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With a Muslim population of somewhere around 4 million people, Germany has begun to recognize
that alienating this significant minority is not conducive to fostering understanding
and a mutual German identity. With this in mind, the state of Hesse in central Germany
is offering Islamic education for students from Muslim families in their elementary schools.
Speaking to the New York Times, one of Germany's education ministers, Nicola Beer, said, "I
think it's clear now that for years we made the mistake of alienating people."
German schools already offer similar classes in Protestant and Catholic teachings with
state approved curriculums. The attitude of exclusion many Muslims claim to feel has fostered
radicalization. A cell of Arab Muslims was implicated in planning 9/11 attacks, and another
group, the Sauerland cell, was involved in the 2012 Bonn railway station bombing.
While some governments around the world are trying to restrict public servants' dress
code by forbidding the use of religious symbols, the US military is headed in the opposite
direction. Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson, announced
that the country's soldiers may be allowed to wear items such as a head scarf or a turban,
or groom themselves in certain ways, as long as it does not interfere with their occupation.
These new rules would prohibit any discrimination against people intent on "expressing their
sincerely held beliefs." This expression can include wearing long beards, have a crucifix
tattooed on their body, wearing a yarmulke, or even request times off for prayer and holy
days. In its current form, the rules state that authorization has to be requested individually
and is not guaranteed to be granted in case of "adverse effect on military readiness,
mission accomplishment, unit cohesion, and good order and discipline."
While these accommodations should be welcomed by most religious minorities, a spokesperson
of the Sikh Coalition, Rajdeep Singh, claims that they are falling short of expectations.
He would like to see a guarantee that these authorizations would always be granted and
not be revocable.
The Infidel would like to remind members of the U.S. military that Pastafarians, or members
of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, can request to wear a strainer on their heads
and that Mondays as well as Fridays are considered sacred days of rest.
The Infidel has covered on multiple occasions the story of the slaughter of Muslims by the
Buddhist majority in Myanmar. Today, we are sad to announce that this is an ongoing crisis
and that at least seventy more Muslims were recently killed. This report originated with
the human rights organization Fortify Rights and has been repeated by the United Nations.
It's an undisputed fact that the approximately 1 million Rohingya Muslim minority living
in Myanmar has been oppressed for ages by the 60 million Buddhist majority. But since
50 years of military government ended in 2011, the violence has significantly increased.
A wave of slaughters was reported in June 2012. In 2013, more reports were echoed by
The Infidel including the burning of a mosque and another slaughter involving local police
forces.
This time, the local police supported by an angry mob of Buddhists armed with knives,
clubs, and machetes, carried out their own justice, one source reported. This latest
attack was supposedly started by the killing of a police officer and ended up with the
hunting down of the Muslim suspects and the slaughter of 70 people.
There have also been reports of "arbitrary detentions." Local state-run newspapers are
only telling one side of the story. Meanwhile, government officials are categorically denying
this latest event ever happened. They complained that this was "false news" and that spreading
this information could only worsen sectarian relations.
Finding accurate information is complicated by the fact that journalists are forbidden
in the region which is why the UN is asking for an independent investigation and guarantees
from the government that human rights will be respected.