It would, however, be disingenuous to debate this case without acknowledging that it’s being discussed in a context in which an aggressive Islam is fighting for control of not only Muslim and Arab societies, but the West as well.
While the left-liberal milieu of Cambridge may be a long way from a debate about the viability of the imposition of Sharia, or Muslim religious law, on our society, but there is little question that Islamists are pushing in a direction that should worry everyone.
That includes moderate Muslims, who will now face additional pressures – even in hyper-secular Harvard, or anywhere else where such demands are met – to conform to the behavioral norms sought by the ultra-religious.
Harvard may have rushed to act to avoid being termed Islamophobic by pro-Islamist groups like the Council on American Islamic Rights and other grievance-mongerers who foster the myth that Muslims have been subject to widespread discrimination since 9/11.
American Jews, who have always fought to protect the few from having the majority trample their rights, are naturally sympathetic to the desire of another minority for respect. But we should shrink from backing measures of a highly selective and politicized “tolerance” which may be the forerunner of other demands that will restrict rather than expand religious and political liberty.
A Harvard gymnasium isn’t necessarily the place where the West must begin its defense against jihad. But what at first glance seemed like an easy way to indulge a minority might well be the harbinger of something much more troubling.