Federal Law, at Least, Is on Our Side

My friend, Cheikhna bin Mahfudh, was about to fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco recently and needed a quiet spot for his noontime Muslim prayer. Fortunately, his business class ticket gave him access to an exclusive airport lounge. Just when he was about done praying, which involves four units of standing, bowing and prostrating, and can look like yoga to the uninitiated, an employee came up to him and said, “Sir, it is not permissible to pray here!” He replied: “I was just exercising. Is that a problem?” The bemused man then said: “Oh, sorry. I thought you were praying.”

Public space is sacred in America. It has the sanctity of that small space you carve out on the grocery checkout conveyor belt, where the little bar you set down lets others know that they cross that line with consequences. We don’t like it when others don’t conform, when they deviate from the norm, and when they do, we become flustered.

The Wall Street Occupiers gained attention for using public spaces in ways that trouble others. And while once it may have been different, today religion is verboten in the public square. But is religious freedom under threat in America? In the law, it is definitely not. In fact, America now covenants more religious freedom than any other country on the planet.

The threat comes from elsewhere. The recent spate of “anti-Shariah” laws in many states reveals that religious bigotry is resurgent in the land of the free. And it is ignorance that feeds bigotry. Devoted Muslims pray five times a day, and three of those obligatory prayers usually fall during working hours, so it is not uncommon to find them supplicating in public places. But the fear of all things Muslim makes praying in public a suspicious activity that provokes panic, or warrants a call to 911. This too is not uncommon.

When it comes to religious freedom, the law of our land is strong, but the reality in American life should give us pause. The freedom to exercise seems alive and well, but to exercise your faith in public may be dangerous to your health.