"If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"...Accommodating Islam

There's a popular children's book out some of you may have seen called "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.."

The book recounts how if you give a mouse a cookie, it will probably ask you for a glass of milk, and so on, always upping the demands.

That pretty much describes what's happening these days at America's universities when it comes to making special accommodations for the Religion Of Peace.

A case in point is the recent confab at Harvard over the desire of six female Muslim Harvard students, backed by the Harvard College Women's Center, for women-only hours at one of the university's gymnasiums.

The students' argument was that since Islam forbids them from wearing revealing clothing like leotards in the presence of men, the school ought to accommodate their beliefs by provide man-free hours at one of its gymnasiums so they can work out without the leering presence of any males in the building.

Harvard agreed, and made the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic man-free for six hours per week.

No problem, right?

There are plenty of other gyms on campus, after all and it's just a lousy six hours per week,isn't it? And it's all about tolerance and diversity, right?

No, it's quite a bit more than that.

Universities like Harvard make a lurid fetish of gender equality and diversity. But in this case, they decided that Islam's needs were more important than these supposedly dearly held principles. Or to put it another way, what Harvard has decided (and they're by no means alone in this) is that Islam merits special privileges and considerations above and beyond what the university is prepared to offer to other groups.

Imagine, if you will, what Harvard might say to evangelical Christians who requested gay-free hours in one of the gymnasiums.Or for that matter, to homosexuals who requested gym hours set aside for gays only.

And then we could talk about Harvard's commitment to diversity and tolerance in the light of its refusal to allow an ROTC program on campus, regardless of US law or the wishes of those students who might wish to avail themselves of it.

What we're seeing here, of course, is Orwell's old phrase about some animals being more equal than others, played out on supposedly liberal college campuses.

Harvard's motivation, of course, is easy to understand. You merely follow the money. And unfortunately, it's not just Harvard.

Whether it's special footbaths restricted to Muslims, restricted gym hours, university fees and support for blatantly racist and anti-Semitic Islamist friendly speakers under the guise of academic freedom or campus rooms at public universities being taken over exclusively by the likes of the Muslim Students Association or ISNA for religious/political purposes, many of America's universities are giving the mouse a cookie, a glass of milk and as much cheese as the mouse demands.

And speaking of the mouse upping those demands, that's already happened at Harvard. For the first time, the university not only caved in to the demand of Muslim groups on campus and spent university money on promoting something called "Islam Awareness Week", it allowed the Muslim call to prayer, the adhana, to be broadcast all across the campus from the steps of the main library.

To those of you who might feel that this is no different than a Christmas tree, chapel bells on Sunday or lighting a menorah on campus, I would ask you to remember that none of these activities are anything like as intrusive as a high volume amplified call blasted five times a day to the Faithful that translated essentially says that all other religions are inferior and false.

It's one thing to proudly and quietly display a symbol of your faith. It's another thing entirely to broadcast your disdain for non-believers at high decibel levels in an environment where you are a minority.

And need I mention the obvious? This is occurring in a context where hard line Saudi funded wahabi Islam is aggressively seeking to take over the Muslim world and the west. That's the 500 pound gorilla no one in academia dares mention.

Part of that takeover, of course, includes pressure on moderate, peaceful Muslims. Thanks to the Harvard administration, many of them will now feel forced to go along and conform to the strictures imposed by the hardliners.

Whether it's by embarrassing Muslim women who might think it is acceptable to use a mixed gym or compelling Muslims to pray by broadcasting a public call to prayer, the tactics have the same motivation....to curb any dissident tendencies and get the troops in line.

As I've said before to my Muslim brothers and sisters, if many of you persist in remaining silent, people like CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and the other hardliners are going to become your voice for you. And the results of that could be more serious than any of us are willing to imagine.

It's a slippery slope, once you give a mouse a cookie.

There's a lot of wisdom in children's books....