Head Scarf (Video)
A recent Tulsa World editorial pointed out the irrelevance the legislation that bans religiously mandated headscarves in driver’s license photos. It pointed out this would have unintended consequences on other religious groups as well.
SEE: Forced Habit: Driver’s License Law Isn’t Needed (Tulsa World)
Today the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) criticized Oklahoma’s House of Representatives for its attack on religious freedom.
SEE: Proposed Law Will Forbid Sikh Turbans in Driver’s License PhotosSEE ALSO: Religious Freedoms Under Attack in Oklahoma
“This legislation is a violation of all Oklahomans constitutionally-protected religious freedoms,” said CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi. “It is important for people to realize that an infringement of one group’s religious rights is a violation of the religious rights of all Americans.”IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always be POLITE and RESPECTFUL)
1. CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE and urge him or her to ensure that our state laws continue to protect the religious freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Contact your elected officials here.
Call the Oklahoma State Capitol switchboard at 405-521-3356 and ask for your representative’s office. 2. CONTACT THE SPONSOR OF THE BILL and ask him to ensure that Oklahomans’ First Amendment rights of religious freedom are protected.
Senator Roger Ballenger Phone: 405-521-5588, Email: ballenger@oksenate.gov Copy to: info@ok.cair.com
3. THANK the Oklahoma State Representatives who voted against HB 1645. Copy to: info@ok.cair.com
Rep. Ryan KieselPhone: 405-557-7372, Email: kiesel@okhouse.gov
Rep. Al McAffrey Phone: 405-557-7396 Email: al.mcaffrey@okhouse.gov
Rep. Rebecca Hamilton Phone: 405-557-7397, Email: rebeccahamilton@okhouse.gov
Rep. Jeanie Mc DanielPhone: 405-557-7334, Email: jeanniemcdaniel@okhouse.gov
Rep. Mike Shelton Phone: 405-557-7367, Email: mikeshelton@okhouse.gov
Rep. Chuck Hoskin Phone: 405-557-7319, Email: chuck.hoskin@okhouse.gov
Rep. Lucky LamonsPhone: 405-557-7390, Email: luckylamons@okhouse.gov
Rep. Richard MorrissettePhone: 405-557-7404, Email: richardmorrissette@okhouse.gov
4. CONTACT THE TULSA WORLD and thank them for their op-ed. It is important that those who value First Amendment rights make the effort to support positive coverage of this issue. Also comment online about the segment. (Always be polite and respectful.)
Tulsa WorldTel: 918-581-8550 Fax: 918-581-8353 Email: hr@tulsaworld.comCopy to: info@ok.cair.com
5. SHARE this important alert with your colleagues, friends and family. Post to personal blogs.
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CAIR-OK: MUSLIMS DEFINE THEMSELVES THROUGH OUTREACH - TOPWilliam F. O'Brien, Edmond Sun, 3/2/09
“None of you truly believe,” the Prophet Mohammad told his followers, “Until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
President Obama recently quoted that statement at the National Prayer Breakfast. The president said in his Inaugural Address that the United States is reaching out to the Muslim world in a “spirit of mutual respect and mutual interest.”
In that address the president paid tribute to Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus, peoples who comprise part of what he described as our national “patchwork heritage.”
The Council on AmericanIslamic Relations (CAIR), has an Oklahoma chapter headed by Edmond resident Razi Hashmi, who attended the inauguration. An Oklahoma CAIR board member, Sheryl Siddique, also attended.
Hashmi recently said the president’s words are indicative of the increasing role Muslims are playing in American society. He recalled the excitement and sense of history he felt as more than 2 million people gathered in our nation’s capital to hear the president’s words, and the chill they felt in the crisp January air.
CAIR’s national office is located close to the inaugural site, and during and after the ceremony it held an open house that provided hospitality and refreshments to those attending the event. (MORE)
-----GALLUP SURVEY ON U.S. MUSLIMS INCLUDES ESSAY BY CAIR DIRECTOR - TOP
Click here to read the full Gallup survey report.
What is the most important thing Muslim Americans must do in the next 5 to 10 years?
By Nihad Awad
[Nihad Awad is the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington, D.C.-based grassroots membership organization that seeks to empower the North American Muslim community through political and social activism. Awad helped found CAIR in June 1994.]
