A pro-family group is suing the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill for requiring students ito read, discuss and reflect on selected
passages from the Koran as part of a mandatory summer reading program.
The American Family Association Center for Law & Policy said it is suing on
behalf of three students and two alumni who complained about the required
reading of a book called Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations .
It was translated and introduced by Michael Sells, a religion professor at
Haverford University. The Center for Law & Policy describes him as an
"Islamicist."
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop small-group discussions of the book,
which were supposed to take place on Aug. 19 as part of UNC's freshman
orientation program.
The Center for Law & Policy said the required reading of selected Koran
passages "creates an unconstitutional endorsement of a particular religion
by a state university.
According to the AFA Center for Law & Policy, incoming freshmen received a
postcard from the University telling them they not only had to read the Koran -
they also had to take part in mandatory group discussions about the Koran and
listen to a CD reciting portions of the Koran in Arabic. The CD included a call
to prayer.
"The use of coerced attendance transforms this exercise from an academic
one to a religious one, complete with the chanting of the call to prayer which
freshmen had no choice but to endure," said Stephen Campton, chief counsel
of the Center for Law & Policy.
Although UNC-Chapel Hill did later add an "opt-out" policy, that
"does nothing to lessen the unconstitutional effect of the program,"
the Center for Law & Policy said. "If anything, it only heightens the
problem by exacerbating the divisiveness," said Crampton.
Students opting out of the Koran reading must write an essay defending their
decision.
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill designed its summer reading
program to help students and faculty get to know each other in a small-group
setting. The idea was to "improve the first-year student orientation
experience," according to the UNC website.
UNC says books selected for its summer reading program must be intellectually
stimulating, enjoyable, engaging, relatively short, up-to-date, and something
that will provoke interesting discussion.
The book selected this year - Approaching the Qur'an - includes 35 suras (short
passages) from the holy book of Islam. The UNC website describes the suras as
"poetic and intensely evocative, beautiful meditations, comparable in many
ways to the Psalms of David and other classic works of literature."
But the Center for Law & Policy notes that students will not find sura 4:89
among those included in Sells' book. Sura 4:89 states, "Those who reject
Islam must be killed."
According to the UNC website, "Westerners for centuries have been
alternately puzzled, attracted, concerned, and curious about the great
religious traditions of Islam. These feelings have been especially intense
since the tragic events of September 11."
UNC insists that Approaching the Qur'an is not a political document, but
rather a book that raises timely questions for college students and
"reflective" adults.
"The Carolina Summer Reading program is especially happy to offer a book
of enduring interest this year that also offers the Carolina community an
appropriate introduction to the literature and culture of a profound moral and
spiritual tradition that many of us now wish to learn more about."
UNC launched its summer reading program in 1999 to help incoming freshmen and
faculty get to know each other; and to set an academic tone and enhance the
intellectual climate on campus.