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ORIGINAL: jlf1961

May I point out that in traditional Jewish synagogues women and men are in separate areas as well.

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ORIGINAL: DesFIP
Perhaps they need to form a new Islamic moderate sect?

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ORIGINAL: Elisabella

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Should the police be party to maintaining this discriminatory practice?

If they are called in to arrest someone who is committing a crime, they should act impartially.

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Isn't this similar to the black "lunch counter" sit-ins of the civil rights movement?

I believe this should be protected under the idea of separation of church and state. It's not the state's job to tell the church what its doctrine should or should not be.

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Do the women have a point, or should they just shut-up, sit down, and let their betters do what's "best for them"?

Both the women and the men have a point. If Judaism can range from orthodox to reform, Islam should be able to do the same.

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ORIGINAL: xkittenx

The state outlawed polygamy but ultimately it was up to the Mormons to decided whether or not to follow that law.

The LDS church chooses not to practice polygamy however there are various branches of Mormons who DO practice polygamy to this day.

And once again, the lunch counter is not a religious organization.

Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court

   (a) Under the Free Exercise Clause, a law that burdens religious practice need not be justified by a compelling governmental interest if it is neutral and of general applicability. Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872. However, where such a law is not neutral or not of general application, it must undergo the most rigorous of scrutiny: It must be justified by a compelling governmental interest and must be narrowly tailored to advance that interest. Neutrality and general applicability are interrelated, and failure to satisfy one requirement is a likely indication that the other has not been satisfied.

Overview:

During the late 1980's, a series of rulings by the US Supreme Court upheld the right of governments to restrict religious freedom, as long as the limitations applied equally to all faiths. A series of laws at the federal and state level were initiated, in an effort to limit such restrictions. They have all run into constitutional problems because they attempt to grant special religious freedoms to individuals and organizations that are not available to Agnostics, Atheists, and other secularists and their groups. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires that a wall of separation be maintained between church and state. Any law that gives special privileges to religious people and groups is clearly unconstitutional.

These laws remain immensely popular among the general public and religious institutions and will probably continue to be introduced, passed, signed into law, and eventually declared unconstitutional.

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ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

Why did the police ask women wanting equal rights to leave when sex discrimination is supposed to be illegal in the US? Shouldn't the men have been asked to leave instead? A foreign exchange student from Finland that was in on of my classes a few years ago said Americans have less freedom than citizens in his country. I believe him.