As American Muslims hope for better civil liberties protections, increased inclusion in society, and improved relations with the Islamic world in the next decade, that hope must be balanced with the reality that Muslims and Islam are often viewed with suspicion in the post-9/11 era. American Muslims should continue to demonstrate to their fellow citizens that Islam is a vital and productive part of our nation’s social and religious fabric.
This can be accomplished by taking our dinner table conversations about healthcare, education, and the economy into the public sphere. Our faith preaches charitable giving. That value can become manifest by joining with like-minded partners to end hunger in America and around the world.
Our community should partner with the new administration to help project the best of our nation’s universal values of freedom and justice to the world. This includes continuing to speak out forcefully against those who falsely claim religious justification for un-Islamic acts.
Our youth should focus on entering the public service sector, whether working on Capitol Hill, in the media, or running free clinics. Islamophobia must be confronted. An anti-Muslim fear industry has flourished in America in recent years. All Americans must repudiate these hatemongers with the same determination that won American women the right to vote, challenged McCarthyism, and ended racial segregation.
The rights enjoyed in our nation are part of what creates long lines of hopeful immigrants around American embassies worldwide. Some post-9/11 laws have eroded these rights. Muslims must not be shy or hesitant about protecting civil liberties. These actions, which are designed to promote common values and prevent conflicts, are certain to help move American Muslims from being a suspect community to one that is celebrated for its positive contributions.
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CAIR-OH: MUSLIMS IN U.S. MORE SATISFIED WITH LIFE THAN MOST OF THOSE ABROAD - TOPFirst random survey of Islamic Americans also finds more diversity than in other faiths in nationKelly Lecker, Columbus Dispatch, 3/2/09
Muslims in the United States are far more likely to say that they are thriving than are their counterparts in most other countries, a poll released today showed.
Forty-one percent of American Muslims reported that they were thriving, trailing only the percentages in Germany and Saudi Arabia. They were far more likely to be more satisfied with life than people in most predominantly Muslim countries, including Indonesia (11 percent) and Egypt (13 percent).
The Gallup study was the first to interview randomly selected American Muslims. The 946 surveyed were identified in interviews of 300,000 people for broader surveys in 2008.
The survey defined thriving as those who ranked their satisfaction with life as at least a 7 on a scale of 10, with 10 being the most satisfied.
The study found Muslims to be the most racially diverse group among all U.S. religious communities surveyed. Thirty-five percent were African American.
The study showed that the well-being of American Muslims was more closely related to race and economic conditions than to religion.
Asian-American Muslims were most likely to have graduated from college: 58 percent. That's about the same figure as for Asian-Americans in general. The lowest percentage of American Muslims who were college graduates was that of African Americans.
Muslim women were equal to Muslim men and other American women in terms of employment and income, said Ahmed Younis, senior analyst for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. They are as likely as men to have college degrees. One in six was self-employed.
As many American-Muslim women attended a religious service at least once a week as their male counterparts. That's far more than in some other countries such as Egypt, where twice as many men attend a mosque as women do.
Those findings contradict the stereotype that Muslim women are oppressed, Younis said.
Asma Mobin-Uddin, head of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, agreed.
She said that some of the stereotypes, particularly of Muslim women, are based on cultural or other factors, not on Islam. Education, for example, is an obligation for Muslim women and men, but in some countries, cultural or political factors keep women from obtaining it.
In the U.S., women are free to follow their faith and pursue education and other goals. (MORE)
-----MA: SYNAGOGUE HAILS DUTCH ISLAMOPHOBE AS HERO - TOPPenny Schwartz, JTA Wire Service, 3/2/09
In his home continent, Dutch politician Geert Wilders is something of a pariah, banned from the United Kingdom and facing prosecution in the Netherlands for his harsh views of Islam.
His calls to end immigration from Muslim countries and ban the Koran—he compared it to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and said it incites to violence—have earned him broad condemnation in Europe and forced him under the protection of a security detail, a rarity for Dutch leaders.
But in some quarters of the American Jewish community, Wilders is more akin to a hero. At the very least, he was greeted as such by about 250 people last week at a Conservative synagogue in this Boston-area town. (MORE)