LONDON (AP) — A Muslim student who wanted to pray during lunchtime lost a court fight Tuesday against a strict London school that had banned prayer on campus. A High Court judge said the female student had accepted when she enrolled in the school that she would be subject to religious restrictions. “She knew that the school is secular and her own evidence is that her mother wished her to go there because it was known to be strict,” Justice Thomas Linden wrote in an 83-page ruling. “Long before the prayer ritual policy was introduced, she and her friends believed that prayer was not permitted at school and she therefore made up for missed prayers when she got home.” The fight was over a rule put in place last year by the Michaela Community School after a small group of students who began praying in the schoolyard caused divisions at the school that spread to the community and led to a bomb threat. A Black teacher, who had confronted the praying students, was accused of “disgusting, Islamophobic behavior” and subjected to racist abuse in an online petition. |
Heartwarming moment driver saves dog from being run over by bringing traffic to a halt on busy sixChina Women's Basketball Head Coach Calls for Continuous ImprovementDAILY MAIL COMMENT: Israel must beware allTurning Paper into Art, One Sculpture at a TimeFrom Migrant Worker to Reform PioneerFeature: ALS Sufferer Inspires Others with 15,000Women Acrobatic Motorcycle Team Endeavor to Break World RecordWang and Hsieh Clinch Women's Doubles Title at Roland GarrosWoman Pursues Dreams in Countryside, Contributes to Rural RevitalizationTaikonaut Wang Yaping Sets China's Record for Longest Stay in Space