Tag Archives: University

Muslims Broadcasting Call To Prayer at UCLA

After Duke University reversed a decision to allow Muslims to broadcast their call to prayer from a bell tower, it’s been revealed that Muslims at UCLA have been broadcasting their call at UCLA.

The Islamic Student Association at UCLA broadcast the call to prayer near the Sunset Boulevard athletic field according to the video posted on YouTube.  The students told their prayer inside the John Wooden Center.

“I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshiped except Allah,” the common Muslim chant, known as the adhan, declares. “I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. … Allah is most great.”

Christian activists say while the Duke situation gained national attention, incidents like UCLA have been happening under-the-radar for years.

“The call to prayer is something that is blasted over loudspeakers in Muslim majority countries and Muslim enclaves around Detroit,” wrote Carol Brown of American Thinker, a blog that discusses the important issues of the United States. “We’ve already heard enough ‘Allahu Akbar’ for a lifetime.”

Many groups are wondering about the accommodation to Muslims that is not permitted to other religions on campuses.  Several groups pointed out that UCLA has been a very anti-Christian campus with students who have taken bold anti-Christian actions.

Duke Reverses Course On Muslim Prayers Broadcast From Bell Tower

A day after making national headlines for allowing Muslims to broadcast a call to prayer declaring Allah to be the only God, Duke University reversed course and said they will not allow the broadcast to take place.

The University said their plan met with “unintended backlash.”

“The idea was conceived with the best of intentions and the greatest of intentions to create unity,” Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, told WNCN. “It turned out to have the opposite effect and it was actually creating divisiveness that was neither intended nor valuable.”

The University will allow members of the Muslim community to gather outside the chapel before moving to its regular location in the chapel basement.

Many Christian leaders spoke out against Duke’s proposed action, including Rev. Franklin Graham.

“First of all, this chapel was given by donors, Methodists, from across this state and other areas, so that there would be a Christian chapel on the campus so that the students would have a place to worship the God of the Bible,” Graham said. “What I have the problem is using the chapel that was built to be a house of worship — to worship Jesus Christ as the Son of God — that they’re using this now so that they can put loud speakers and use it as a minaret.”

Duke, a private school founded by Methodists and Quakers, has a divinity school connected to the United Methodist Church.

Duke University To Broadcast Muslim Call To Prayer

Duke University will start broadcasting the Muslim Call To Prayer declaring “Allah Is Great” from their bell tower.

“Members of the Duke Muslim Students Association will chant a weekly call-to-prayer from the Duke Chapel bell tower beginning Friday, Jan. 16,” Duke Today outlined in a report on Tuesday. “The chant, called the ‘adhan,’ announces the start of the group’s jummah prayer service, which takes place in the chapel basement each Friday at 1 p.m.”

The university said that while the adhan is usually played five times a day for Muslims to pray, they’re doing it only once a week for the Friday high prayers.

“I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshiped except Allah,” the adhan declares. “I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. … Allah is most great.”

University officials said the broadcasting of the Muslim prayer demonstrates the University’s diversity.

Local Christian leaders are asking Duke why they don’t permit Christians to recite the Lord’s Prayer from the university bell tower once a week.

Atheists Angry About Troy University Chancellor Crediting God

A group of atheists who are angry the chancellor of Troy University sent an e-mail that says democracy works in America because people know “they’re accountable to God” are demanding an apology.

“Atheists are overwhelmingly ethical and upstanding people. It is not true that religion is necessary to keep people from becoming criminals,” wrote Americans Atheists’ President David Silverman in an open letter sent to Jack Hawkins Jr. on New Year’s Eve. “In fact, in the United States, in states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most-religious states, the murder rate is higher than average.”

The message from Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr. read: “As we approach a new year I am reminded of the blessings we enjoy within a democracy which is the envy of the world,” wrote Hawkins. “For your pleasure — and as a reminder — I am sharing with you a 90 second video which speaks to America’s greatness and its vulnerability.”

The video link was Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen saying a visiting Chinese scholar told him about the importance he saw of religion in American democracy and life.

A spokesman for Troy University sent a statement to the Christian Post about the email.

“The purpose of this email was to spur introspection and encourage thoughtful discussion as we transition from the challenges of 2014 to the opportunities ahead in 2015,” read the statement. “This message and video were shared to provide the university community with information and insights for healthy consideration and debate about our country’s democracy, the role it plays in the world and the challenges America faces going forward.”

Canadian Court Upholds Rights Of Christians

A Canadian court has ruled that two Christians who had been banned from distributing materials at a university had their rights violated by officials.

Peter LaBarbera and Bill Whatcott were arrested in April and forced to leave the University of Regina after they refused to stop handing out information providing the truth about abortion and other issues about the Christian faith.

“We are a diverse campus. We are a welcoming campus,” University Vice President Tom Chase told reporters at the time. “We celebrate that diversity, and our staff felt that the material and some of the things they had with them simply contravened that policy and we asked them to leave.”

Judge Marylynne Beaton said that both men were not guilty of any crimes and that they had the right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to distribute their information to anyone who wanted to read it.

“I find that the purpose of Mr. Whatcott and Mr. LaBarbera attending the University of Regina was to communicate information and their actions were passive and non-aggressive,” she wrote. “Therefore, notwithstanding that the university may be private property, I find that [the Charter] may be used as a defense to a finding of mischief by interfering with university property as they had the right to communicate in a peaceful manner on university property.”

“I do not accept that the accused’s removal, in order to protect students from the accused message, represented a minimal impairment on freedom of expression,” the judge continued. “In this case, the university’s response was disproportionate to the peaceful distribution of flyers and was not reasonable and demonstrably justified.”

Both men said they hope the judge’s ruling will help Christians across the country who have been silenced by government officials.

