Maybe because in the US we have religious freedom so we don't feel the need to protest to demand others accommodate us?
It's like a millionaire eating at a restaurant, and instead of tipping the waitress he expects to be tipped by the waitress. The extra demands only leave a bad taste in everyone else's mouths.
I don’t really understand the relation of your comment to mine.
I’ve worked at a (US) company with a prayer room that was used by some Muslim employees. As a Christian myself, I don’t think it would have been considered a problem if I used it when it was vacant to say a prayer, although my religious tradition doesn’t have the 5x/day prayer requirement like Islam does so I never did.
I don't think only Muslims could use the rooms in any stories I have read about this topic. That wasn't my point.
Consider going to a Muslim majority country where the religion controls the laws (like Indonesia) and /demand/ your Christian religious needs be accommodated.
From my studying, you would either be summarily dismissed or even possibly punished.
> I don't think only Muslims could use the rooms in any stories I have read about this topic. That wasn't my point
“ Amazon (for example) provided only space for Muslims to have prayer rooms, but no one else.”
I understood this to be a statement that Muslims, but no one else, where provided space for prayer rooms. It appears you meant something very different, so my criticism doesn’t apply.
You are correct that there are some very intolerant Muslim-majority countries out there in the world. It’s here in the United States that anyone, no matter their religion, can find freedom and accommodation. Land of the free and home of the brave, and all that.
There is currently a mass misunderstanding of religious freedom in the US. We have the freedom to say "no" to any belief we don't agree with, and that includes religious demands of employees.
The only reason Muslims get what they want is under the threat of violence. And US employers are scared of this, so they give in.
> Imagine if Buddists at Amazon had protested and demanded their own space for shrines?
Like... a prayer room? I'm imagining it now and... seems fine? It's hard to read your complaints as anything other than xenophobic, but maybe I'm misunderstanding the point you are trying to make?
That is pretty anti-religious, and your expectation of “tyranny” from a small minority of devout Muslim believers is ridiculous. It reminds me of American liberals who believe “Christian dominionists” are hiding around the corner ready to take power in some sort of real-life Handmaid’s Tale.
In reality most people just want to be allowed to do their own private thing and be treated well by others. Going into a room in private to practice your religion isn’t tyranny, it’s reasonable accommodation. They are no more going to enact a tyranny by doing this, than I do by making the sign of the cross when I eat my lunch at work, or that a Sikh coworker does by following his beliefs and wearing his turban, or a Jew his kippah, or so on...
Employers aren’t offering the prayer room because they fear violence, it’s because they want to appeal to their employees by giving them a comfortable and welcoming place to work.
Hypocrisy is the issue. If you choose to support one religion over another you are then you are taking sides on religion. What that topic is (in this case a room) is irrelevant in respects to hypocrisy. Hypocrisy weakens your resolve to do what is right and just.
Sharia law will be considered a religious right in the future in the US. And because we were hypocrites before, we will be hypocrites again. And if you don't think Sharia law will bring violence with it, I can provide links for you to study.
Didn’t you say that you accept that non-Muslims can use the prayer room though? So a Buddhist would be perfectly welcome to go into the room and use it. I’m a little confused what your point is.
We are giving up freedom of religion to appease one single religion. It's the start of really bad problems down the road. The demands and acquiescence is the issue, not the room.
You can't demand anything in the US right now from an employer on the basis of religion unless you are of one religion. All the others are ignored, or wouldn't even dare to make demands.
And this is done under the threat of violence from that religion.
It's like a millionaire eating at a restaurant, and instead of tipping the waitress he expects to be tipped by the waitress. The extra demands only leave a bad taste in everyone else's mouths.