F R E E D O M ! ! !

This is just getting ridiculous.

Who knew that "Curves" gyms are now mosques!

of course Fox News is the exact opposite - skin, heels, and T&A are their lifeblood. You should catch the Fox & Friends pre-show Fox & Friends First I thought it was a boner pill informercial the first time I ran across it.

boner pill infomercial indeed!

I could find one that I could post due to the lengthy URL titles - those tend to be problematic.

It is like a Fox Blonde Jr. Miss pageant. One slip up by the current blonde and they have someone ready to replace them.

The idea that the YMCA, in conjunction with a government entity, is doing this due to religious reasoning. One need not use Fox News to see the problem with that approach.

Not seeing the issue here.

Not saying it's an issue. It's a rule backed up by a government entity.

Segregating sports activities by sex is a perfectly normal thing, backed up by government entities.

They still do that with gym classes in public schools, yes?

The separation of government and religion is not a perfect science for some.

There is nothing unusual about sex segregated sports activities, which can be entirely justified on non-religious grounds.

There is no distinction being made here on the basis of religion. If non-Muslim girls can attend, that is the end of the issue.

If Muslims prefer sex segregated dormitories at state universities, that is not a religious distinction either.

I can walk into a gym and watch girls basketball practice without freaking anyone out about privacy.

I couldn't do that, in that pool area. Their privacy concern is entirely different.



That said, this isn't just religious, it's also cultural, and I'm glad some effort is being made to accommodate them. I just wish they didn't feel the 'need' for that level of 'privacy'. Seems like a repetition of our own culture in the 50's, and such. Something I feel we are better than we were in the 50's as a whole society for having more or less moved beyond, and I look forward to them 'melting in' and doing so as well.

(The 'sharia law' thing is of course a total non-sequitur/canard by Fox)

it can often involve opposing random men walking into a swimming pool area during a school-age girls swim group.

Well, I guess unlikely that child would be a muslim, but you see where I'm going.

There are idiots out there incited by the likes of FOX News who may plan to "visit" or harass those young girls.

No one, especially children and their parents should be fearful of something as benign as swimming lessons.

What better way to assist in integrating this immigrant community into American life is there than by providing the children of that community an opportunity to participate in an activity that might otherwise be denied them due to their parents' cultural prohibitions?

That YOU have a problem with it smacks of intolerence for differences in cultural norms.

(edited for misspelled word)

That YOU don't have a problem with it smacks of indifference to Democratic goals.

Any religion.

They are simply giving these girls one hour to swim modestly. What if pools forced people to swim naked? How would that make people feel? That is how these girls feel about swimming in bikinis. For them, it's like being naked. One hour, then everything goes back to the way it was before. What the hell is wrong with that? I support this pool and the girls in this decision.

Mixing government and religion is currently a fuzzy science. Some are 100% against it, others for it. There are others that entertain a mix of both.

The police department supports ALL swimming classes because swimming classes reduce the risk of people drowning.

Or would you prefer that Somali girls drown?

Are you okay with the city being "Saint Paul"?

There is not much else to add.

in order to straighten out the rules, so that the YMCA is not charged with discrimination by the federal government. Sometimes entities have to discuss these things beforehand to make sure they are following the rules not breaking them.

The Y is not part of government

The ban makes available a facility which is normally unavailable to a specific group without harming the majority.

This facility could also be offered to other groups with similar religious objections - such as Haredi and Hasidic Jews both male and female.

Shocked, shocked! that they would allow religion to influence their activities in any way ...

Wouldn't be prudent, I think.

for that sport.

Did you really think they don't have indoor pools?

but we've had stuff like indoor plumbing and indoor swimming pools for some time now. Minnesota folks learn to swim, because there are 15,000 lakes in our state, and swimming is an essential safety skill.

We also have the largest population of Somali immigrants in the country. We welcomed them here, just as we welcomed the Hmong immigrants. We're a friendly city that way. Now, if the Somali young women want to learn to swim, but have modesty rules their religion teaches them to follow, well, St. Paul, that hick town, is happy to provide them with swimming lessons in a way that doesn't violate their modesty. Pretty provincial of us, isn't it?

Now, you'll have to excuse me. I need to take my ax out and chop wood for the winter. Plowin' season is over in St. Paul.

Can wholesale destruction of American culture be far behind?

Mark my words!

Soon the IRS will be requiring everyone to use Arabic numerals on tax returns!

And next our very language itself will disappear under a great wave of Arabic words, like admiral, adobe, albatross, alcohol, alcove, alfalfa, algebra, algorithm, alkali, apricot, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, ... Some of you may already have heard some of these words!

It's a catastrophe!

and add your line about the IRS requiring everyone to use Arabic numerals...We'll track how long it is before Gretchen Carlson, Sarah Palin, Limbaugh and other right wing hacks start howling about it.

the young men`s CHRISTIAN association is letting MUSLIM GIRLS swim in their pool!

what will happen next ????

Fox "News".

" Similar classes are now starting at towns across the Midwest. We'll keep watching this story for you."
sick

We'll keep stirring up this flaming bag of poop for you!!!!!

Our pretty, blonde, lily-white spokesliar is outraged and you can trust her!!!!!

Unless there are no religious restrictions and unless there are also boys only sessions, I have a problem with this program.

out for an hour.

Nor do they care less what it actually is.

if this helps to get more people to learn how to swim then go for it

FUCK FOX "NEWS"

because they have special hours for Ramadan.

Curves For Women is a terrorist organization.

anti-woman reproductive wars. "Birthright" and CPC's. (Christian Pregnancy Centers) recieve large donations. This fact is not openly admitted by Curves--they're quiet about it. Women go there with no idea of what they are helping to fund.

Some Curves give out jesus literature. (I don't know if that's standard operating procedure at ALL of them.)

as long as they don't start closing the beach for few hours every week so that these women can swim at the beach without any men around.

I totally understand that many conservative Muslim parents will allow their daughter to take swim class with this new facilities (closing down pool, no men around , only female lifeguards). So, i support this.

I went to the indoor pool in my apartment building and the door was locked. When I knocked on it, a young man on the other side of the door explained that the pool was closed to the residents. He was a member of an orthodox Jewish community, and the men were not allowed to swim with women. (See Mel Brooks' "History of the World"/The Inquisition) Too bad Faux Noise didn't exist then because I'm sure they would have been OUTRAGED at the obvious take-over of Orthodox Judaism and (of course) war on Christianity.

up of senior women. There was a big kerfuffle when some elderly gentlemen wanted to join. The women did not want them in their space. The issue was solved when one of the sessions was made "girls" only and the rest open to men. It had nothing to do with sharia law but old women not wanting to wears bathing suits in front of men.

Also, in my dance classes in college in 1958, some of the women, who were from the ME and other parts of Asia were excused from wearing leotards and allowed to wear whatever baggy workout clothes they desired and it was for reasons of modesty, but not a single one of us were required to follow sharia law.

Keep in-mind the UAE is a Muslim country 'nominally' under Sharia law... anyway at the beginning everyone swam... granted more conservative families didn't wear revealing suits.

By the time I left, fundamentalists were pushing for all kinds of concessions which segregated out co-ed facilities and restricted access...


FAUX got it wrong as usual... it's not really about Sharia at all...

I don't believe in giving-in to any kind of religious fundamentalism.

that when you live in the "land of 10,000 lakes" learning to swim is a good idea.

They are anti-immigrant racists.

IMO

Surely Fox News would be horrified if that happened!