Debate about religion at HvA
Today at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam at 6pm there will be a discussion with students about controversial topics like religion, discrimination in hiring and homosexuality. Ahmed Marcouch, a Member of Parliament from the Labour Party will be the guest speaker at the debate.
A recent publication in Folia Magazine about the lack of a prayer room has inside and outside the HvA resulted in much controversy. During the debate the debated topic of Muslim students and praying spaces will most likely spark a lively discussion. According to Ahmed Marcouch, ’the HvA students must be provided space to express their faith. Since the school closed a quiet room, Muslim students have to pray under a basement staircase’.
Jan Blommaert, from the Tilburg School of Humanities, doesn’t agree: “The university shouldn’t restrict or limit the expression of religion, but it is not a duty of the institution to provide prayer places. Religion should remain a private domain. The respect of religion goes both ways: I tolerate your faith, but you should also tolerate my indifference to it.”
