Court won't halt student discussions of book about Quran
By The Associated Press
08.19.02
RICHMOND, Va. — A federal appeals court refused today to halt small-group discussions about a book on the Quran at the University of North Carolina.
On Aug. 16, attorneys for a conservative Christian group asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond to stop today's two-hour discussion sessions of a book that interprets the Islamic holy text. Members of the Virginia-based Family Policy Network and three unidentified UNC-Chapel Hill freshmen contend the assignment is unconstitutional because it promotes Islam.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected the motion, ruling that "the appellants have failed to satisfy the requirements for such relief."
No further explanation was contained in the brief ruling.
The ruling was written by Judge Robert B. King, who was joined in the unanimous decision by Judges Roger L. Gregory and William B. Traxler Jr.
A lower-court judge in Greensboro, N.C., had rejected the plaintiffs' arguments on Aug. 15.
Terry Moffitt, chairman of the board of the Family Policy Network, said the group had no plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lawyers for UNC-Chapel Hill said students would lose their free-speech rights if they were barred from discussing the book, which interprets parts of the Islamic faith's holy text. The Christian group said the reading assignment and discussion should be prohibited because it promotes Islam.
About 4,200 incoming freshman and transfer students were expected to read about 130 pages of Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations, by Michael Sells, a religion professor at Haverford College.
A university committee selected the book after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to introduce students to unfamiliar ideas shared by about 1 billion Muslims around the world, state attorneys said in a court brief filed on Aug. 17.
The reading and the two-hour group discussions to be held this afternoon were designed to initiate students into the university's intellectual life, state attorneys said.
In previous years, about 50% to 60% of new students have participated.
"Participation has been expressed as a requirement; but there has never been any adverse consequence for students who do not participate, other than their own self-chosen loss of a learning opportunity," state attorneys said.
Because the program's aims are secular, the school declined an offer by Muslim students to make a Muslim available for each group discussion meeting.
If the university had wanted to proselytize for Islam, it could have organized the program in ways that made it more likely to achieve that goal, state attorneys said.
"Surely UNC-CH should have arranged for a series of lengthy discussion sessions over a considerable period of time, led by Muslims, with forced attendance and penalties for those who decline to participate, if it hoped to have any significant chance of inculcating in its students the unfamiliar Islamic faith," state attorneys said.