Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on Varying beliefs.

Hamline was the first University in Minnesota, founded by the Methodists. They currently emphasize interfaith (including those with no faith) co-existence. When I was thinking of Law School I was seriously contemplating pushing for attending their Mitchell Law School since they place a high value on using the Law as a tool to fight The Man. My son graduated from a charter school sponsored by Hamline, and they emphasized intellectual freedom in education.

So, this comes as a surprise, in one sense, but then when I think about it? Perhaps not so much? I see that so many liberal institutions have taken on fear of offense as a measure of intellectual freedom, that offending would make one “not feel like they belong.”

Note: I don’t think that political correctness, like anything else, has a liberal or conservative origin. Yes, it was mostly liberals who policed language to get people to stop calling Vietnamese-Americans “gooks,” to stop calling Chinese-Americans “chinks,” to stop calling black Americans “niggers,” and so on. But in the 1990’s there was also a push from conservatives claiming that their students felt excluded and uncomfortable in their classes because all the dang perfessers were liberal, and besides real Americans don’t need hyphens. Christians claimed they are persecuted in education by teaching evolution and attempted to get teachers and professors fired for “bias.”

Administrators and Deans probably feel like they are walking some sort of tightrope, and in a culture of zero tolerance don’t want to take any chances. Would terrorists on motorcycles go on a rampage at Hamline like they did at Charlie Hebdo? It’s very unlikely in Minnesota, but in a polite society we don’t want to offend anyone and take chances. Integration into a pluralistic society is a fraught journey, and there is give-and-take.

The taxi drivers Eava mentioned were refusing to provide services from the airport for people who had wine or liquor in their luggage due to the prohibition against drinking. They were also refusing to pick up fares for people with service dogs. The airport sued them for discrimination specified in the ADA act. They lost, and the Imams decreed that they must live in two worlds, the secular world and the Muslim world. It also extended to cashiers at Target Grocery stores who were refusing to scan ham or bacon for their customers.

The prohibition against depictions of the Prophet (PBUH) comes from the commandment against idol worship. I think it’s very strange, myself, because on the one side it elevates Muhammad to godhood, but then they also say there is no god but allah. I often think that the priestly class intentionally makes religion more difficult to live with, makes it impossible not to Sin, so that adherents are constantly calling on priests for forgiveness. Mo money! but also a creation of submission for forgiveness. Religion doesn’t set people free, it calls submission freedom. Jewish scholars will admit this outright, with all the devices that strict Jews setup in their homes to make sure they don’t do any work on the Sabbath. “We do these things as service to G*d because they are hard.”