Roman Catholic Leaders in England want Muslim prayer rooms opened in every school.
The Daily Mail reported:
Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in every Roman Catholic school, Church leaders have said.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales also want special toilet facilities in schools to be adapted for Islamic cleaning rituals.
Their demands will shock both Catholic parents and the Government because they go way beyond the legal requirements on catering for the rights and needs of religious minorities.But the bishops are keen to answer critics who say religious schools sow division – and to show that they are leading the way in building bridges between people of different faiths.
The bishops acknowledge in a new document proposing the measures that 30 per cent of pupils attending Catholic schools hold a non-Christian faith.
“If practicable, a room (or rooms) might be made available for the use of pupils and staff from other faiths for prayer,” the bishops said in the document, Catholic Schools, Children of Other Faiths and Community Cohesion.
“Existing toilet facilities might be adapted to accommodate individual ritual cleansing which is sometimes part of religious lifestyle and worship,” they said.
“If such space is not available on a permanent or regular basis, extra efforts might be made to address such need for major religious festivals.”
The Islamic cleansing ritual, called “Wudhu”, is carried out by Muslims before they pray.
Islam teaches that Muslims are unfit for prayer if they have not performed Wudhu after breaking wind or using the toilet.
