Spring 2005 Edition

School Trip to Liberty Science Center   My wife accompanied my fourth grade daughter with her Radburn school class on a field trip to the Liberty Science Center on Thursday, January 20, 2005.  Upon arrival of the school bus, groups are formed with an adult chaperone accompanied by 4 or 5 children.  They were given a schedule of activities taking place at the center for the day.  The schedule contains important information such as when the cafeteria opens, a listing of IMAX theater showings, among other activities.  As my wife traveled through the center with the children she noticed many signs in Arabic/English with arrows saying “Prayer this way”.  It became apparent upon scanning through the schedule of activities and seeing “EID Prayer 9:30 & 10:15 & 11:00 AM on the Environmental Floor” that something unusual was going on at the center.   Upon further review “Zuhr Prayer 12:10 PM and Asr Prayer 3:00 PM and Magrib Prayer 5:00 PM” were also denoted in the schedule.  A curtained area for prayer was also seen on one of the floors.  A welcome table greeted patrons covered with brochures on how to become a Muslim.   My wife arrived home and spoke with me about the trip.  I was astounded.  I called the media office of the Liberty Science Center with questions of my own.  Are you a state funded organization?  Are you a religious organization?  What’s going on there?  I was told the state donated the land and made an initial contribution to the center.  I was told the center now relies on donations and ticket sales to support their endeavors.  She said that under the auspices of “culture” the Muslims were holding a 2 day event celebrating the end of Ramadan.  I countered “Since when is prayer culture?”  I asked why pamphlets on the Haj and becoming a Muslim were present.  I was told they buy their tickets like anyone else and have just as much a right to be in the center.  I guess this also includes the free rental space for the prayer meetings and the allowance of signs in Arabic to be placed throughout the center.   Since the majority of ticket sales are to New Jersey public school students and my taxes pay for these public schools, I object to this use of public funds promoting Religion.  I can only imagine the hornets nest front page coverage by the New York Times had it been Roman Catholic Mass every two hours at the center with priests manning the table instead of women in burkas.  I want to be clear that our problem is not with Muslims and their religion but the forum in which their recruiting efforts and prayers took place.  I was under the impression that the Liberty Science Center was about giving our children an opportunity to discover SCIENCE.  I see “Jews for Jesus” on the subway every day.  I see Jehovah’s Witnesses on my doorstep every year.  I’m sure on my fourth grade Science trip I learned many things including “how much I weighed on the Moon and Mars”, but nothing of religion.  Let’s keep it that way.   I would appreciate any pressure you could exert on the Liberty Science Center to ensure that this type of activity does not occur again.   Sincerely, W. Drew Hayes   -----   Fair Lawn News asked the Liberty Science Center to comment on the letter.  Here's their response.   Thank you for giving Liberty Science Center an opportunity to explain our involvement with the EID "Family Fun" event held here January 20 & 21.   The NJ Outreach Group (http://www.njog.org), an organization founded by the Muslim community, works to foster understanding between people from all backgrounds and religions. They also sponsor several family fun events for the Muslim community each year held in various places including Great Adventure amusement park.   During the week between Christmas and New Year's, the NJOG contacted us because the venue where they had arranged to have a two-day celebration marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, celebrated with small gifts to children, feasting and family outings, announced that it was going to file for bankruptcy, and they rapidly needed a site they could depend upon.     As Liberty Science Center encourages individual exploration of science and technology by all groups, regardless of background, we were happy to assist them in holding their event here.  Four special requests made by the NJOG were that we provide them with a private area for prayer, a private area for mothers to nurse and change their babies, some special holiday-type food selections in addition to our regular café offerings, and an area off the main exhibition floors for vendors of cultural items.   Liberty Science Center has hosted annual special events for observances by the Hindu community (Diwali) and for the Jewish community (Klezmer music in the Passover season), but we had never had a request for prayer space before.  As it happened, we had a small exhibition gallery that was empty and not open to the public, so we offered that for the prayer and mother's area and draped it off to provide easy access.   This was a one-time arrangement, and we have already told the NJOG that next time they come (June) we will not be able to provide them with space for prayer because that gallery is now open, and occupied by exhibits.  Without a private area, such activities would interfere with guest visits.   Finally, my staff personally looked at each piece of printed material handed out at the event, and they saw nothing of concern. I think the printed piece to which the writer alludes is one we ourselves created to let other guests in the building know what was going on that day, so they would not be taken by surprise.  We did try to call schools before agreeing to host the event, but as it fell in the middle of Christmas vacation, we were unable to talk to all of them.     Sincerely,   Elizabeth Romanaux Vice President Liberty Science Center