Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Creeping sharia

Most municipal pools have dress codes. Bulky, cumbersome clothes are generally regarded as a safety hazard when wet - unless, of course, you're muslim.

Two Muslim women have successfully sued the authorities in Gothenburg, Sweden because it required them to wear the same clothing as other parents who brought their children to swim at the municipal pool. The Court of Appeal for western Sweden found the City of Gothenburg guilty of ethnic discrimination and ordered the authorities to pay the women 20,000 kronor ($3,000) each in damages.
This type of reasoning is not 'discrimination', but it is 'privilage' and runs counter to public safety.
Practitioners of fundamentalist religions have no room in their doctrine for reason, or for free will, either. That kind of thinking is not confined to Islam…and it doesn’t matter, really, unless you demand to be the exception to reasonable behavior and thereby potentially place your child in harm’s way. And had one of the children of these mothers come to harm in the swimming pool do you think they would also be suing the same authorities?