Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Sigh

University of Chicago Removes Pews from 88 Year-Old Chapel to Accommodate Muslim Prayers

Point #1:  This was done by the university's administrators.  In my experience, most educational administrators are non-theists.  They only understand religion as a form of political gesture.

Point #2:  Ecumenism is a mutualized experience.  What accommodation for Jews and Christians do the Islamic students make?  There is no mention of it in the article.  If there is something, then that would be a real story.  If it is nothing, as I suspect, then this is simply an empty gesture designed to superficially accommodate a vociferous and occasionally volatile minority.

Point #3:  The chapel will not be used by the Muslims, unless media are present.  Why?  Because the chapel is consecrated Christian space.  It is not, as the administrators assume through their general ignorance of American religion, simply a big room with a really neato spiritual vibe, dude.  It is what is known in Christian history and theology as a "sacred space"; a place set aside in holy deliberation for the contemplation of the eternal.  It cannot be "de-consecrated", at least not by a collection of wimpy non-theists who owe their job security to perpetual obsequiousness.  This is something that true Christians and Muslims both know, so naturally it would be news to the folks who run the place.