A nugget of joy from Al-AP today. After the Imams who acted in a suspect manner on board a flight a couple of weeks ago created the publicity it appears they were seeking, now Muslim groups are calling for special secluded prayer rooms in airports, where they can go pray toward Mecca without people around thinking they’re terrorists. If you read the police report, of course, you’ll find that kneeling toward Mecca isn’t the thing these Imams were doing that was suspicious. Just as many hospitals have very neutral “chapels,” so do some airports have meditation rooms, and I think rightly so.

That aside, though, I think a special room just for Muslims is a great idea. Essentially, they’re asking to be profiled. Seeing as, in the last 30 years, nearly all, if not all, airline hijackings have involved Muslims, seems like the TSA folks could just plant a few plainclothes guys in the meditation rooms at all times, maybe some surveillance cameras, and prevent more 9/11’s from happening. Of course, this would be met with cries of bigotry and racism. But hey, if they want their own special room, then they are segregating themselves. My take? Consider the difficulties. Suppose Muslims of different sects end up in the same “Muslim prayer room.” We know the different sects don’t get along too well, so there will be fights. And before long, we’ll be asked to have a Sunni prayer room, and a Shiite prayer room, and so on.

Let’s take this a step further, with my tongue planted firmly in cheek:

Personally, I think each denomination of Christianity should have its own prayer room too. After all, if I were a Baptist and was praying in a generic meditation room, and a Mariolatrous Catholic walked in with a rosary, and started praying to Mary the Queen of Heaven (who’s really a pagan goddess) and asking her for help that only God can give, I would probably need an airsickness bag.

We all know that Methodists, Lutherans, and Calvinists would have no problem with this since all three of them spoke ad nauseum about the importance of Marian devotion [/sarcasm], but remember, I’m a Baptist…so I don’t care what any of these three guys has to say. All I know is that there’s somebody praying to those beads and that little man on the cross and Mary and that’s idolatry, and therefore offensive. I shouldn’t be subjected to such religious terrorism.

See how this could go completely crazy.

By the way, we could substitute the word Baptist in the above illustration with various other denominational names. I chose to pick on Baptists because I used to be one…I intend no offense, but rather to make a point through humor and absurdity. If you couldn’t tell that from my tone, I am surprised you found my blog.