Let's Hear it for Religious Freedom

I found this article to be extremely interesting, and thought I might comment on it. Apparently, Harvard University granted 6 female Muslim students the opportunity to work out on their own, without men in the gym. To accomplish this, Harvard closed to men one of the many gyms available on campus for six hours a week, so that these women could work out without having to do so in front of men. And now, people are annoyed. The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, has come out against this practice, and one talk show host has claimed that it is discrimination against the men on campus.

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but to me this seems to be a reasonable accommodation for Harvard to make. These Muslim women want to work out, as is reasonable for 18-22 year old women, if the gym at our illustrious school is any indication. However, according to their religion, they must wear head coverings and not show, well, anything really, when in the presence of men. So, Harvard has the choice of allowing the women to work out, fully covered, which could lead to these women passing out, going to the hospital, etc. And that wouldn't look good for Harvard. OR, they can close one of 15 work out facilities for six of their 70 hours a week that the gym is open so that these women can work out in a safe, religiously accepted way. Now, call me crazy, but the latter option seems way better to me than the former.

But opponents of this "trial policy" claim it is discriminatory against men and that it only came about because of some hysteric pc-ism on the part of Harvard. Now, last I checked, most religions don't say anything about men showing a little skin in mixed company (and if I am wrong, please correct me.) Also, in many gyms I have been in, I was the only female there, so it doesn't seem to be a huge problem in men finding all-male gyms in which to work out. And finally, what is the problem with being "pc" as regards the Islamic religion. Perhaps if we provided a little more understanding, of the kind Harvard has shown, and a little less intolerance, the Islamic world wouldn't be quite so pissed with us.