We here in Minnesota are on the firing line on these matters of religion. The latest controversy arises over the refusal of some cashiers to ring up sales of pork products:
Beryl Dsouza was late and in no mood for delays when she stopped at a Target store after work two weeks ago for milk, bread and bacon. So Dsouza was taken aback when the cashier -- who had on the traditional headscarf, or hijab, worn by many Muslim women -- refused to swipe the bacon through the checkout scanner.
"She made me scan the bacon. Then she opened the bag and made me put it in the bag," said Dsouza, 53, of Minneapolis. "It made me wonder why this person took a job as a cashier."
In the latest example of religious beliefs creating tension in the workplace, some Muslims in the Twin Cities are adhering to a strict interpretation of the Qur'an that prohibits the handling of pork products. Instead of swiping the items themselves, they are asking non-Muslim employees or shoppers to do it for them.
Once again, there doesn't seem to be any consensus among the Muslims themselves on whether their religion bans scanning the bar code on a package of bacon and putting it in a bag. Somehow, I doubt that the Koran contains anything directly on point.
While most customers have been offended or worse by cashiers' refusal to ring up some of their purchases, others have urged accommodation of the Somalis' customs--or alleged customs, since the Somalis themselves are divided:
Dr. Shah Khan, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Minnesota in Fridley... urged people to remember the extraordinary adjustments many Somalis have made in coming to the Twin Cities. "Many of these people are refugees. They may have been tortured. And they came here having never held a book in English," he said. "They're already adapting to our society. We need to adapt to them, too."
Sorry, no. Refugees who come to America need to learn that if you want to be a cashier in a store that sells food, it isn't up to you to critique the customers' purchases. Likewise if you're a cab driver; you don't get to choose your fares based on your approval or disapproval of the contents of their packages. That isn't how it works here, and the sooner that immigrants learn that they can't erect a little zone of sharia law around themselves, the better off they will be.
PAUL ADDS: I agree, but don't be surprised if the Bush administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) gets involved on behalf of "sharia law."
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 4)
1. John;
I think you being extremely unfair in your selective quoting of the startribune story which cited a number of other instances where the workplace accommodates other people's religious preferences including people who would not work on Saturdays, doctors who would not fill BC bills, morning after bills, etc.
What I draw from reading the news paper article was that this was not really like the taxi cab issue and that there is precedent of special treatment to these kinds of cases.
It is unfortunate but not totally surprising that you would simply shovel everything else to the side and focus on the part that is concerned with Muslim workers.
Mark at 5:33PM on Mar 14th 2007
2. John;
I think you being extremely unfair in your selective quoting of the startribune story which cited a number of other instances where the workplace accommodates other people's religious preferences including people who would not work on Saturdays, doctors who would not fill BC bills, morning after bills, etc.
What I draw from reading the news paper article was that this was not really like the taxi cab issue and that there is precedent of special treatment to these kinds of cases.
It is unfortunate but not totally surprising that you would simply shovel everything else to the side and focus on the part that is concerned with Muslim workers.
Mark at 5:33PM on Mar 14th 2007
3. John;
I think you being extremely unfair in your selective quoting of the startribune story which cited a number of other instances where the workplace accommodates other people's religious preferences including people who would not work on Saturdays, doctors who would not fill BC bills, morning after bills, etc.
What I draw from reading the news paper article was that this was not really like the taxi cab issue and that there is precedent of special treatment to these kinds of cases.
It is unfortunate but not totally surprising that you would simply shovel everything else to the side and focus on the part that is concerned with Muslim workers.
Mark at 5:33PM on Mar 14th 2007
4. Amen, Brother! http://www.tomheroes.com/images/COMIC%20porky%20pig%20112.bmp
Rick at 5:38PM on Mar 14th 2007
5. Can we volunteer to return them to Mogadishu? I hear it's been quite peaceful since the Ethiopian army went through there a couple months back.
JeffShultz at 6:04PM on Mar 14th 2007
6. Amen, Brother!
http://www.tomheroes.com/images/COMIC%20porky%20pig%20112.bmp
Rick at 6:10PM on Mar 14th 2007
7. Let’s see... Christian pharmacists can be fired by Kroger for refusing to dispense a pill that kills people, but some think that Muslim cashiers should retain their jobs when they refuse to handle pork product... I wonder what kind of people agree with both of those positions?
KSM at 7:49PM on Mar 15th 2007
8. So you must also be opposed to pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control or morning-after pills on religious grounds?
Jim Smith at 6:42PM on Mar 14th 2007
9. So, I assume you are also opposed to pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and morning after pills?
Jim Smith at 6:46PM on Mar 14th 2007
10. At one time I worked in the hospitality industry, which many immigrants flock to because it has a limited need for reading and writing in English. If I had a penny for everytime I've heard, (in many different accents) 'Only in America...'. I'd be a very rich woman.
The saddest part of this story is that the employers of these workers will most likely make exceptions to their company policies and allow them to continue this ridiculousness. It would be cheaper for an employer to make exceptions for a Muslim that refuses to handle specific items than to attempt to discipline them and deal with one of the multitude of advocates / agencies prepared to drag the employer to court over it.
I certainly hope that everyone that reads this story stops avoiding the self-checkout lanes at their local stores. It would be such a shame if retail stores didn't need a live body to flash your items in front of a scanner anymore, wouldn't it?
Christina at 6:48PM on Mar 14th 2007
11.
Well if things like Beer,Wine and Pork give them
fits, they can always get a little wooden box some
rags a brush or 2 with some polish and become
an Independent Contractor.Or get the hell out and
go back where they came from...
Jack Sparrow at 7:07PM on Mar 14th 2007
12. the minute somebody says "that isn't how it works here". i have to stop and tell them "how it works here" is always changing. you wouldn't say "that's how it works here" until and unless you had come up against a sterling example of it not working "how it works here".
ken at 7:41PM on Mar 14th 2007
13. #3 If the pharmacist owns the pharmacy, then he/she can refuse to fill the prescription. If the pharmacist is an employee, then fill the prescription or find another line of work.
See, that wasn't so hard, was it?
jack.woodward at 8:22PM on Mar 14th 2007
14. To my neighbors in Minnesota.
Sit, Dhimmi, Sit. Good Boy.
Tom Glennon at 11:14PM on Mar 14th 2007
15. This is the trouble with avoiding problems of absolute truth. Commenter Jim Smith has a point; pharmacists and doctors ought to be allowed to opt out of prescribing or providing abortion-inducing drugs, on principle. Why shouldn't the Muslim cashier be able to opt out of handling bacon, on principle? Because not all Muslims agree? Invalid, at least as an argument by comparison, since not all Christians agree abortion is clearly a sin. The answer, of course, is because whether it's in the Q'ran or not, the Q'ran is a false document, and the Bible tells truth. The Q'ran leads people astray, inevitably, because it is founded on either delusion, misunderstanding, or outright falsehood. The Bible usually leads people aright, and if they are led astray, it is by their own misinterpretation, because what the Bible says is true. So convictions based on it should be honored, while convictions based on the Q'ran should be dismissed, at least in policymaking. Nobody wants to hear this, but I don't think there is any other definitive answer to the problem of Muslims attempting to force Sharia limitations on the rest of us so that their consciences don't get violated.
A King at 9:04PM on Mar 15th 2007