Separation of Mosque and State?

No and it doesn't even beg that question, IMO. Obviously if a player is fasting during the day and having two-a-day practices, there is significant risk to them. Moving practice to night time is in the best interest for many of the players who fast during the day while still maintaining a practice schedule without risk to the players.

Personally, I think it's a logical choice if there's a significant number of Muslim players and it's necessary for those players to continue practicing. I commend them for it.

 

I don't think it's a very big deal, it's just looking out for their players, it's dangerous to be playing out in the summer heat without hydration

 

Seems to me the coach can schedule his practice whenever he wants. As long as no one is complaining (parents or students) I see no problem.

And to answer the original question: no, trying to be accepting and accommodating of someone's religious beliefs is NOT endorsing the belief. The sooner the WASP population in this country learns that, the better.

 

The practices end at 4 AM? What time does school start for them?

 

Seeiing as how they are doing 2 a days I'm willing to bet school hasnt started.

 

Big difference: nobody is being asked/forced to participate in WORSHIP with the football practice. Making an entire school participate in a prayer (which is a form of worship) would constitute endorsement of the belief. Pausing for a moment of silence, during which those who wish to pray can do so and those who do not wish to pray can choose not to, should suffice. To argue otherwise is to foist individual religious beliefs on others, and that's not kosher (pun intended ).

As for creationism, that's really a topic for another thread, but until it's the predominant scientific theory (which it isn't, nor probably ever will be, given the preponderance of evidence against it), it should not be taught within public schools.

 

So its ok for a school to reschedule practice for religious reasons but its wrong for a judge to display the 10 commandments or to display a nativity scene?

None of these infringe on the rights in forcing someone to worship any religion. It just baffles me that some people believe these are two different arguments.

 

To me it sounds like religion interfering with school. It's could potentially be an issue if they are forcing non-Muslims to practice odd hours because of a religious reason. But it's not an issue because nobody would rather see them not practice.

If the Rockets were garaunteed to win more games if Clutch the bear came out with a giant cross that said "LOUDER", I would cheer like a mofo.

 

in the first instance it's the government or agents thereof displaying religion

in the second instance it's the government or agents thereof accomodating the religion of individuals.

i think they're very different.

 

On the one hand, they are different, on the other hand, in both cases, something is forced onto people for religious reasons. I wouldn't see it as a big deal, but clearly, the non-Muslims have to adapt to weird training hours to accomodate the religion of the Muslims.

 

This happens with Christianity all the time. Christmas and Easter have always been scheduled around. I've seen it happen for Jewish high holy days, too. So scheduling around a Muslim holiday shouldn't be out of the ordinary.

 

if it was one player, it'd be one thing, but dearborn, mi, has one of the largest muslim populations in the nation. i'm guessing they wouldn't have enough players to practice if they tried to have them during the day.

 

The Muslim students are going to fast. This leaves the school with several options: (1) let the students skip practice, (2) force the students to practice at the regular time, (3)force the students to quit the team, (4) rearrange practice time.

Option (1) would be bad for the team because those players do need to practice if they're going to be part of the team. Option (2) would potentially open up the school to law suits if something happened to one of the players. Option (3) would again hurt the team especially if these students are some of the better players on the team. Option (4) might not make some of the non-Muslim students happy, but they probably prefer that to having a crappy team (1,3) or a dead teammate (2).

 

I think it makes sense, given the circumstances, but I can see how people point out the similarities to the other situation.

 

So the Muslim students are forcing their way on the others and making them adapt?

 

Like the fact that "winter break" always includes Christmas and "spring break" is often adjusted each year to include the week before Easter?

 

Is this going to cause outrage among Muslims?

 

You mean scheduling breaks around Christian holidays? I don't know, it might amongst a few. Does the scheduling of the football practice cause outrage amongst non-Muslims?

I guess I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.