Duke University Cancels Plans for Muslim Call to Prayer

By Charlene Aaron

CBN News Reporter

Friday, January 16, 2015

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Duke University has canceled plans to use the school's famous chapel bell tower for a weekly, amplified Muslim call to prayer.

The university was set to broadcast a weekly call to prayer, also known as adhan, on its campus starting Jan. 16, but said Thursday they reconsidered the plan.

"Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students," Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, said. "However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect."

Duke, which was founded in the late 19th century, was founded by Methodists and Quakers and its divinity school has historically been connected to the United Methodist Church. The possibility of the call to prayer broadcast outraged some in the Christian community.

Evangelist Franklin Graham took to social media to blast the school over the Muslim call to prayer.

"As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn't submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism," Graham wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday.

Graham urged Duke alumni to withhold support because of Muslim violence against Christians.
    
Under the canceled plan, members of the school's Muslim Students Association would have recited the call lasting about three minutes from the bell tower.

Meanwhile, various Christian denominations hold prayer and worship services in the chapel. The school also allows Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists to hold services on campus.

Franklin Graham Takes Hard Stand Against This Muslim Prayer

11/18/2014 MARK ANDREWS  CHARISMA NEWS

Franklin Graham slammed the National Cathedral in Washington for allowing a Muslim prayer service in the Christian house of worship. (CharismaNews file)

Franklin Graham, who is widely respected as the heir-apparent to his father, iconic evangelist Billy Graham, isn't shy about speaking out for God's truth. So when he saw Christians compromise their principles to reach out to false religions in the name of ecumenicalism, it was no surprise that it drew a harsh response.

Graham this week slammed the National Cathedral in Washington for allowing Muslims to hold their first prayer service there last Friday.

"It's sad to see a church open its doors to the worship of anything other than the One True God of the Bible who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to earth to save us from our sins," said Graham, head of the Samaritan's Purse humanitarian aid ministry.

The younger Graham took to Facebook and spoke to the news media to register his extreme displeasure that a Christian cathedral—long a Washington landmark—would willingly be handed over to Muslims by the Cathedral's Episcopalian leadership.

Muslims, in separate groups of men and women, took off their shoes, spread their prayer rugs facing east toward Mecca, turning their backs on the crucifix in front of the chapel, knelt and prayed.

"Jesus was clear when He said, 'I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,'" (John 14:6) Graham said in a Facebook post.

Of the many comments on his post, Carol Layaog wrote, "The Lord told us these things must be, in the last days they will call evil good and good they will call evil! That doesn't make it any less heartbreaking! 'I came to them and they knew me not!'"

Some suggested that Christians and Muslims serve the same God. Graham disagreed strongly—as did Christine Weick, 50, from Michigan, who rose in the midst of the service and shouted, "Jesus Christ died on that cross. He is the reason we are to worship only Him. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. We have ... allowed you your mosques in this country. Why don't you worship in your mosques and leave our churches alone? We are a country founded on Christian principles."

She was escorted from the cathedral and turned over to police, who took her outside and let her go without charges.

Rock music vs. prayer calls

Rock music vs. prayer calls

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 | Aviel Schneider

The muezzin calls to prayer five times a day. During the daytime, no one is annoyed by it, but during the night and early morning the Islamic prayer is particularly bothering the non-Muslims eager to get some sleep.

For many years now, the Jewish residential quarter of French Hill, Jerusalem, has been afflicted with the noisy prayer calls of their Arabian neighbors from Isawiya. Now, however, things seem to be changing as the Jewish residents are determined to teach their neighbors a lesson. “We are going to play some rock music one hour before the muezzin's call to prayer, at 4:00 a.m. sharp,“ a disturbed Jewish activist told the news website Maariv. “By taking this measure we would like to show the other side how difficult it has been for us for all these years. We cannot bear this any longer,“ he continued.

The mayor of Isawiya promised to tackle the situation by talking to the muezzin and convincing him to reduce the megaphone’s volume but that didn't help. Now, however, residents believe the four huge loudspeakers in the direction of the village will make their Muslim neighbors change their mind.

Initially considering the option of Hasidic or Oriental music, the dwellers of French Hill have finally opted for the loud rock, aimed at showing the level of their annoyance. Hailed as the fight between the Muslim and Jewish muezzins in the Israeli media, some people believe that should the experiment prove successful, there will be other neighborhoods eager to follow suit by implementing the same technique.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23290/language/en-US/Default.aspx