Where is the ACLU?

The following article was published in the WorldNetDaily.com

The Kansas City International Airport has added several foot-washing basins in restrooms to accommodate a growing number of Muslim taxicab drivers who requested the facilities to prepare for daily Islamic prayer, WND has learned.

The move concerns airport police who worry about Middle Eastern men loitering inside the building. After 9/11, the airport beefed up its police force to help prevent terrorist attacks.

"Why are we constructing places of worship for them inside our airports?" said an airport official who requested anonymity. "Why are we catering to their rituals? We don't do it for any other religion."

Other major airports also are dealing with increased demands from Muslim cabdrivers.

For instance, cabbies at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport recently caused a stir when they refused to carry passengers possessing alcoholic beverages or accompanied by seeing-eye dogs. Alcohol is forbidden in Islam, and dogs are considered unclean.

There are approximately 250 taxicab drivers operating at KCI Airport in Missouri, one of the largest airports in the U.S., linking some 10 million passengers between mid-America and other U.S. cities. Approximately 70 percent of the drivers are of Middle Eastern heritage and practice the Islamic faith, sources say.

KCI Airport Police are responsible for the cab drivers, including the holding areas of the building. The KCI Aviation Department, which oversees the police, recently expanded the taxicab facility restroom area to include the construction of four individual foot-washing benches.

The cost of the project is not immediately known. A spokeswoman for the engineering department said she could not break out the figures.

KCI Airport Police Capt. Jim Harmon declined comment, explaining, "This is a touchy subject."

He referred questions to the KCI Aviation Department.

In a cleansing ritual known as ablution, Muslims are required to wash their feet before praying to Allah five times a day. They often complain that public restroom sinks do not accommodate their needs. Floor-level basins make it easier for them to perform their foot-washing ritual.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has pressed government agencies and businesses to install the foot basins in restrooms.

The controversial Muslim lobby group advises employers to allow Muslim workers time to perform both the washing ritual and prayer, which "is usually about 15 minutes," according to a pamphlet CAIR publishes called, "An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices."

It is sad that many government agencies, business, and schools are catering to Muslim insistence that public institutions provide for their religious needs. This demand that American society accommodates to Islamic religious practices is an evidence that what is happening in Europe is beginning to happen in America.

America is an open society where every individual can practice his or her religion. People in this country are also free not practice any religion if they so desire. However, discriminating against blind people and their seeing-eye dogs on religious grounds violates American principles and laws.

If Christians had demanded the Kansas City International Airport to provide for their religious needs, there would be an uproar in Kansas City and the ACLU would be all over the airport authority with threats of lawsuits.

Where is the public outcry for what is happening in Kansas City? And where is the public outcry in Minneapolis over cab drivers’ refusal to carry passengers accompanied by seeing-eye dogs? Maybe a lot of people are quiet because it is an evil time (Amos 5:13).

Where is the ACLU? They are not involved in this issue because Christians did not make the request for foot-washing basins.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: ACLU, Kansas City, Muslims,