Special treatment alleged for Muslims

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NEW YORK, July 26 (UPI) -- Debate is growing as to whether U.S. schools and universities are giving Muslim students preferential treatment pertaining to Islamic law, USA Today reported.

At least 17 universities have foot baths to accommodate Muslims who wash before praying five times a day, and at least nine universities have prayer rooms for "Muslim students only," the Muslim Students' Association's Web site claims.

That doesn't sit well with Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel at the Thomas More Law Center, an advocacy group for Christians.

"What (school officials) are doing ... is to give Muslim students religious benefits that they do not give any other religion right now," Thompson told the newspaper.

It's also an issue the American Civil Liberties Union, which has often sued schools for permitting Christian prayer, is studying.

"If you start carving out time in the school day that you would not do but for the need to let students pray, then it begins to look like what you're trying to do is to assist religion," said David Blair-Loy, legal director for the ACLU in San Diego.