Arizona State University Teacher Mocks Jesus

A teacher at Arizona State University openly mocked Christ in one of the school’s classes.

Christofer Bang teaches biology and ecology courses for the state-funded university.  The teacher held a class last week where he openly mocked Christ and described Biblical creation as “magic.”

The teacher’s actions were released to the website Campus Reform by a student who wished to remain anonymous.  The teacher posted a slide that showed Darwin on one side with his evolution and Jesus on the other with a caption that read “zap! Magic!”

“Quite a few students in the lecture hall were bothered by the picture, and it didn’t contribute to the lecture besides adding spite,” the student said.

Arizona State officials are defending the teacher’s anti-Christian attitude.

“The image you are referring to is on the title page of a [PowerPoint] and sets the stage for a discussion about the extremes of the public discourse on evolution/creationism,” Sandy Leander, media relations manager for ASU’s School of Life Sciences stated.

Even non-Christian students were offended by the teacher’s actions.

“All the professor needed to do was state the facts about evolution and move on,” one student said. “There’s no need to attack Christianity in the process.”

College Professor Accused of Bias

A professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver is being accused of bias against conservative students and openly displaying hostility toward Christians and conservatives.

Charles Angeletti teaches “American Civilization” and forces students to repeat his “New Pledge of Allegiance” that’s filled with hate.

“I pledge allegiance to and wrap myself in the flag of the United States Against Anything Un-American,” reads Angeletti’s version. “And to the Republicans for which it stands, two nations, under Jesus, rich against poor, with curtailed liberty and justice for all except blacks, homosexuals, women who want abortions, Communists, welfare queens, treehuggers, feminazis, illegal immigrants, children of illegal immigrants, and you, if you don’t watch your step.”

Angeletti claims his pledge is satirical but all students are forced to recite it.  Students told the website Campus Reform that most of the class has the professor forcing his extreme political views on students.

“We’re very racist, we’re very repressive, we’re very Christian oriented, we don’t tolerate other kinds of thinking in this country,” Angeletti told Campus Reform. “I could go on and on — and do, in my classes, for hours about things that we need to do to make this a better country.”

Students on the RateMyProfessors.com website said that Angeletti punishes conservatives and Christians.

“If you are a liberal, you will like him,” a student wrote. “He encourages you to speak out and voice your opinion… Unless of course, you are a Republican.”

Angeletti admitted he was biased in an interview with Campus Report.  He also expressed his hate for “family values people.”

Oklahoma School Board Drops Bible Course

After complaints from anti-Christian groups, an Oklahoma school board has dropped an elective course on the Bible proposed by the head of the craft chain Hobby Lobby.

The Mustang School Board has approved in April the “Museum of the Bible” curriculum that Steve Green presented to them.  The class would show the Old and New Testament’s impact on American society.

The virulent anti-Christian groups Freedom From Religion Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State claimed the curriculum was unconstitutional because it spoke positively about Christianity.

“The topic of a Bible course in the Mustang School District is no longer a discussion item nor is there a plan to provide such a course in the foreseeable future,” the school’s superintendent wrote, according to reports. “All students who were pre-enrolled in the elective had their schedules changed to a Humanities course or they were afforded the opportunity to select another elective.”

Officials with the Museum of the Bible seem unfazed by the outcome of the bigoted attack against them by the anti-Christian groups.

“We understand Mustang’s decision to withdraw the new, elective Bible course from consideration,” said course representative and editor Jerry Pattengale. “Museum of the Bible remains committed to providing an elective high school Bible curriculum and continues work on an innovative, high-tech course that will provide students and teachers with a scholarly overview of the Bible’s history, narrative and impact.”

Anti-Christianists Attack Christian History Teacher For “Preaching”

Two anti-Christian organizations have singled out a professor at Georgia Southern University, claiming that he is “preaching” in his classroom.

The virulent anti-Christian group Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science sent a letter to the president of the university stating that Professor Emerson Tom McMullen promotes religion.

“McMullen appears to use at least some of his class to preach religion instead of teach history,” the letter reads. “Our reports and information indicate that McMullen (1) is known for injecting religion into his classes, (2) gives extra credit to students willing to endure and describe additional proselytizing, and (3) uses his position at a public university to promote religious beliefs like creationism, while undermining legitimate sciences, like biology.”

The groups hate the fact that McMullen speaks positively about Christianity.

“McMullen not only lowers the reputation and standards of this university, but has created serious constitutional problems,” the groups wrote. “As a public university, GSU is subject to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which separates state and church. … Creationism cannot be taught as scientific fact in public schools.”

McMullen has an “A” rating from his students and no students had complained about the professor.  The University said it is investigating the 24-year veteran teacher because of the anti-Christians targeting him.

Florida State Student Says God Saved Him

A student who had been inside the main library at Florida State University when shots rang out says that God saved him.

21-year-old Jason Derfuss wrote about the incident in his Facebook page.

“The shooter targeted me first,” he wrote. “The shot I heard behind me I did not feel, nor did it hit me at all.  He was about 5 feet from me, but he hit my books.  Books one minute earlier I had checked out of the library, books that should not have stopped the bullet. But they did.”

Police killed the gunman when he refused to put down his weapon.  Three students were wounded including one that remains in critical condition.

“There is no way I should be alive,” Derfuss told NBC News. “It’s crazy: One minute I am checking out books, and the next I am crying on my bedroom floor thinking I shouldn’t be alive. Those books saved me, and God saved me.”

“The Florida State University community is extremely saddened by the shootings that took place early this morning at Strozier Library, in the very heart of campus, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of all those who have been affected,” university President John Thrasher wrote in a statement on Thursday. “The three students who have been injured are our highest priority followed by the needs of our greater university community. We will do everything possible to assist with their recovery.”