University officials performed a Christian cleansing of the campus chapel at the Wichita State University.
The former chapel was stripped of pews and the altar and now includes Muslim prayer rugs.
Muslim students say the campus outrage shows the “Islamophobia” on campus.
Christian Today reported:
Right in the American Heartland, in the state of Kansas, a minority group of Muslim students have succeeded in taking over what used to be the Christian chapel of their university to the dismay of the school’s majority Christian population.
Ironically, the Muslims gained control of the Christian prayer area with the help of the administrators of Wichita State University (WSU) who, last May, decided to make the university’s chapel “faith neutral” to accommodate Muslim students, according to a Fox News report.
University officials ordered workers to remove all the pews and the altar inside the Harvey D. Grace Memorial Chapel. Muslim prayer rugs and some portable chairs were then brought inside.
In a statement, WSU President John Bardo said the changes were in compliance with the wishes of the chapel’s benefactor, Mrs. Harvey D. Grace, who in her last will wrote that “this chapel will be open to all creeds and to all races of people.”
Guided by this, Bardo said they decided to convert the chapel into a facility “welcoming to all religious groups on campus.”
But the changes ultimately resulted in a “Christian cleansing,” according to Fox News. “Anything remotely related to the décor of a Christian church was given the heave-ho.”
The student alumni and university donors protested the removal of the pews and altar. “Why did they have to take out all the pews?” alum Jean Ann Cusick wrote on Facebook.
But the Muslims now in control of the facility are dismissing the Christian outrage, calling it “Islamophobia,” or prejudice against Muslims.