AP: Muslim plan for U.S. college moves ahead

A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a “Muslim Georgetown.”

Advisers to the project have scheduled a June vote to decide whether the proposed Zaytuna College can open in the fall of next year, a major step toward developing the faith in America.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Religion News & Commentary, Education, Islam, Other Faiths, Religion & Culture

12 comments on “AP: Muslim plan for U.S. college moves ahead

  1. DJH says:

    If it is a “Muslim Georgetown” you can rest assured it will be a totally secular institution with little regard for its founding faith.

  2. Words Matter says:

    You beat me to it, DJH. I was going to ask whether the proposed college would be more Islamic than Georgetown is Catholic.

    What about academic freedom? Intellectual inquiry? Diversity? and all of the other shibboleths of modern higher indoctrination?

  3. Bystander says:

    Intellectual honesty ends where religious doctrine begins.

  4. Shumanbean says:

    #3, would you care to expand?

  5. libraryjim says:

    Of course, we have religious academic institutions of higher learning of all stripes, from Catholic and Protestant to Mormon, Jewish, Eastern, etc.

    What matters is if they will get academic accreditation. If they do not meet the requirements, then no matter how educated, most, if not all, of their graduates will hold a very expensive piece of paper when they are finished, and their resumes will end up in file 13 in the offices of most HR departments who are looking for graduates of ACCREDITED institutions.

    Jim Elliott
    Florida

  6. nwlayman says:

    Majoring in Koran, minor in Koran, ROTC, Geometry…What else?

  7. libraryjim says:

    Calligraphy, of course.

  8. Ad Orientem says:

    I wish them good luck. Such an institution will be subject to great scrutiny by the press etc. If it is to succeed in the United States it would have to be representative of the moderate wing of Islam. Given that Muslims in the United States are a fact of life, I think it desirable to promote the most moderate interpretation of their faith as possible. This could be a vehicle for promoting moderate Islam among its adherents.

    Christ is risen!
    John

  9. Bob Lee says:

    Press will NOT scrutinize. They will celebrate it with praise and adolation. Another NEW thing. Woopie.

  10. Ad Orientem says:

    Re #9
    You don’t watch FOX News very often do you?

  11. nwlayman says:

    The news item neglected to mention the new school will be using redundant (A lovely Anglican term) building space at Seabury. The first Dean of Students is said to be an unnamed Episcopalian laywoman and academic who is said to be in a unique position to act as a liasion between Anglicans and Muslims.

  12. libraryjim says:

    AO,
    Joseph Pulitzer used to say “If you didn’t read about it in “The World”, then it didn’t happen!”.

    Today we can paraphrase it to:

    “If you didn’t see it on CNN, it didn’t happen!”

    And, unfortunately, that’s the attitude of many Americans who only rely on the networks, CNN or MSNBC for their news.