Students question Catholic school's emphasis on Christmas

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Kyle Perisic, Leadership Institute Intern - Campus Reform




Students at a major Catholic university are upset at the school’s emphasis on Christmas, saying they wish other religious holidays would receive equal attention on campus.

At Loyola University Chicago, Muslim students told The Loyola Phoenix that they wish Muslim holidays would receive the same attention as Christian holidays, despite Muslims accounting for less than five percent of the student population.

In fact, Catholics comprise 60 percent of the 2016 freshman class, though the school does not specify the number of students who are Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, or other Christian denominations, merely noting that 40 percent have a religious affiliation other than Catholic.

According to the Phoenix, there are approximately 800 Muslim students at the university, which accounts for less than five percent of the university’s 16,673 students.

Sajid Ahmed, prayer coordinator for the Muslim Student Association (MSA), told the Phoenix that Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, is “a bit dampened” at Loyola.

“At home it’d be a big family thing, dress up and go to the mosque. We’d spend the day together and celebrate…compared to that, college Eid has been less,” Ahmed said.

Noting that “the atmosphere [in Muslim based countries] is a lot different than [in the United States]” because Muslim countries celebrate Eid the way Americans celebrate Christmas, Ahmed expressed longing for the university to make Eid festivities more prominent “so that [Muslim students] can feel connected with their heritage and with their religion.”

However, Bryan Goodwin, associate director of the student complex, noted that Loyola already takes steps to make its festivities more inclusive, such as displaying banners that say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” and expressed willingness to recognize any religious holiday upon request.

“We feel that we do a good job at the student center of allowing other faiths to [join the holiday season],” Goodwin told the Phoenix. “We pride ourselves on wanting to make sure we’re aware. We always lend ourselves the conversation.”

Campus Reform reached out to the university additional information on the topic, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

[Griffin]

Joke right? Assuming a Christian would be allowed or even want to for that matter join a muslim school, they would be thrown out for merely suggesting their beliefs to be honored.

[Goofy]

*sigh*

[Teh One Who Knocks]

A Catholic school has no business promoting Christmas or any other Christian holiday

[Goofy]

A Catholic school has no business promoting Christmas or any other Christian holiday

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Hey!

[DemonGeminiX]

They let Muslim students into a Catholic University? They must be hard up for cash.

[lost in melb.]

Fair enough point. The other celebrations should get a bit of attention, too.

[DemonGeminiX]

No offense but, you've never been to a school centered around a particular religion, have you?

And are Muslim schools celebrating Christian, Jewish, and Hindu holidays? I guarantee you they aren't.

[lost in melb.]

You don't know that for sure...at the Islamic school that i work at they learn about other faiths, accept them and paid lip service to easter, etc. Ramadan is optional.

Do they pay attention to Jewish and Bhuddist holidays? I don't know. Probably not.

[DemonGeminiX]

Paying lip service's not exactly celebrating holidays of other faiths though. And the Muslims aren't asking the Catholic University to pay lip service to their holidays or their faith. As intolerant as this sounds, if they wanted to be somewhere where they'd celebrate their holidays, then they shouldn't have enrolled at a college dedicated to a faith other than their own. They knew what they're getting into. They need to shut the hell up.

And no, I'm pretty certain that Muslims wouldn't even pay lip service to Hindu or Jewish holidays. I know that Muslims hate Hindus, probably more than they hate anybody else, and it's pretty much an open fact that they despise Jews, so...

Buddhists? I couldn't tell you. It never came up with my Pakistani and Turkish friends.

Yeah, but seriously, they hate the Hindus. I don't know why. I'm not quite sure they know why either, but they do.

[deebakes]

[RBP]

My fiance is a Loyola grad. She thought the article was ridiculous but for another reason.

Loyola is incredibly inclusive. The Jesuits by nature are incredibly inclusive. There really is not an emphasis on Catholicism. We had to take two religion courses, that's it. Mine were "women in religion" and "African religions". The African religion course was taught by a white man whose nephew was a member of the nation of Islam and came to talk to the class. Hell, when I was there they were on their 5th of 6th annual drag show.

[Muddy]

This is so f****** stupid I feel dumb just commenting in here.

[RBP]

This is so f****** stupid I feel dumb just commenting in here.