would not be tolerated in public.

Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest.
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
Hasten to worship
Hasten to success.
(Prayer is better than sleep)
Allah is greatest.
There is no God but Allah.


We can quibble that "Allah" just means "god," but then try telling a Muslim that Allah commands keeping the Sabbath, and we worship the Son of Allah.

Or convince a Jew or Xian that Muhammed is the messenger of Jehovah. The distinction is made and clear and only denied when necessary for CYA and PR. Or it's still denied and things get very offensive very quickly.

Let's not even consider Buddhists or other "non-Abrahamic" faiths. And atheists. For them, and others, many schools that had traditional peals Sunday morning cancelled them. And those were just bells. It was a point of liberal or progressive pride, to secularize the space to make it fair for all, regardless of tradition or culture. Now you have to produce your anti-racist street cred by being appropriately biased and defensive. Professional topology theoreticians should study the resulting knots people feel they have to tie themselves up into.

would advocate for being inclusive.

Your point about religion in the public square is a good one, but it is all over the place for christians. It's so infused into our culture that we don't even notice it. It's on the money, the pledge of allegiance and most political speeches. And they are most definitely talking about the christian god.

In light of that, I think that something like this that really causes no harm should be allowed. Sometimes making it fair for all means giving something to the groups that don't have any notable presence.

I am a strong advocate of separation, but also of inclusion. Sometimes that is a hard line to walk.

FWIW, I have heard these calls in Turkey and found them very moving and profound, even though I had no idea what they were saying.