[url=http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070922/LOCAL/709220487/-1/LOCAL17]Sinks for Muslims at airport are up in air
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THIS STORY IS COMING OUT OF INDIANA:

Airport officials, facing complaints from the public and criticism from a local Baptist minister, say plans to accommodate the prayer needs of Muslim taxi drivers in a new terminal's design are a long way from being "set in stone."

• The sinks: The foot sinks, estimated to cost less than $600 to purchase and install, would not be paid for with taxpayer funds, said airport project spokesman David Dawson. Like most of the expansion project, airline revenues will pay most of the costs. Federal funds are scheduled to cover about 10 percent of the project, but only for flight and safety equipment.

Special floor-level sinks that would make it easier for Muslims to wash their feet before prayer are part of the current plans for restrooms that would serve taxi drivers in a new airport terminal due for completion next year.

But airport officials, who last week said the sinks were needed to solve a potential safety hazard from wet floors and to make the restrooms more sanitary, said Friday that plans for the foot sinks were "only preliminary."
"We're really a long way from having this set in stone," said Airport Authority spokesman David Dawson.

Complaints about the foot sinks, Dawson said, have been steady for about a week, since reports about them in The Indianapolis Star and other local media. One person objecting is the Rev. Jerry Hillenburg, a Baptist pastor who lost a son in Iraq two years ago.

Hillenburg, who wrote Mayor Bart Peterson about his concerns this week, said putting sinks on public property would be unconstitutional, given that their primary purpose is to serve Muslims.

Huh?

Where do people get strange ideas like this?

Well, let's see...if they put in foot-washing sinks to accomodate the Muslims, they're going to have to include some fonts of holy water for the Catholics, a swimming pool or two for the baptisimal practices of the Baptists, a yoga room for the Hindus, a few stone or brick stupas containing the relics of the Buddha for the Buddhists...well, you get the picture.

Prayer is prayer...but this is going far too far, in my opinion. Taxi drivers are driving taxis to make money. It's their job. They must choose whether or not to let their religion interfere with their jobs and vice versa.

You make a very good point, Cat. But I am willing to bet you are the only person who would state that is the reason why you don't support the sinks. Sounds like the Baptist minister just doesn't like Muslims because the article strangely makes a point of saying his son was killed in Iraq...how exactly does that have anything on earth to do with foot baths? I'm inclined to think that most of the protests are from the people who think that every Muslim is a terrorist and training rebels in their back yards.

I agree with Cathrine.

I'm supportive of anything like this as long as other religions are given equal time...or in this case, equal SPACE.

I think you're exactly right, lefty, about the "good" preacher. I'm sorry he's lost a son in Iraq, but so have hundreds of other parents, and never mind all the Iraqis who have lost their children, parents, brothers, sisters, and other family members.

Here's another thought along the line of the foot sinks...Are Muslims the only taxi drivers at this airport? I'd say NOT...so, for the Catholic taxi drivers, they must be allowed to go to Mass at the airport, so a Catholic priest must be brought in, along with all the things connected to that that religious ritual. Likewise for any other religious taxi driver...fairness for all is the only thing that counts here. No doubt the Protestants will want the Ten Commandments written in stone somewhere for all to see! Then the Star of David will require equal space, as well as a cross, and...somewhere, by golly, there should be a WICCAN symbol and a place for those Wiccan taxi drivers to do whatever it is they do to observe their religion!

The best thing to do would be to simply say NO to ALL religious STUFF/rituals that interfere with routine jobs at the airport! If the people can't handle that, then get another job that allows them to observe their rituals as they want.

Just think. If we turned the airport into a mall of many faiths, there would be no airplanes flying over spewing pollution and dropping the contents of their toilets on the people below. (My place has been drenched at least twice.)

The world would imporve right there!